Floating Meringue Ghosts

nlist the help of the kids to stir up a batch of meringue ghosts after dinner. They will be ready to float by morning. A fun addition to your Halloween celebration!

Susan (Mom) Kjesbo said, "This was an easy cooking activity for 9-year-old Hannah. She followed the directions and was able to work on her own. She enjoyed using the hand mixer."

Here is what you'll need:

Here is what you do:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Beat the egg whites until they are frothy.
• Gradually add sugar, with the mixer on high speed.
• Mix until the whites and sugar are stiff and form peaks.
• Gently fold in the vanilla. (This makes the meringue a bit thinner. It can be eliminated if you wish to keep the mixture stiff to make it easier for the children to handle.)

Here is what the children can do:

• Drop spoonfuls of meringue on the cookie sheet to form the ghosts. Keep them fairly small (about 1 and 1/2inches across) so they will be light enough to "float."





• Gently set two chocolate chips on each dollop of meringue to make eyes for each ghost.

"We cut raisins into different shapes for eyes and mouths," said Tricia S. from Ohio.

Turn the oven off! Place the ghosts in the oven. The ghosts will be done when the children get up in the morning. (If you want to do this during the day, they are actually done in about five hours, when the oven is completely cool.) Peggy LaClair said they did not try this recipe because they have an oven with a pilot light so it never completely cools down. My oven is electric, so I did not think of this.

Two families reported having trouble with the meringue sticking to the baking sheet. "The ghosts looked great coming out of the oven, then cracked up on removal," Lynda Hannan reported.

An Iowa mom reported that she uses parchment baking paper under meringue to keep it from sticking. You can find baking parchment in the baking section of a supermarket or at a kitchen specialty store. A teacher from upstate New York said she "read somewhere that buttering the baking sheet and covering it with lightly buttered wax paper will also work."

If you can, use a heavy-duty mixer rather than a hand-held one. It will really mix in the sugar so the froth is not grainy at all.

"Float" Them in the Air!


To display the ghosts for a party or just for fun, cut off the top off a medium-size pumpkin and clean it out. (You can also use a ceramic pumpkin if you have one.) Place a can of child's fun dough inside the pumpkin. Insert one end of a clean 12-inch stiff wire into the dough for each ghost. Poke the other end of the wire into the bottom of a meringue ghost. Arrange the ghosts so that they are suspended and evenly distributed above the pumpkin.



These bobbing ghost treats are fun to look at and even more fun to eat! They are so good! The S. girls did not get a chance to display their first batch. "We played with them and ate them fast. Yum yum!"

TAKE IT FROM ME:

"Just make sure all kitchen tools are clean and dry before making meringue, otherwise it will flop."

--Tricia S.

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