Kathy Aarons is the author of the
nationally bestselling Chocolate Covered Mystery series. Research for the
series was such a hardship: sampling
chocolate, making chocolate, sampling more chocolate, and
hanging out in bookstores. Learn more about Kathy and her books at her website.
Being a Chocolatier is Not for Wimps
When
I started writing the Chocolate Covered Mystery series, I had no idea how to
make chocolates. Luckily for me (and the readers), I didn’t have to create the
recipes myself. I was able to use my local chocolatier’s recipes. Isabella
Knack, owner of Dallmann’s Fine Chocolates, was a wonderful resource not just for
recipes but also for insight into the life of a chocolatier.
All
of what she taught me went into the character of Michelle Serrano. The long
hours of creating products and running a small business with all the
complications of suppliers, employees and customers. The crafting of new
recipes and taste-testing on (what had to be) enthusiastic volunteers. The
balance of work, family and life. The challenge and joy of matching customers
to their favorite truffles.
Of
course, I had to test all of Isabella’s recipes (a nice perk!) to ensure that
they worked.
Over
the course of three books, I’ve become a little better at making truffles, even
though they’ll never be the pieces of art that Isabella creates. It’s easy to
understand why someone would make this a career – just the scent of melting
chocolate alone is worth all of the work.
And
how fun it must be to give other people so much happiness in one little bite!
The
following recipe is in Behind Chocolate Bars, the third book in the Chocolate
Covered Mystery series. It was one of the most delicious recipes I’ve ever tried
– simpler than it looks and totally amazing to taste.
(I
visited Isabella in her kitchen and the attached photo is the finished product
of this recipe, although she didn’t use premade molds. Those fancy truffles are
the result of air-brushed melted chocolate.)
Irish Cream Ganache (yields 100 pieces)
Ingredients:
3/4
cup Heavy cream
1/4
cup Glucose syrup
1-3/4
cups Dark chocolate
4
tsp. Butter
2
T Irish Cream
Combine
the heavy cream and glucose syrup in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour the
hot cream mixture over the chocolate and let sit for 2 minutes.
Using
a spatula, stir the mixture in small circles of the bowl until it emulsifies.
Stir
the soft butter into the ganache until it’s incorporated. Add the liqueur,
stirring until the mixture is homogeneous.
Pipe
into premade chocolate molds. Chill
Behind Chocolate Bars
Double, Double-boil, and Trouble…
Best friends and business partners Michelle and Erica have a
monstrous to-do list as they prepare for the annual West Riverdale Halloween
Festival. Their shop, Chocolates and Chapters, will have a booth at the event,
where Michelle will serve spooky delights while Erica displays an assortment of
spine-chilling books. Thank goodness the teenagers from Erica’s comic-book club
are chipping in to help. But one of their volunteers winds up in trouble after
a woman’s body is found in an abandoned house—with the teen’s superhero key
ring close by.
The teen swears he didn’t do it, but he’s obviously hiding
something—leaving Michelle and Erica with a witch’s cauldron of questions. Soon
they discover that the dead woman was tricking a whole bunch of people out of
more than just treats. Now these two friends must go door-to-door if they hope
to unmask a killer…
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