Flammen & Citronen Chocolate Masterclass

Whilst perusing groupon I discovered a course for chocolate truffle making.  I could always learn more about chocolate. Flammen & Citronen hosted their truffles course here:

The Blacksmiths Arms

The course was held on the top floor up a spiral staircase :( Directly above a pub :)

Here I had many a pint during intermittent breaks which were taken whilst chocolate was being tempered. I'll do stairs for beer and chocolate.

The set up.

The goods.

The course began with chocolate tasting (almost my favorite part.) We were instructed to break pieces of chocolate and listen/feel for the differences in snap. Tasting the  chocolate entails closing your nose with your fingers, placing a square in your mouth, and then inhaling sharply before releasing your nose in order to incorporate oxygen and fully "taste" the chocolate.  This grew tiresome after a while as I was more prepared to stuff the chocolate in my face at my usual pace and this exercise "slowed me down." But it was worth learning. Other more reasonable students seemed to enjoy it.

We were prepared hot chocolate and instructed to place our remaining squares into the hot chocolate to intensify the flavor.  It was very good, but not quite hot. I finished mine and walked down to the pub for pint. 

Here we have white chocolate being tempered. We saw immediately as the cocoa butter started to separate from the white chocolate.  Though it looked a bit like adipose tissue I realized chocolate in all forms is beautiful to me.

After we cooled our chocolate we broke it into equal pieces and rolled the pieces into balls. These balls were then dipped into melted chocolate.

Garnishes: Raw cocoa nibs, pink peppercorns, barberries, a curry spice and a cajun spice.

We had a truffles made from white, dark and milk chocolate. Also a few different garnishes for our truffles in order to experiment with unusual flavors. This was my favorite part as you had to decide which spices you wanted to go on which chocolate.  I tried my hardest to get an even spread of flavors but enrobed in chocolate it was hard to remember which truffles were which. A lot of people just piled an assortment onto each truffle and hoped for the best. 

Our babies went home in tupperware we had been instructed to bring and I'm glad I chose something large. Mine weren't completely set when I took them and stacking them on top of each other would have been disastrous.

All in all the course was worth while.  By the time I left I was fairly buzzed and high on chocolate/caffiene.  I learned how to make delicious truffles and taste a variety of spices with different chocolate which saved me from having to do all the buying and testing from home.  I also learned how to "taste" chocolate properly which I like will never do again.   Time is money.  Money is chocolate.

Muah.

Ganache Chocolatier

Ganache Chocolatier

I stumbled upon this little spot after picking up some Shoryu ToGo Ramen in Soho.  It sells sugar free truffles as well as baklava. 

Assorted baklavas

Halwa: A dense tahini based confection.

Sugar free Truffles

After purchasing a piece of baklava for dessert I place it into my takeaway bag from Shoryu, and promptly soaked my baklava in ramen broth all the way back home :( But it looked delicious. 

Tried & True: Best Pinterest Recipes from February 2016

Of the many recipes I experimented with this month, these were the best; found on Pinterest these were the easiest to follow recipes, with effort exerted equal to the reward, and the best tasting finished product.

Top 3:
3. 1 Bowl Chocolate Hazelnut Cake (Gluten Free & Vegan) from Minimalist Baker
I made cake pops with these, the cake was very moist and I used a coconut milk and peanut butter "buttercream" to hold the cake pops together and dipped them into vegan chocolate and topped with freshly ground hazelnuts.  If I could go back and add espresso to the chocolate coating, perfection.

2. Carrot Cake Muffins w/ Cheesecake Filling from Omg Chocolate Desserts
These I found more like a dessert than a breakfast muffin.  The recipe makes 18 muffins but Mine only yielded 14 due to the size I made them.  There are a lot of steps ( making the muffin batter the filling the crumble, grating carrots etc.) but they result in a buttery carrot cake with the perfect balance of crunchy topping and creamy center.

1. Vanilla Chai Shortbread Cookies from Sugar and Soul
So quick and easy to make.  I found this cookie dough to be easily reformed and rolled out on the counter top many times without getting too dry or sticky.  I typically expect to make a cookie dough in twice the time it took to prep these.  No chilling or resting of the dough required. The glaze is an easy vanilla icing made with powdered sugar, cinnamon and milk (or water).  I ate so many of these cookies while glazing but ended up with around 20 in the end using a 3 1/2 inch cutter.  You should expect to eat at least two before you're done. It killed me to give them away.