Chocolate Is Always A Good Idea

Last night Hubby Tony and I went to a Chocolate Making class at Kakao Chocolate, a local shop where everything is produced from scratch and made in small batches.

When the class started Brian Pelletier, the owner and chocolatier, started the evening with an explanation about tempering chocolate (which the process of melting, cooling, and reheating to stabilize the cocoa butter fats) and why it's so important (it stabilizes the cocoa butter fats and gives the finished result a glossy finish). Next we watched the tempering procedure in action.

There was already a batch of melted dark chocolate in a tempering machine on the counter. The machine's agitator automatically stirred the contents. When the machine beeped that the contents had come up to temperature a chunk of chocolate called a 'seed' was added, which cooled the contents down. The machine beeped again when it was time to take the leftover seed out, and the machine continued to agitate throughout the rest of the evening.

There were three activity stations. Each couple made, and took home:

• Chocolate bark. Each person got a layer of tempered chocolate on a small paper plate, then sprinkled it with a variety of toppings.

• Four pre-made caramels dipped in tempered chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt. To dip, a caramel was placed on a dipping fork, immersed into the agitating chocolate until covered, then removed. The excess chocolate was wiped off by scraping the bottom across a spatula, then the candy was placed on a parchment sheet. The dipping system was designed for a right-handed person, agitating clockwise. I am left handed, so the process was cumbersome for me, but my results still tasted pretty good.

• A small recipe of Ganache (enough to fill a 20-ounce plastic cup), which is a mixture of chocolate, heavy cream, and butter. Each couple got to choose two add-ins from a variety of liquids and solids. Tony and I chose Calamansi Balsam (a citrus with notes of lemon, lime and orange) and ground ginger. At the end of the night everyone sampled each of the mixtures.

During the course of the night I had enough samples to feel satisfied. Tonight, after a healthy dinner Tony and I heated up some of the ganache and ate it with a selection of fruit.

Five years ago: Peaches, No Cream