Tempering | Chocolate Apprentice

A Chocolate Thank You

Although I have now been working with chocolate for three years (gosh, has it really been that long?) and have had the privilege to write this blog all that time, I am still very much an apprentice and feel I always will be.

So when my dear friend, Steph asked if I would make some chocolate thank you gifts for generous folks who have supported a wonderful organization we both work with (Vocal Eye Descriptive Arts), I became very nervous.

“I’m really not a professional, you know. Won’t they be disappointed?” [Read more…]

Some Bloody Good Chocolate

I made a chocolate coffin, this week. And then I stuffed it with dark chocolate bleeding hearts. It was a lot of fun especially with Hallowe’en coming.

My old alma mater, Studio 58, did a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which they are billing as “Shakespeare with Bite” … because the director has set it in the Carpathian mountains and the fairies are vampires who “taunt and terrorize all who wander there”.

I know, I know. Haven’t we had enough of vampires? Actually no, judging by this tongue-firmly-in-cheek, very creative and energetic take on this classic play. [Read more…]

That Fruity-Biscuity-Chocolate Thing

I gave a tiny Mason jar of caramelized white chocolate to my dear friend, Steph. She looked intrigued, but was a bit mystified.

“Umm, this looks fantastic,” she said, appreciatively regarding its golden depths and even the white marbling on top. “How do I eat it?”

A very good question. Being chocolate, it had of course, solidified at room temperature, and needed to be melted gently, over a bain marie or in the microwave, to get it out of the jar. [Read more…]

Caramelized White Chocolate – playing with tempering

Last week, I spent a couple of Zen-like sloth-paced days caramelizing white chocolate in my oven. The process cannot be rushed by turning the heat up or you end up with a pan full of seized, burned chocolate bits(a crime), and requires you to stir the mass every ten minutes or so.

I love those “or so” recipes. Little stress, and a generous helping of “trust your senses” involved. My kitchen smelled fabulous for days afterward. [Read more…]

Caramelized White Chocolate

I first heard about caramelized white chocolate Last January, when I had the good fortune to attend the Ecole Chocolate Graduate Luncheon in San Francisco. There, we were treated to samples of fabulous chocolates and bonbons, one of which was made with Valrhona’s “blonde chocolate”, Dulcey .

According to the company’s executive chef and director, Frederic Bau, Dulcey was created by mistake, after he left white chocolate in a bain marie. [Read more…]