This month I am packing my suitcase full of chocolate and heading to the Callebaut Chocolate Academy in Quebec. I will be working with the School Director Derrick Tu Tan Pho who is a Master Chocolatier and Pastry Chef, to develop some new and refreshing recipes for the Truffle Pig Bars. I have to admit, since my trip to France last year to train with David Capy, I have not made as many handmade “bon bons” as I would have liked to. But now that I want to create new flavours for 2011, I really need to put my apron on!
On my journey to learning how to become a Chocolatier, one of the hardest things I have learned is the chocolate tempering process. There have been so many frustrating times where I have tempered the chocolate to the wrong temperature, or the chocolate had bloomed or become a strange texture. I would like to blame it on the thermometer… but I think it was just me.
In preparation for my trip, I decided I would attempt to make some very unique flavoured Pig bars to bring with me. I tempered dark, milk and even white chocolate and created a shell of chocolate in the pig bar molds.
Fun Fact: When chocolate liquor is pressed, the fat can be removed from it. This fat is called cocoa butter, and it is the primary ingredient in white chocolate.
My next step was to create the ganache using one of my recipes from France, but I decided to change the original recipe to include some fun flavours from my childhood! Due to the fact that I did not have natural flavorings available at the time of creating the chocolates, I used alcohol liquors. Not only was this fun to put in the recipe, but also fun to drink while creating my masterpieces. The one thing I didn’t count on when using alcohol was that you need to use A LOT to actually flavour the chocolate! The only problem with this is, is the fact that it changes the consistency of the chocolate! I guess too much alcohol is not a good thing – who would have thought!
My last step was to seal the chocolate with a layer of chocolate over the ganache. I have to say, the machines that we use for our Pig Bars do a fantastic job. Since I was doing it by hand, I filled my little piggies too full and the ganache and outer layer smushed and made some crazy swirl designs. It’s a good thing this is just for research!
The new recipes are top secret and will launch in the Fall. But if you have a fun flavour recipe that you think is perfect for our Pig Bars make sure you send it to us at sales@hagensborg.com.
You never know… your recipe might turn into a Hagensborg Pig Bar!
Hi,
I’d love to hear about your experience at the Callebaut Chocolate Academy in Quebec. I’m just beginning my chocolatier adventures and am also struggling to temper chocolate…but it’s so much fun trying (and even if it doesn’t look all that great, it still tastes delicious!)
Hi Olivia, it was a wonderful trip and i even learned to temper chocolate properly! Derrick was amazing, he showed me how to see the difference in the chocolate and once i learned that I was ready to tackle ganache!
Call anytime 604 215 0234 if you need some help!