One of the highlights of the past year was introducing Yankee’s first annual Editor’s Choice Food Awards in our November/December 2013 issue. We love having the opportunity to bring attention to the many wonderful products being made all over New England, from cheeses to jams to chocolates. One of our winners, EH Chocolatier, wowed us […]
By Amy Traverso
Mar 20 2014
Then you smooth it out as much as possible with a knife.
Cover the ganache and let it sit overnight to firm up and the next day, you have a perfect square.
Now it’s time to think about cutting and coating the ganache. Because dipping any filling in chocolate tends to coat the top and sides of the candy more than the bottom, you need to get your bottom layer set up before you cut and dip the candy. Catherine and Elaine spread a thin layer of tempered chocolate on the ganache, which will serve as the bottom layer. As with the ganache, the square will be covered and allowed to set up at room temperature overnight. Next, the ganache is cut into perfect squares using a device called a guitar cutter. Now the chocolate is ready to be dipped and decorated. Elaine and Catharine used to do this work by hand, but as their business has grown, they’ve been able to invest in this wonderful coating and tempering machine, which they named Lucy after the famous chocolate factory episode of I Love Lucy. Yes, that is a continuous stream of chocolate coming out of that faucet. For our class, we did the dipping by hand. Have you ever wondered how chocolatiers paint those pretty designs on their chocolates? Turns out, they press them on using thin plastic sheets that are printed with colored cocoa butter. Elaine showed us how to lay a square on each chocolate and press it on with a paintbrush. Once the chocolate sets, you simply peel the plastic off and the image remains. And that’s how you end up with beautiful chocolates like these. With our lesson completed, we were invited to sample some of Elaine and Catherine’s other confections. If only every class could end so well! For more information, or to order chocolates, visit ehchocolatier.com.Food Editor Amy Traverso oversees the Yankee Magazine Food department and contributes to NewEngland.com. Amy's book, The Apple Lover's Cookbook (W.W. Norton), won an International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) cookbook award for the category American.
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