Chocolate aficionados: Vicki Baker, Susan Hebert, Sheri Twiggs, Joyce Frey, Conni Bjella and Nancy Burns
Vicki Baker
Entire books have been written about the subject of women and chocolate. You know how it goes; you’re sitting on the couch and suddenly get a craving for something chocolate. The craving soon consumes you, and you won’t be able to think about anything else until you get what you want. So why fight it? And what better way to savor the decadence of chocolate than becoming a chocolatier for a day. Girls on Wheels visited Dr. Sue’s Chocolates in Grapevine for our March outing to try our hand at making chocolate bark, truffles and dipped treats.
Before we rolled up our sleeves and tried our hand at chocolate pouring and decorating we learned about the ingredients used in chocolate making, the refinement process and some of the secrets of why Dr. Sue’s chocolates are so delicious: the very pure flavors free of artificial ingredients and preservatives. Like coffee and wine, each cocoa bean comes from a unique territory that impacts its flavor. Each chocolate tastes differently based on its origins and how it is roasted and refined bringing out its unique flavor profiles.
Then the real fun began as we learned everything from tempering, coating and decorating our own delicious chocolate delicacies. We hand-tempered chocolate, the process in which chocolate is melted, then cooled, then heated slightly, stabilizing the fat crystals in the cocoa butter. It is a crucial step in making confections, giving chocolate its glossy shine, nice snap and smooth texture that allows it to melt so lusciously on the tongue.
Once we had mastered the basics it was on to making personalized chocolate bark where we experimented with flavor combinations and textures from an assortment of dried cherries and blueberries, pecans, almonds, toasted coconut, sea salt, granola and toffee.
While the bark was cooling and hardening, we dipped tasty treats in chocolate enrobing sauce: strawberries, blackberries, bar-b-que potato chips, pretzels, scones and dried plantains.
We learned the professional method of ganache making and truffle rolling, dipping and decorating. We had a go at our own batch of hand-rolled truffles coated in toasted coconut, chocolate nibs, cocoa powder and almonds.
There is so much pleasure behind the making of chocolate that goes way beyond just eating it. But nobody in the room was knocking consumption. The class was an all-around introduction to chocolate lasting about two and a half hours. When it was all over we tasted our delicious chocolate creations. What was left was packaged and taken home for more sweet enjoyment.
Girlfriends and chocolate go great together! We brought a willingness to try new things, a happy attitude ready for some chocolate-making fun and an appetite for decadent, gourmet chocolates. So put “eat chocolate” at the top of your list of things to do today. That way at least you’ll get one thing done!