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Meringue Mushrooms
3 extra-large egg whites, room temp
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp almond extract
6 oz dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
Powdered cocoa
Preheat oven to 225 degrees. With a mixer on medium speed, mix egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and mix thoroughly. Sloooowly add sugar a little bit at a time until well-mixed, then increase mixer speed to high and mix for about 2 minutes, until stiff peak stage. Add almond extract and mix again. Place mixture into a gallon zip-lock bag, zip, and cut off one corner (about one-half or three-quarters of an inch).
Dust UN-greased cookie sheets with small amount of cocoa, and pipe smooth mounds (for caps) and cones (for stems) separately. You may have to smooth the caps with a damp finger to get rid of points. Make sure to make more stems than caps, and don’t make the stems too tall or they will wilt during baking. Lightly dust caps and stems with small amount of cocoa (for “dirt”) and bake until crisp, but not browned (approximately 1 hour). Allow to cool briefly before removing from cookie sheets.
Melt chocolate and allow to cool slightly, but not harden. Cut a small hole in the bottom of each mushroom “cap”, dip point of “stem” in chocolate, insert into “cap”, and allow the chocolate to “glue” the parts together. Allow chocolate to harden, and serve. Makes anywhere from 3 to 5 dozen, depending on size of the ‘shrooms. Can be kept for several weeks in an air-tight container and away from humidity.