Go Back
+ servings

MERINGUE CHRISTMAS TREES

Mrs D's review of Good Housekeeping's Meringue Christmas Tree recipe. Ideal for baking with the kids and gifting this holiday season.
Caro @ Caroline's Easy Baking Lessons
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Drying Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 4 hours
Serving Size 20 servings

Equipment

  • Scales or measuring cups
  • Mixing spoon
  • Stand or Hand mixer and mixing bowl
  • Sieve
  • Measuring Spoons
  • 2 trays lined with baking/parchment paper
  • Timer
  • Cooling rack
  • Cocktail Stick
  • Icing bag with nozzle 5mm (1/5”) open or star nozzle 

Ingredients

  • 3 Med Egg whites (from US Large sized)
  • 150 grams Caster Sugar (5 ozs, ¾ cup)
  • tsp Cream of Tartar
  • Green food colouring (paste or gel)

For Decoration

  • Sugar sprinkles (including gold or silver stars)
  • Edible glitter

Instructions

Prepare Your Baking Tray

  • Pre-heat the oven to 110°c, Fan Oven 90°c, 225°f ,Gas Mark ¼.
  • Line 2 baking trays/sheets with baking/parchment paper. Grease in place if they do not have a lip (or the meringues can fall off!)

Prepare The Meringues

  • Before whisking the egg whites, make sure your bowl is clean of any grease as it will prevent the egg whites from holding stiff peaks.   Here’s Caro’s short video on whisking egg whites.
  • Using a hand or stand mixer, beat the egg whites in a large bowl until they hold firm peaks. The way I test is to hold the bowl upside down and it should stay put. They do say hold it over your head which I have done many times and it hasn’t landed on me yet! 
  • Now very gradually start adding the sugar. Do not add it all in one go as the meringue will collapse. I do it very gradually about 25g (about 5 tsp) at a time so that the meringue remains stiff and it will look thick and glossy once complete.  Do not hurry this as it’s the most important part.  Otherwise the meringue will collapse and you will not be able to pipe it.
  • Next add in the cream of tartar and enough food colouring for a lovely pastel green shade, making sure the meringue still holds stiff peaks.  Add a little colouring at a time on a cocktail stick till you get the required colour.

Pipe The Meringue Christmas Trees

  • Put the meringue mixture in a piping bag and pipe tree shaped mounds onto the baking/parchment paper. I piped about 4cm (1.5”) high and 4cm (1.5”) wide and left some space in-between them.
  • Now add the sprinkles and add a gold or silver star on the top

Bake The Meringue Trees

  • Pop in the oven & bake for 1hr 20mins – 1hr 30mins. The meringue trees are ready when you can peel them off the paper. 
  • Leave in the oven with the door ajar, until cooled completely.

Storage Of The Meringue Trees

  • These will keep for up to 3 weeks stored in an airtight container, in a cool place. (I can't comment on that as mine didn’t last that long, but nothing ever does in my house unless I hide it!) 
  • Note that inside of the meringues also become more chewy as they are stored, which I like too.

Notes

Click here for more meringue recipes
Or read some more of Caro's Recipe Reviews
Cranberry Orange Pecan Scottish Shortbread (above)
Check out the Christmas Recipes page.
Here's the link to this recipe - Meringue Christmas Trees
For converting recipe ingredients, go to Caro's Table for CONVERSION OF UK & US COMMON BAKING INGREDIENTS
Recipe for using up the Egg Yolks: -  lemon curd, fig anise curd  or the blueberry orange curd