Yummy Chocolate!

How can I possibly equate chocolate with writing stories?

What is it about chocolate that has everyone drooling? Expectations of passions being stirred…

Is it the smooth taste? The slide of one piece, or page, after another making your mouth water…

What about the texture of those lovely honeycomb pieces bursting on your tongue? Swallowing back the unexpected parts of the tale, taking time to chew and mull over…

That rush of sensation as it hits your taste buds? The highpoints all too soon over, and the last words sating the emotions…

I just went to a FUN chocolate workshop with my daughters where we made our own handmade chocolate truffles and chocolate bars!!! Cocoa ooze was a workshop of a different kind.

Like my writing there were clear steps to follow.

Make a plan. Am I talking about my cooking method or my outline plot? How about both!

Action. Follow the method: get those words flowing.

Completion. The truffles and chocolate bars are made, so now it’s time to decorate: your draft is completed; it’s time to embellish and polish.

Pack it up. Wrap up your chocolates and prettify: last foray with the manuscript before you zap it off.

What can you add to your wonderful base chocolate? For the ganache we could have added champagne, mint, ginger, chilli, liqueurs, vanilla, almond…there were plenty of other choices BUT we chose to flavour them with LEMONGRASS and VIOLET. Absolutely YUMMY!

What can you add to your writing? You don’t really need that answer. Words, words, words.

(Okay… equating writing stories with making truffles was a bit simplistic, but you’ll maybe get the drift)

Making Truffles - if you’re interested.

Step number 1: Choose the base kind of chocolate to make your ganache (Ganache=truffle mixture of cream and chocolate. We chose white chocolate.)

Step number 2: Use three parts of chocolate to one part cream for the basic ganache mix. (In my workshop we used whipping cream but different creams will give different tastes and thicknesses of truffle mix)

Step number 3: Boil the cream then pour over the broken chocolate pieces. (We used chocolate drops)

Step number 4: Leave to stand for 40 seconds then beat cream and chocolate to a smooth consistency.

Step number 5: At this stage your mix can be separated into smaller quantities if you wish to have many different flavours. (We halved our mix and chose to add lemongrass for one half and violet for the other)

Step number 7: This was our big CHEAT time! We used already formed chocolate cases, nice and round, and very easy to fill with our ganache mix. Use up any leftover ganache-just eat from the spoon-delicious!!! (Don’t forget to lick the bowl…oh dear did I say that!)

 Step number 9: Melt a big supply (approx. one pound weight) of the chocolate of your choice for coating the truffles, and to make chocolate bars. (Use less if you are only making truffles.) To melt a large quantity of chocolate, microwave it for about 2 minutes. Remove and stir to evenly spread the heat. If the chocolate needs further melting cut the time in the microwave down to approx ten seconds each time, till the chocolate is very smooth, and very shiny. (We chose to use a milk chocolate for coating) Roll each truffle, one by one, in the melted chocolate using a truffle hook. Carefully lift each truffle free of the bowl and place on greaseproof paper to harden.

Step number 10: Decorate. If adding things like sprinkles, or desiccated coconut, or chocolate flakes, or raisins, do this stage just after coating-before the chocolate hardens. If you wish to ice each truffle in the pattern of your choice with contrasting chocolate do this when your coating has hardened a little more. (Use a plastic icing/ forcing bag cut with the tiniest slit to ensure a thin stream.)

 When your truffles are fully set and hardened bag them up in a pretty cellophane bag and tie up with a cheery ribbon!

Making your own chocolate bars.

Pour your melted chocolate into bar mould and top with anything you fancy.

What can you top them with? Chocolate sprinkles, or any kind of sprinkles for that matter, desiccated coconut, chopped nuts, raisins, chilli flakes, honeycomb pieces, crystallised ginger pieces… You can even spray them with edible gold, silver or copper sprays…if it’s edible the list is endless.

 Enjoy…while reading a lovely heart-warming romance!