This is how it all started......! Me becoming a cooking instructor that is.
Waaaaaaaaaaay back when, over 25 years ago, I was a happy, but slightly bored, stay at home mom. Once I finished organizing all of my closets, drawers and cupboards, and those of my friends, family and neighbors, I decided it was time to do a little freelance work. I was a legal secretary before Soldier Girl came along so I did some freelancing around town in law offices but one day a temporary position came available in Pinckney Schools. I thought that was perfect! They thought I would do - and I started what would become one of my favorite jobs ever.
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| Personalized for Marino and the Morning Crew! |
I think it's no secret that I have always loved to cook - it's actually downright relaxing and fun for me so after I would get Soldier Girl (and eventually #1 Son) in bed, and other chores done, I usually would wind up in the kitchen whipping up something or trying out new recipes. Since it was impossible for us to eat everything I made, a lot of my leftovers (good and bad!) would wind up heading into the office with me. It was kind of funny, I thought I was sooooooo popular when I was working at Pinckney Schools! Turns out everybody was just coming by to see what I brought in that day!! Oh well, that's when I learned...."If you feed them, they will come."
On Valentine's Day, I decided to make chocolate truffles for Mr. W., and of course, I didn't make a dozen, I made about 200 and took them in to share at the schools. I shared with everybody and the secretaries in other buildings - then I got a call from Community Education and they wanted me to teach a class on making chocolate truffles! I said I couldn't, that I was waaaaaaaaay to shy (I was back then!!) but I did agree to teaching all the other secretaries so.....our friend, Chrissie, hosted all of the secretaries for a truffle making party! I brought the ingredients for the truffles, and everybody else brought other goodies, like munchies, wine and Margaritas.
Somewhere between the Tempranillo and the Tequila, I said I would teach a class and wound up in the next Community Education brochure....and as they say, the rest is history! It's been over 25 years of sharing my passion, which is cooking and food, with people that come into my classroom as students and leave as friends. It's a great gig!
Speaking of friends - I learned today that if you take chocolate truffles into the radio station on Friday mornings you make lots of friends! I had a great time with Mike and Jon this morning - we added a new feature to the Foodini Friday segment and started answering questions - click on the link or check out my Facebook page to replay the program - I answered questions on chocolate, spaghetti, lumpy gravy and cooking oils. If you have questions about cooking or food or ingredients - ask away here, email me or post to either of our Facebook pages! We'd love to help you out in the kitchen!
I am posting the truffle recipe and pictures here - but -if you'd like a more in-depth, hands on class - click the link to Howell's MainStreet Winery. I have a class coming up there on Thursday, February 9 just in time for Valentine's Day!
1 ¼ cups heavy (whipping) cream
6 tablespoons butter (use only real butter)
2 1/2 cups chocolate chips (milk chocolate,
dark chocolate, semi-sweet etc)
Or 18 oz chopped brick chocolate
1/3 cup liqueur (Kahlua, Amaretto,
Grand Marnier etc) or 1 teaspoon of extract
Directions for truffles:
Using heavy saucepan, heat cream and butter over medium heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Boil two minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Stir until chocolate melts and is completely smooth. Add liqueur and continue stirring until mixture cools and thickens.
Pour into container or cookie sheet and refrigerate until mixture is firm – at least 3 hours. (At this point, candy will store in refrigerator, covered, for about two weeks)
Directions for forming truffles:
Dust hands with cocoa or powdered sugar. Using a spoon, take a small amount of mixture and very quickly roll into ball – drop into coating and roll – coating outside of ball. Place on waxed paper. Continue until all chocolate is rolled into balls. If mixture becomes difficult to work with, refrigerate and continue.
Directions for decorating:
You may roll truffles in cocoa, powdered sugar, colored sprinkles, colored sugars or ground nuts. Place in decorative cup and store in refrigerator.
Directions for dipping truffles:
After all truffles have been formed, and refrigerated again until hard you may dip them in chocolate for a nice finish. You may use a little paraffin wax or paramount crystals to thin the chocolate for easier dipping.
To decorate dipped truffles – melt various colors of chocolate buttons and create your own design!
RECIPE TIP: While a lot of candymakers prefer unsalted butter I actually prefer salted butter as the minute amount of salt in the recipe actually enhances the flavor of the chocolate, especially the darker chocolates
PRODUCT ALERT: I prefer a 60% cocoa chocolate and Ghiardelli is my preferred brand. Experiment with different chocolates and find your favorite.
That's it for today! Have a great week and I'll be back with fabulous recipes for Superbowl very soon!!
