How A Master Chocolatier Makes 5 Gourmet Chocolates

[Michael] I'm Michael Asconis, the creative director

at New York City's Institute of Culinary Education.

I'm gonna transform these ingredients

into a box of five chocolate bonbons.

I had always envisioned

arriving into the New York food scene

at maybe the one or two star level.

I didn't think I was gonna arrive at the four star level.

So being the pastry chef at a legacy restaurant

like Le Bernadin carries with it a ton of pressure,

but I knew this was my dream,

and I ended up staying for eight years.

The first bonbon I'm gonna make today

is a white peach melba bonbon.

I love the idea of taking a classic

and distilling it into a single bite.

I'm taking colored cocoa butter

to create a very basic spackle effect.

The red cocoa butter that I'm using here

is simply pure cocoa butter

that's been pressed from cocoa beans.

I'll need some tempered white chocolate.

White chocolate is comprised of cocoa butter, sugar,

milk powder and typically some vanilla for flavoring.

I'm adding just enough of this red colored cocoa butter

to evoke the white peach.

I'm gonna transfer my tempered white chocolate

into a pastry bag.

I'm gonna tap the mold,

just to make sure that the chocolate

is fully coating the inside of the cavity,

and to dislodge any air bubbles that might be trapped,

and then I invert the mold to remove excess chocolate,

which will leave me with the thinnest possible shell.

And really, that's the mark of any great chocolatier,

is that contrast between a perfect, thin, brittle shell

and the soft fillings that we put inside of it.

This is a mixture of raspberry puree,

pectin, a substance that's found in virtually all plants,

the glue that holds cell walls together.

Even though there is natural pectin in the raspberry,

I'm adding additional pectin

to give us just the right consistency.

In addition to sugar, I'm using glucose.

Glucose is derived from starch.

It's also known as corn syrup.

It will lower the overall sweetness,

and it will prevent this gel from crystallizing over time.

And a little bit of citric acid.

So this raspberry gel is very similar

to a very popular confection known as pate de fruit.

Translated from French, it simply means fruit paste.

Now that my raspberry gel has cooled,

I'm gonna transfer the raspberry gel to a pastry bag

and apply a small dot into each cavity.

And next, I'm going to prepare the peach ganache.

Instead of using heavy cream as my liquid,

I'm actually using white peach puree.

And we're using invert sugar and glucose syrup

brought to a boil, and then I'm gonna gently incorporate it

into my white chocolate.

Mixing very rapidly and thoroughly

to create a perfect emulsion.

I'm observing the chocolate, how it behaves, its appearance,

and I'm looking for a slight elasticity.

I can even see by the way the ganache is pouring

out of the bowl into the pastry bag

that I've achieved the perfect texture.

I wanna leave just enough space,

not only to seal each cavity,

but also to add a textural element.

Once the ganache is allowed to crystallize,

I'll prepare a crunchy almond layer

comprised of untempered white chocolate, almond paste,

and something called feuilletine,

which is crushed up wafer cookies.

The fat in the white chocolate coats these tiny wafers

and will keep them crisp inside the bonbon.

I'm gonna transfer this mixture

between two pieces of parchment paper

and roll it out as thin as possible.

I'm gonna let this chill to set,

and then I'll cut it into small discs

just the size of the bonbon.

And I still have a millimeter or two of space

that will allow me to seal the bottom of the bonbons

with some of my tempered chocolate.

This can take anywhere from an hour to several hours

to finish that crystallization.

Properly tempered cocoa butter actually contracts

as it turns from a liquid to a solid,

otherwise chocolate would never pop out of the mold.

My white peach melba is done,

and next I'll make a classic palet d'or ganache.

So a ganache at its most basic is chocolate and liquid.

Most of the time, that liquid is heavy cream.

Invert sugar is made from regular sugar.

It's a perfect addition for texture enhancement

and shelf life in a ganache.

So really, my approach with something so classic

as a palet d'or is to highlight the quality of the chocolate

that I'm using, and I want to prepare that ganache

in a way that allows the subtle flavors of those chocolates

to really shine through.

I'm going to bring this up to a boil

and then I'm gonna slowly, gently incorporate it

into the dark and milk chocolate,

in order to create a perfect emulsion.

I define an emulsion as being a stable mixture

of two things that don't typically like to be mixed

with each other.

In this case, the fat and the cocoa butter,

as well as the water that comes with the heavy cream.

