Souffle Class

Today I attended my first baking class, Souffles. It was fantastic for several reasons. First, the charming instructor was funny, engaging and easily imparted her expertise without baffling the collection of attendees. Secondly, the samples were out of this world. Third, I had no idea such an accomplished chocolatier lived right in my home town.

Sad to say, I've been going to her quaint shop for nearly a year to buy macarons. It wasn't until today during the chocolate tasting portion of the class that I had one of her exquisite, and I emphasize EXQUISITE, chocolates.

She explained the symbiotic relationship between the melting point of chocolate and lucky for us, it just happens to be in the range of 98 degrees. Perfect chocolate hits the palate and absolutely swoons as it melts. I was in heaven!

Souffles seem to strike terror in the hearts of home cooks. She de-mystified souffle's fickleness, which it seems, is directly related to the consistency of oven temperature.

"Don't be afraid of souffles. Knock the air bubbles out of them!"

http://www.gingerelizabeth.com/

Here's the link if you would like to have a look at her impressive profile. She was recently praised by David Lebovitz and I suspect, with such an irrepressible personality, won't go "undiscovered" much longer amongst chocolate fanatics.

Now if I could just ignore the Palet D’Or Entremet Cake calling my name........