Melanie stirs it up

A couple weeks ago, local chocolate expert Melanie Boudar, of  Sweet Paradise Chocolatier, held a Truffle class at her store in Kailua, Oahu.   Feeling the need to get creative with chocolate,  I signed up with my daughter Cassidy, to spend a couple hours on Sunday learning something new and making elegant treats for our friends and family.

Chocolate is often consumed in its bar form, or eaten as a confection or pastry produced by an experienced chef or chocolatier.   It is something of a personal jump to go from simply eating a chocolate bar to actually working with chocolate.

Ganache

To measure out the right proportions of chocolate and other ingredients, melt and stir them and then hand work with the thick,  viscous mass is an altogether different experience.

There are guidelines to follow when mixing chocolate with other ingredients, particularly liquids that will interact with the fats in chocolate and will affect consistency and texture.  There are temperatures to be be aware of,  ratios, timing, combination of ingredients, etc.

Cassidy Concentrates on Chocolate

At first it can seem a intimidating;  what if I make a mistake, ruin a batch, gum it up, make a mess… Well, yes,  that will probably happen at some point.  That’s part of the process.  Chocolate is an adventure; take chances, make mistakes, don’t take it too seriously.  In time, understanding and technique will improve.

Truffles setting up

But with Melanie’s guidance, we worked our way through 3 different receipes without incident.  By the end of the class, we had produced a raspberry infused truffle, a ginger, cinnamon infusion and a coffee truffle with a dark chocolate / milk chocolate ganache.

Chocolate treasures

Some of these were simply rolled in cocoa powder in the traditional soft truffle form, and others were dipped into a liquid chocolate to make a crisp shell couverture enrobing the soft ganache.  Our creations, though not quite professional, proved very attractive and flavorful and were well appreciated by our friends and family.

Sweet Paradise has tasting, pairings and trainings from time to time and also has a store at the Kings Shops at Waikoloa on the Big Island.  To learn more see the website www.sweetparadisechocolate.com