• Preheat the oven at 210F.

Meringue

• Pour the aquafaba (liquid from the chickpea can) in a mixing bowl, add the cream of tartar and mix with the hand mixer for about 5 minutes.
• Add about a quarter of the sugar at a time and continue to mix until the meringue becomes glossy and when removing the hand mixer, sharp peaks form and hold. The meringue is ready.
• Pour two third of the mixture in a pipe bag (or ziploc bag) and open the tip.
• Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
• Point the pipe bag vertically and gently pour a little bit of the meringue to form small disks. These will be the mushroom caps.
• Then use the mixture to form small sticks, these will be the mushroom stems. Keep in mind we will need more stems than caps. Reserve some of the white meringue to decorate the red mushroom caps.
• For the remaining third of the meringue, add the red food coloring and mix it with the hand mixer for a minute or so until the meringue becomes red. Then pour the red meringue in a pipe bag and repeat the same process to obtain the mushroom caps only.
• Use a chopstick or anything with a thick point to decorate the red mushrooms with the RESERVED white meringue. The goal is to create a polka dot pattern on each red mushroom cap.
• Place the tray in the oven and bake for 90 minutes.

Meringue Mushrooms

• Melt the chocolate by placing it in a bowl and on top of a container with hot water.
• Feel free to dip some of the mushroom caps in the melted chocolate to have brown mushrooms.
• Use a chopstick or a small brush to coat the back of each mushroom cap with the melted chocolate and let them set in the fridge for about 3 to 5 minutes until the chocolate just begins to firm up. This will help the stems to glue better on the caps.
• Remove the caps from the fridge and place the mushroom stems on each cap. These should hold easily. The meringue mushrooms are ready. Enjoy them as they are or use them to decorate desserts like my fancy Vegan Yule Log/Buche de Noel.