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These meringues with chocolate tastes like smores meet lucky charms marshmallows. Both of which I love from my childhood. The crunchy and airy meringues melt in your mouth and the chocolate balances the sweetness with the bitterness. Overall, this is a very satisfying dessert/snack and they look adorable.

I first saw this idea on Pinterest and I was intrigued. My interest was piqued. I have made strawberry meringue cookies before, but I have never made meringue look like toadstools and I thought it was very creative.

The process for making these meringue toadstools is not complicated, but there are a few techniques in this recipe that make it a little more difficult. Like toasting the sugar, tempering the chocolate, and piping the meringues. But it is worth it in the end when you get to taste your little creation.

Important note: This post contains affiliate links, but it does not affect my opinion of the products. I used all of these and love these products. You can read my full disclosure here.

Ingredients

• Aquafaba. Also known as Chickpea brine. This is the liquid in a can of chickpeas. This will be used to make the vegan meringue.

• Sugar. I use cane sugar, but you can use any granulated sugar.
• Cream of Tartar. This stabilizes the meringue mixture, so it whips up faster and keeps its shape. You can replace this with a tsp of lemon juice.
• Dark Chocolate. This acts as a sort of “glue” to stick the meringue tops and bottoms together. Also balances the sweetness of the meringue.

Toasting the Sugar

Toasting the sugar isn’t necessary. You can still make this recipe without toasting the sugar. BUT it adds extra complexity to the flavor. Almost a caramel-y and smoky flavor, which adds to the deliciousness.

It’s also very simple to make.

Essentially you are heating the sugar, so it browns but does NOT caramelize. If sugar reaches a certain temperature (roughly 320°F) it will begin to melt and then eventually brown to make a caramel. Your goal with toasting the sugar is to make sure it is under that point, so it browns but doesn’t melt.

The process does take some time, since you have to constantly stir it and babysit it, but it is worth it in the end.

Put your sugar in a dry pan and turn the heat to medium-low. Keep stirring and moving the sugar around and watch it carefully. Once it becomes more aromatic and you see a visible difference in color, take it off the heat and cool.

This whole process could take 15-20 minutes.

If during the process, your sugar does begin to melt, take it off the heat immediately and remove any bits of melted sugar.

Tempering Chocolate

My favorite method of tempering (and the easiest) is adding cocoa butter powder to set the chocolate. I have more details on this in my blog post here.

Tempering dark chocolate is a lot easier than tempering chocolates with higher fat content, like milk or white chocolate.

You chop the chocolate into even pieces and add to a glass bowl. Place the bowl on top of simmering water to gently heat the chocolate without scorching it. Bring the temperature up to 104-113 F and then take it off the heat while stirring.

Keep stirring until it cools down to 92-95 F. Add 1g of the Cocoa Butter powder and then use it as needed to dip the mushroom caps with their stems

If it starts to set, gently heat it by placing it over the hot water again.

Piping the Meringues

It can be a little tricky to pie the meringue into mushroom shapes, but first you need the right tools.

Such as:

• Piping bags
• Large round tip
• Rubber Spatula
• Baking trays with Parchment Paper

Cut a slit in your piping bag. Then fit your tip in. You should be able to exert pressure on it without the tip flying out.

Fill your piping bag with the meringue and begin piping the caps by squeezing the base of the piping bag until a disk of meringue about 1″ in diameter forms. Try to pipe your caps about 1/2″ apart from one another because they will spread in the oven. Repeat until the whole tray is filled.

Smooth down any pointed tops by dipping your fingers in water and smoothing it down.

In the second tray, you can pipe your stems. These are a little tricky. Go for smaller circles and taller meringues. Try your best.

Once they have dried out in the oven, you can use the chocolate to glue the stem and cap together to create adorable little toadstools.

Want More?

Try Out Similar recipes below:

• Tempering your own White Chocolate
• Vegan Cheesecake Brownies
• Meringue Cookies

If you tried this recipe, let me know in the comments below. I would love to hear from you!