A Class Covered in Chocolate!

Who doesn't love chocolate?

Matthew Mead recently showed how to create a fun event around its delectable sweetness.

Mead presented "Entertaining With Chocolate" at Studio b at Alys Beach to a class, which experienced hands-on the many different ways chocolate can be used.

For instance: under Mead's direction, class attendees participating in preparing an appetizer of chocolate hummus using cocoa, garbanzo beans, sugar and vanilla, which makes a very nice hors d'oeuvre that's sure to surprise and fascinate guests with its mysterious flavor.

Another surprising place to find chocolate, which was a first for the class to experience, was in pasta.

Mead created a dish using chocolate pasta, cream cheese, and garnished with chopped strawberries and toasted coconut — an endeavor most admitted they would not have thought of.

As samples were passed around, the only sounds heard were "mmmmmmmm."

Mead said that while chocolate pasta may not be easy to find, it is out there on the market.

Next on the menu to astonish a party crowd was grilled cheese and chocolate soup.

But this was not your mama's grilled cheese.

Mead used cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, butter and challah or brioche bread. The sandwich was paired with chocolate soup made from heavy cream, whole milk and sipping chocolate.

To top off the total chocolate experience, chocolate cups were filled with chocolate ganache and mousse, then topped with chocolate embellishments.

Mead shaped the chocolate cups using small blown-up balloons, which were then cooled and filled.

The class created embellishments using small Ziploc bags with one tip cut out to distribute the soft chocolate onto wax paper for hardening.

"I always liked to cook," said Mead. "I learned out of necessity because my mother didn't like to cook."

Mead and his wife, Jenny, came to South Walton from their home in New Hampshire to lead the class for Studio b owner Colleen Duffley. Mead is an author and stylist who has worked for national magazines as a “lifestyle and entertaining expert.”

"I wanted to do this in college and didn't know how to go about it," he said.

Something tells me there are alot of very happy people that he eventually figured it out.


Article posted by Spencer Samaroo, Managing Director, Moo-Lolly-Bar
The best online chocolate, lolly and confectionery store on the web!

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Source and photo: Walton Sun