Chocolate Workshop at Chocolate Passion

Some people are carnivores, and some fancy-pants types call themselves omnivores. Some hipsters are locovores. I consider myself a chocovore — someone who eats chocolate. Preferably all the time. All. The. Time. I have a fantasy that I fill a Camelbak Hydration Pack with liquid chocolate ganache and have it at the ready whenever I need a hit. So, when Chocolate Passion announced a chocolate making workshop at their Straits Quay location, I immediately signed up. And then in a fit of lunacy propelled by a brain high on cocoa, I asked my two youngest kiddos if they'd like to join me. I bet you can guess their answer. "Yes, mama!"

Let's just think of this as career exploration.

The workshop started off with a 30-minute lecture on the history and production of chocolate. My son probably would have paid better attention had he remembered to wear his eyeglasses to see the presentation. Then, it was time to wash our hands and get started on the hands-on part. The staff distributed about 250 grams each of white, dark, and milk chocolate. I will attest that this is some of the best quality chocolate I have come across in Penang. Believe me, I have surveyed the other options extensively. After zapping it in the microwave, one 30 second burst at a time, we eventually ended up with 3 bowls of melted goodness.

Mixing up the white and milk chocolates.
If only she had another hand, then she could stir the dark chocolate, too.

Finally, it was time to start creating on our chocolate masterpieces. We filled piping bags with the melted chocolate and snipped off the bottom.

Chocolate Passion's Master Artisan Callin Tan demonstrates how to fill a piping bag.

My kids have fortunately had some experience helping me decorate cakes, so they were familiar with how to properly hold and handle piping bags. They experimented with putting more than one type of chocolate into a mold in layers or to add design accents. Coloring the white chocolate was another way to add a little oomph to the candy's appearance. When each tray was full, we carefully placed them into the refrigerator to harden.

Piping melted chocolate into the molds.

Concentrating on getting it just right

Having gained some confidence in making molded chocolates, we then moved on to freehand designs. This was also a good opportunity to add in some little extras like sprinkles, corn flakes, sugared nuts, or slivered almonds.

Freehand chocolate designs, except for the lolly.

The hardest part was keeping the chocolate at just the right temperature. We had to go back to the microwave a few times to melt the chocolate which had begun to harden in the bowl. My daughter took advantage of the pliable, dough-like stage of the chocolate to use her fingers to form a little animal head. That turned out to be an extremely messy activity.

Surprisingly, my kids followed my strict instructions not to lick their fingers
as we'd be sharing these chocolates as gifts.

Creating all this chocolaty yumminess took a couple hours. When the chocolates in the molds finally hardened, we turned the trays over and popped them out. At the end of the class, everyone put their best pieces on display as we did a little show-and-tell for the other students and received a Certificate for attending. They gave us plastic bags with twist ties and a fine looking chocolate box to package up our goodies for gift-giving. I couldn't believe how much we had made. Bonus! We got to bring our aprons home to remind us of our fun as a Chocolatier-for-a-day.

Just a few of our best looking chocolate candies

Do you know what is the best part of this workshop?

Eating the chocolates, of course!

Nom nom, so delicious!

We signed up for this workshop that was announced on their Facebook page, but you can also schedule a private workshop for a party activity or team building.

Their core business is selling handcrafted chocolates, chocolate desserts and drinks. Need a gift for your wedding guests, party guests or for corporate giving? They can do a large, custom order for you, too.

Where can you find Chocolate Passion?

• Straits Quay - Ground Floor Al Fresco area
• Gurney Paragon - Level 6
• Auto City in Butterworth
• Tel: 04-890 6121
• Website: www.chocartisan.com

If you're ever wondering what to get me for a gift, anything from Chocolate Passion will do. (Hint, hint Hubby. Valentine's Day is this Friday.)

This post is part of Foodie Tuesday on Inside Journeys. Check it out for more delicious inspiration.