Library Chocolate Program Provided A Popular Night Out

By Nancy K. Crevier

If you leave a cooking class with one good tip, it has been a good class. If you leave a cooking class with lots of tips and the taste of chocolate lingering on your tongue, it has been an excellent class.

For the more than 40 participants at Maria Poirier Brandriff’s “Festive Chocolate” demonstration held at C.H. Booth Library on Wednesday evening, March 22, it was an excellent evening.

Ms Brandriff has been making specialty chocolates for more than 20 years. Mainly self-taught and driven by her love of the bittersweet Theobroma cacao, she refined her techniques through certification in pastry at the University of New Haven and an intensive, three-day class held in Arles, France, in 2004. “It was a one-on-one class, four hours a day,” she said, “taught by Chef Gui LeBlanc. It was very worthwhile.”

Alongside a huge tray of handmade truffles, Ms Brandriff displayed a variety of chocolates and explained the differences to the class as samples made their way around the room.

“If I had all the money in the world, I would use only Callebaut or Valrhona chocolate,” said Ms Brandriff. But because those premium chocolates can run upwards of $13 per pound, she finds the high-quality Belgium chocolate sold through Trader Joe’s stores to be a more economical choice when making quantities of truffles.

“Use good-tasting chocolate and chocolate that tastes good to you,” she advised. “There has been an explosion in chocolate interest the last few years, so there are a lot of choices now. Chocolate is more and more the ‘in’ thing and now it’s a health food, too!” she exclaimed. “We always like an excuse to eat chocolate.”

It is the dark chocolate containing at least 70 percent cocoa that is rich in healthy antioxidants she went on to say, and only a small amount is recommended every day due to the caloric and fat content.

The amount of chocolate liquor a particular variety contains determines how intense a chocolate will taste, Ms Brandriff said. The liquor has nothing to do with alcohol, it is merely the essence, or flavor, of chocolate.

“Good chocolate is like wine,” she said. “It should have complexity and depth. It should have flowery, fruity undertones. Let it melt on your tongue,” she advised. “It should fill your senses. Just half of a square of a good, dark chocolate can satisfy your cravings.”

Unsweetened chocolate is, of course, the most bitter to taste. Dark chocolate has some sugar added, but the sharpness depends on the percentage of liquor and varies from label to label. The country of origin will also determine the complexity of a chocolate, she explained, using Swiss chocolates as an example. “Swiss chocolate is creamier and sweeter than Belgium. It is not better or worse. It is a matter of taste.”

Bittersweet chocolate is considered more palatable for eating, as it contains a bit more sugar. Sweetest of all is milk chocolate, which has a lower percentage of liquor and milk solids added as well. Ms Brandriff turns out quantities of the melt-in-your-mouth confections every year for friends, families and special orders. “I easily make 600 to 800 [truffles] during the holidays each year,” she said.

Starting with a basic dark chocolate ganache base or a white chocolate base, she creates numerous flavors to fill her truffles.

“One of my favorites is the Truffles au Thé [tea flavored truffles] that a friend of mine, K.J. Ayvazian, created,” she said. Liqueur flavored truffles, mocha truffles, coconut truffles, and another favorite of this chocolatier, Gjanduja truffles, made from a hazelnut milk chocolate, are other fillings she makes for her mouth-watering morsels.

One tip after another flowed through her presentation, as she demonstrated the proper technique for forming truffles.

“Use your fingers to form the ball of chocolate,” she suggested. “Rolling it between your palms makes it too sticky and slimy to work with and it is so messy.” She reminded the audience that originally truffles were created to resemble the wild truffle mushroom, “so they don’t have to be perfectly round. The cocoa they were rolled in was supposed to look like dirt.”

When working with a butter-enriched ganache, which results in a creamier, firmer truffle, she advised working the unsalted butter into the cooled down ganache with a whisk, rather than melting the butter with the chocolate.

The nature of the different chocolates will affect the outcome of a recipe for truffles. Ms Brandriff shared that when making truffles from milk or white chocolate, less cream is called for in the recipe. Likewise, a very dark chocolate with a high liquor percentage uses less cream in the recipe.

When melting chocolate, the process must be done slowly and gently, said Ms Brandriff, and finely chopped chocolate will melt more readily.

“Always use 50 percent power if you are melting chocolate in a microwave,” she said. “Use a double boiler on the stovetop.”

Care must be taken when “tempering” chocolate, too, she said. Tempered chocolate is that chocolate which is melted and then cooled to around 80 degrees through the slow addition of unmelted chocolate. It is used to enrobe truffles with a firm coat of chocolate.

“A big chunk of unmelted chocolate cools the melted chocolate down from the inside out,” she explained, “and gives that crunch, snap and sheen to the coating.”

Handmade truffles will keep for several weeks when stored in a well-sealed plastic container in the refrigerator, she said. The use of ultrapasteurized cream in the recipe also adds to the longevity of the confection.

A final tip Ms Brandriff offered concerned making dairy-free truffles. After much experimentation, she found that coconut milk — “not the light kind” — can be used successfully in truffle recipes. A subtle coconut flavor will come through, she said, but it is neutral enough to not adversely affect the outcome.

Armed with plenty of tips for perfecting chocolate confections and the sweet taste of truffles exploding in their mouths, a happy group headed home at the end of the evening, an excellent experience under their belts.