cocoa meringues with berries

I tried this for dessert today.  I have never made meringues before.  I think I made them a little flat, and cooked them a tiny bit too long, but they were still yummy.  I quadrupled the recipe because I had 4 egg whites left over from German's chocolate cake.  The larger batch  made it a bit harder for me to portion than a smaller batch, especially for the first time I had made this.   I also should have had my bittersweet chocolate chopped before I began, but I didn't.  Even so, they were light and airy and had a nice chocolate flavor.  The berries were good too.  They are very time consuming.  I'll write how I made them with the original amounts in parenthesis.  I actually didn't quadruple the berry sauce (yet anyway) because they got done so late with the 2 hours to cook that they kids were in bed.  I have 6 sitting here waiting to be eaten this evening.  But I will write the berry sauce quadrupled as well.
I definitely want to try these again to see if I can proportion and shape them a little better.  Plus they are chocolate and I love chocolate.

Prep time - 20 minutes
Baking time 50-60 minutes + 1 hour cool in oven


Ingredients

• 4 egg whites (1)
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar (1/8 teaspoon)
• dash salt
• 3/4 cup sugar, divided (3 Tablespoons)
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa (1 Tablespoon)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (1/4 teaspoon)
• 3 oz. finely chopped bittersweet chocolate (2 Tablespoons - I found that a 1 oz. square was about 3 Tablespoons.  It ended up 9 Tablespoons, but I threw it in anyway.)

Berry Sauce Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar (2 Tablespoons)
• 4 teaspoons corn starch (1 teaspoon)
• 1/2 cup orange juice (2 Tablespoons)
• 1/4 cup water (1 Tablespoon)
• 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed (1/2 cup) I actually only partially thawed these
• 2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries, thawed (1/2 cup) I didn't thaw these at all (see below)

Directions

Place egg white in a small bowl (I just put it in the mixer I was going to make this in)  Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.  Add cream of tartar and salt.  Beat on medium speed until soft peaks form.  Gradually beat in 1/2 cup (2 Tablespoons) sugar.  Combine the cocoa and remaining 1/4 cup (1 Tablespoon) sugar;  add to meringue with vanilla.  Beat on high until stiff glossy peaks form and sugar is dissolved.  Fold in the chopped chocolate.

Drop 8 (2) mounds onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  Shape into 3 inch cups with the back of a spoon.  Bake at 275 for 50-60 minutes or until set and dry.  Turn off oven; leave meringues in over for 1 hour.

Berry sauce;  In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, orange juice and water.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute or until thickened.  Remove from the heat; stir in berries.  Cool to room temperature.  (I used partially frozen and frozen berries for a single batch and the heat of the sauce defrosted the berries while the frozen berries cooled the sauce.  On a larger batch, you would need to defrost more of the berries though, or keep it warming for a minute while the berries defrost.)  

Spoon into meringues.