Chocolate Filled Meringues

Last week I saw a recipe for chocolate raspberry filled merinques on www.mybakingdom.com, (instructions at http://www.mybakingdom.com/2011/01/sweet-chocolate-filled-raspberry-meringue-kisses.html) they looked amazing!  A few weeks ago we were asked to make 2-3 dozen pieces of a dessert item for a Bar Mitzvah, I thought it would be great to do these in the colors of the party.  A few days ago I found out that these colors are navy blue and red....hmmm. I already had a cornflower blue food gel that I thought would give me a nice soft blue, maybe more appetizing than navy?  Decided that I would do half a batch in blue with almond flavoring and the other half red with rapsberry flavoring.  The first batch, the light blue turned out beautifully, they piped perfectly out of the bag and tasted just as great!  Maybe beginners luck or maybe the fact that my mom called while I was mixing everything and didnt follow the directions exactly.  The red, then a darker blue and then a white batch all flopped :( !!!  I am just going to send the light blue to the party since the others looked like gross little blobs (though they still tasted great)! 

 

Here is what I think made the difference:

•     When I was whipping the first batch on high I added the flavoring and coloring BEFORE it was at a stiff peak, I think that this kept me from over whipping.  On the other batches I added the flavor and coloring after it was already at a stiff peak and had to continue to whip it so that the coloring and flavoring was incorporated throughout the mixture.  It ended up being to thick to pipe through the tip, hence the blob shape instead of the pretty little meringue kisses.
•     Use gel food coloring!  I had only had the water based coloring in the red and I had to add so much (it still only ended up a very bright pink) that I have a feeling it really changed the consistency of the mixture.  The gel allows for great vibrant colors just using a minimal amount.  I used the Wilton brand that I bought at Michael's, they seem to have a pretty good selection of colors. 

Piping the meringue onto the chocolate chips!

Finished product!  Delicious!

 I will definitely be trying these again, I think they would be a great addition to any dessert table and would be beautiful in any color/flavor combination!