And based on the style of bonbon that we're creating,

the consistency of that ganache is completely dependent

on that ratio of liquid to chocolate,

so it could be sliceable or it could be soft enough

to fill a molded chocolate shell.

Once I've incorporated all the cream,

I want that ganache to cool to about 95 degrees Fahrenheit

before adding the butter.

Temperature is crucial,

and I wanna make sure I don't actually melt the butter,

but rather I'm creaming that butter in,

and that will give me the perfect texture.

It should be smooth, creamy, glossy.

It might even have a slightly elastic texture.

And then I'm gonna let this crystallize

several hours or overnight.

So now I'm applying this foot, or as the French would say,

[Michael speaks French].

A very thin layer of untempered chocolate

onto a piece of acetate,

and then transferring the crystallized frame of ganache

on top of it.

And I'm using untempered chocolate in this case

because I don't want this chocolate to set as firmly,

so I have a nice clean cut

when the ganache is cut on the guitar.

I realize that a lot of pastry chefs

probably think they know more about chocolate

than they actually do.

So for most of my pastry chef career,

chocolate was just the ambiguous ingredient

that's always there on the shelf.

Tempering,

or what I sometimes refer to as pre-crystallizing chocolate,

is really important for fine chocolate work.

I wanna make sure

that that chocolate is taken over 40 degrees celsius,

and this ensures that all of the existing crystals

in that chocolate have fully melted.

Tempering chocolate on a marble slab

allows me to be up close and personal with the chocolate.

Sometimes I don't even use a thermometer.

I can just tell by the feel of things.

The first few times I tried to temper chocolate,

it was a disaster.

But with an understanding

of what's happening in the chocolate

and constant repetition and practice,

it's easy to become a tempering master.

Now that the chocolate has cooled,

I then reintroduce it back into the chocolate

that is still warm,

and that will effectively raise the temperature

of that cooled chocolate to a working temperature

of about 88 to 90 degrees.

So when we talk about liquid fats turning into a solid,

we often use the word crystallize,

and cocoa butter can turn from a liquid to a solid

in about six different crystal formations.

Only one of those will give us shine, snap,

a resistance to melting.

I will take a test, I'll dip a plastic bowl scraper

and allow it a few minutes to crystallize.

If the chocolate is properly tempered, it should set,

it should be glossy, it won't be streaky

and I know I've done my job well.

With any chocolate work, cleanliness is key.

This is the reason I use a blowtorch,

because I don't want water

getting anywhere near my chocolate.

While hand dipping the palet d'or ganache

looks pretty easy and straightforward,

it requires a bit of dexterity

and it's really easy to make a sloppy, over-coated bonbon.

The juxtaposition of pieces of equipment

like an infrared thermometer

and then a cheap wire coat hanger

may seem a bit unconventional.

It was a hack that I learned from another chocolatier

and it's something I've held onto

and worked with ever since.

I'll dip four or five of these pieces

and then apply a piece of gold leaf,

and then press a tiny square of textured acetate

and that will create a distinctive textured pattern

on the finished chocolate.

Next, I'll move on to the hazelnut crunch bar.

I see this as sort of a refined version

of a mass market chocolate bar,

comprised of hazelnut and a crunchy cookie element.

The first step begins with the decoration of the mold.

In the pastry bag,

I have what's referred to as blonde chocolate.

Thinned it out with some cocoa butter, tempered it

and created an abstract pattern into the mold.

Some pastry chefs might refer to this

as roasted white chocolate,

and that roasting intensifies the flavor

and creates almost a dulce de leche like flavor.

I'm gonna fill the remainder of the cavity

with tempered milk chocolate.

I'll let that crystallize

and move on to the hazelnut filling.

Hazelnut praline paste,

comprised of roasted hazelnuts and caramelized sugar,

some melted milk chocolate

and some additional melted cocoa butter.

So cocoa butter comprises about half of a cocoa bean,

and it can be extracted and used on its own.

This is actually a filling I want to temper.

If I were to fill my molds with this mixture as is,

it would be very soft and runny.

By tempering the filling, just like I temper chocolates,

it will allow it to take on a firmer texture

that's actually sliceable.

Before I add my hazelnut filling,

I'm gonna add a textural element

in the form of crunchy crushed sable cookies.

To me, it's texture that makes you wanna keep going back

for another bite.

