This Midwinter project grew out of some research I was doing about the fairytale Frau Holle. Frau Holle is a classic Grimm’s fairytale in which a mistreated step sister falls down a magical well to a fairy realm in which is rewarded for being kind to Frau Holle with gold. (There is of course also a “bad” sister who does everything wrong and is punished in proper Grimm fashion.) Frau Holle in the story needs help shaking her bed linens because the feather make snow in the mortal world. It’s one of the more interesting fairytales I’ve read, and more so because Frau Holle features heavily in Grimm’s non-fiction writing about Germanic folklore.
Frau Holle is not just a fairytale, but an important goddess in the early Germanic pantheon. She likely predates Freya/ Frigg and is very possibly an older version of the same idea. All three are the goddess of hearth and spinning. Holle specifically controls the weather. The constellation we now call Orion’s Belt is in Germanic/ Nordic tradition, her distaff. (A distaff is a tool for spinning flax.) Purportedly, she spins the threads of the new year from the clouds using her sky distaff. I was really struck by this image of spinning clouds.
Back to the fairytale version of Holle- the “good” child is rewarded for her kindness by a deluge of gold from a cloud. My theory here is that the gold is symbol for the sun returning in the spring. Frau Holle was historically associated with controlling the weather and had been making it snow in the story. It then follows that gold emanating from the clouds of Holle would likely be sun.
All of this fascinating winter folklore, inspired me to make an edible Midwinter project. I was originally just going to make meringue clouds that you could crack open and find “gold” inside, but then I figured why not make them snow also? Frau Holle is to this day still seen as a kindly old woman who makes it snow in germanic cultures and Midwinter is a time to celebrate snow in my part of the world. Some part of my nerd brain must have been thinking about ice planets here too. My kids were really excited about the snowing part too- and honestly it wasn’t as complicated as I expected to make. This could be a really fun dessert for New Year’s too- we often make edible pinatas for that celebration as well!
Snowing Meringue Cloud Piñatas
I know that the idea of meringue clouds that hang on sticks like lanterns and snow when you shake them and then crack open to reveal golden sun sprinkles sounds intimidating… I was intimidated to take them on honestly, but they ended up being really pretty easy and straightforward to make.
Ingredients:
- 4 egg whites (room temperature)
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
- cookie scoops, various sizes
- foil
- cooking spray
- powdered sugar
- royal icing
- golden and/or sun sprinkles
- string
- sticks
Method:
First make the meringue:
Preheat the oven to 250°f. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. I was able to make 3 generous clouds, but obviously the number of clouds you can make is entirely determined by their size.
Next, shape your foil. These pieces will create the cavity in the center of the cloud for the sprinkles, and the space at the bottom on the cloud for the powdered sugar snow. The cloud will be made in two halves and then stuck together so the foil for the cavities must be made in halves as well.For each cloud that you plan to make you will need two half spheres (one for each side) and two flat-ish half circles. So you are creating a circular space in the center of the cloud and then a flat round space at the base of the cloud to hold the snow. Spry them with a little cooking spray.
Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt in a large clean dry bowl with a mixer on medium speed until they look foamy.
Increase the speed to medium high and beat until thick and opaque, about 1 more minute.
Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, a little at a time, and beat until stiff shiny peaks form, about 5 more minutes.
Place the half sphere on the cookie sheet and use the cookie scoops to form a meringue cloud shape around it. Cover the foil with more scoops of meringue. Once you have a cloud with the sphere in the center, push your flat half circle into the base so there is a small cavity there.
Repeat for as many clouds as you plan to make (remembering that you need two halves for each cloud.)
Bake in the preheated oven until dry and crisp, 4 to 5 hours. Do not open the oven while they are cooking. Let cool completely on the baking sheets.
Once the meringue is cooked and cooled you should have two halves that look like this. Remove the foil and discard it.
Fill the center cavity with sprinkles- I used metallic gold and little suns. Pipe a line of royal icing around the edges of the cloud half.
Lay down a piece of twine and put a little more royal icing over the ends. Place the second cloud half on top and allow the icing to dry. It doesn’t have to make perfect contact as long as it’s touching in several places, royal icing is super strong. Next, pipe a grate (see below) with royal icing on a piece of parchment that will fit over the opening at the base of the cloud. Allow it to dry completely.
Once the halves are stuck together and dry, flip the clouds upside down (support them with tea towels so they don’t roll) and fill the small flat cavity with powdered sugar. Peel the dry royal icing grate off the paper and use royal icing to attach it to the bottom of the cloud over the powdered sugar Again it doesn’t need to make perfect contact, just make sure it’s touching in a few places. Allow to dry completely.
Once everything is dry and set (most of the time in this project is waiting for things to dry!) slip the loop over a stick and start shaking your snow out! (Preferably outside unless your kids are neater than mine…) Then you can eat the cloud and find the surprise inside! The royal icing is crazy strong so we really had to break it open intentionally–shaking wasn’t enough.
Enjoy!
[…] making the Edible Meringue Clouds I was still thinking about Frau Holle shaking her feather quilt and making it snow. I love the […]