Chocolate shells are the beginning of every great bonbon. In this new addition to our free technique videos and books, Chef Melissa walks you through the steps of making her thin, glossy, fuzz-free, acclaimed shells. You will learn how to make shells with a chocolate warmer or with a continuous tempering machine if you want to expand your business and make flawless bonbons. Packed with insightful tips and tricks, this short course will give you the perfect foundation to start playing with colors and finishes in your chocolate products!
Course Category: Theory & Techniques
Creamy Cacao Butter Basics
Seeding with creamy cacao butter (aka “silk”) is our favorite, no-fuzz, pre-crystallization, or tempering technique. In this free techniques book and video, Chef Melissa teaches you how to make and maintain this convenient and essential ingredient, which you can easily prepare with any cacao butter you have in hand. If you always thought tempering chocolate was a cumbersome, long, messy process, with this guide we want to show you it doesn’t have to be anything of the sort. This concise course is the perfect first step to making and pre-crystallizing your chocolates, ganaches, and fat-based products!
Class: Turn Leftovers into Delicious Products!
It’s 2023, and we no longer believe in food waste, so we’re bringing you a class that’s close to our philosophy. The best part? It’s online-live AND free! Chef Melissa Coppel is leading this creative class (where you can ask her all the questions you want, no matter where you are in the world) in which we will explore how we can commit to respecting and giving a second chance to the beautiful ingredients we work with.
Not only is this a great way to reduce costs, but it also allows us to use our creativity to find new ways to make delicious recipes that our customers will love with what we already have at hand. This class will also give you a sneak peek into our online-live classes, so you can hopefully join us in the near future!
OD-Hot Infusion | Free
What is an infusion? Is it better to use a hot or a cold method? Should we infuse all ingredients the same? The key to making a fantastic ganache, a panna cotta, or even a simple flavored whipped cream boils down to making a really good infusion. That is why we wanted to give you a free class and book covering this basic and yet extremelly useful skill. We hope the tricks you learn from Chef Melissa will solve your questions and help you create all your recipes with confidence!
Pre-Crystallizing or Tempering Chocolate
Welcome to the origin of all perfect chocolate creations!
Good chocolate is the result of good tempering. Saying pre-crystallization (the term we prefer for tempering) is essential to chocolate is an understatement. After all, we owe the gloss, the snap, and the unctuousness of chocolate to this step.
What’s more, pre-crystallization is required in fat-based fillings (giandujas and pralinés) and other preparations, such as spreads, making it a truly essential skill. In this On-Demand class we want to give you a solid foundation to help you master the backbone technique of chocolate making. From learning how to do table-top pre-crystallization, to using creamy cocoa butter, or finding your way around a tempering machine; we go over all the main techniques to make impeccable chocolate.
All of this, of course, paired up with a detailed explanation of the theory behind pre-crystallization and the polymorphic nature of cocoa butter.
Whether you’re looking to start your chocolate journey on the right foot -or you’re a seasoned chocolatier looking to perfect the most basic, but essential, skill in our craft- this class will be a valuable contribution to your creative process.
Almond Paste
Learn our tried and tested almond paste recipe, perfect for ganaches, pralinés, and all kinds of fat-based fillings, with our newest free online subscription video! With a simple and comprehensive approach, Chef Melissa will give you all the information you require to make this recipe your own. Covering topics such as: roasting times and how they affect flavor profile, whether you need to add more oil to your paste or not, and which appliance options work best to prepare perfectly smooth nut pastes; this video will teach you all you need in under ten minutes. Use this recipe as is, or skip the almonds and use any other nut you want. Hazelnuts, pistachios, pecans, macadamia nuts: with this recipe, the result will always be perfect!
Swirl Bars
Matcha, with its slightly earthy and bitter, but exquisitely aromatic notes, has become one of those flavors no one can resist. We are more than happy to feed the fascination this Japanese ceremonial tea rouses by pairing it with the sweetness and richness of white chocolate. This swirl bar plays with these two flavor profiles, one strong, the other mellow, to come up with a visually striking and decadent confection that will make your customers know your products are on a whole different level. A treat made to be eaten and enjoyed using all the senses.
Caramelized Hazelnuts | Free
In this class, we will teach you our incredible technique for caramelizing nuts. This recipe is the perfect complement to all your creations, as you can use it as a base for your handmade pralinés, to add a touch of crunch to your confections, or to decorate your products in a delicious and simple way. You can use it with all types of nuts and the results will never disappoint.
Different recipes where we have include caramelized nuts using this same method:
- Vegan “Snickers” Bars
- Molded and Enrobed Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars
- S’mores Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pre-crystallization- or Tempering -101-
This On-Demand Class, is ideal for anyone passionate about Chocolate! Not only beginners who are new to this world, but for people who have been working with chocolate for years that know for a fact that without a correct pre crystallization -or tempering- no chocolate work could be done, but do not fully understand what is really happening… How can we be in control and be able to resolve issues during our production if we do not understand this fully?
In this Class you will learn three different tempering techniques, because depending on your conditions, one method could be more suitable than the others.
We will also cover during Class how to adjust the viscosity of your chocolate couvertures according to your needs.
* We highly recommend that you take this class before you decide to enroll in any other of our Chocolate Courses.
The following three methods of pre crystallization -or tempering- will be taught:
- Tabling
- Seeding
- Seeding with creamy Cacao Butter