And then I'll proceed with the hazelnut filling.

If I overfill the molds,

part of the filling will get mixed in with the chocolate,

which will create a mess.

If I under-fill the molds,

then I'll have a very thick chocolate base,

which won't be as pleasant to eat.

I'm going to fill the remainder of the cavity

with tempered dark chocolate.

Once my bars have completely crystallized,

very gently invert and release the bars

onto a small sheet pan.

Next, let's make a classic bourbon truffle.

What's gonna make this ganache a little bit different

from the other ganaches I've prepared

is the ratio of cream to chocolate.

This will be a little bit firmer

than the white peach ganache, for example,

but a little bit softer than the palet d'or ganache,

and that's to facilitate hand rolling the individual pieces.

Once I've properly emulsified the cream into the chocolate,

I'll add the bourbon,

and I'm not cooking out any of the alcohol.

I wanna preserve all of the flavor,

and the alcohol actually also serves

as an additional shelf life extender.

You'd have to consume a lot of chocolate

to feel the effects of the alcohol.

I let this ganache completely crystallize in the bowl

from several hours to overnight.

I transfer it to a pastry bag

fitted with a plain pastry tip.

I'm holding that pastry bag about a half an inch

from the surface of the paper.

That effectively allows me to create a spherical shape

that gives me a great place to work from.

So I'll pop that in the refrigerator just for a few minutes,

making it a little bit easier to handle.

I'm wearing gloves here just to keep my hands clean,

but also to insulate the heat from my hands somewhat,

just enough to get a smooth shape

without actually melting the ganache.

Now it's time to hand dip into the tempered dark chocolate.

And then using a circular chocolate dipping fork,

I'll manipulate the truffles into the chocolate

to evenly coat, and then drop them onto a pan

of sifted cocoa powder.

The cocoa powder I'm using is what we call Dutch process.

It's been treated with an alkaline.

This will give us darker color, a richer aroma.

I'm paying some attention

to the thickness of the shell here.

I don't want too much chocolate around the outside,

creating too hard of a shell.

I'll pause for a few moments to allow that chocolate to set,

and then I'll transfer the truffles to a sift

before displaying and eating.

So in tasting a chocolate truffle,

your palate goes through an evolution of senses.

The aroma of the bourbon,

the strong bitterness of the cocoa powder,

the subtle crunch of the shell,

which then reveals the soft ganache interior.

Next, let's make a chocolate nougat.

It's not a classic bonbon, per se,

but a classic confection that utilizes chocolate

in a novel way.

So traditional nougat begins with cooking a sugar syrup

and incorporating that syrup into cooked egg whites.

I need to ensure that this syrup has cooked

to a degree where most of the water has been removed,

and thus I'm using a thermometer to gauge

both the temperature and the moisture content of the syrup.

Classic nougat flavored with honey, toasted nuts,

and perhaps some fruit element

often evokes the French Riviera.

The egg whites used in a classic nougat recipe

both serve as a whipping agent that help incorporate air

and the protein in the egg white

lends just a certain texture

to the finished product as well.

There's a little bit of time pressure when preparing nougat.

I need to produce a cooked sugar syrup

while also boiling honey,

so attention to detail and proper sequence is crucial.

I'll use a blowtorch to heat up the side of the bowl,

which will remove additional water from the mixture,

and as I heat the side of the bowl,

I can see the nougat mixture

start to pull away from the side of the bowl,

and that's when I know I've reached the right consistency.

Up to this point,

I've put so much care and precision into this.

Now I'm just gonna dump in everything else.

So first, the chocolate, followed by the almonds,

the hazelnuts, the pistachio

and finally the candied orange peel.

At this point, the nougat still might appear very soft,

but it's important to remember that it's also very hot.

Then I'm gonna transfer my nougat mixture

to a silicone baking mat

and actually use the mat to hand knead the mixture

to finish the mixing process.

As this nougat cools,

the chocolate in the nougat will also cool,

and that cocoa butter will add a little bit of solidity.

I'm using the caramel bars, a second silicone mat

and a rolling pin to fashion the nougat

into a rough rectangle that I can use to cut later.

After it sets for several hours,

I can remove the silicone baking mats,

and using a serrated knife, very gently cut the nougat

using a sawing motion.

And just like that,

we've created five different chocolate confections.

Bonbon literally translates to good good,

and I think chocolate is good, so I think it's appropriate.