Chocolate for Beginners - by Kate Shaffer (Paperback)

About the Book

"Making melt-in-your-mouth chocolate may seem daunting--but it doesn't have to be! Whether you're hoping to impress guests, give a delicious gift, or add something special to your baked goods--Chocolate for Beginners shows you how to create beautiful confections in the comfort of your own kitchen. Progress through easy to difficult recipe tutorials for melting, tempering, dipping, and decorating. Try your hand at confections, cookies, sauces, and more--or add a little creativity to your treats using tips for gift packaging, adventurous twists, and fun substitutions. Chocolate for Beginners includes: bean to bar--Discover the basics with simple kitchen rules for selecting chocolate, tips on necessary equipment, troubleshooting suggestions, and more; sweeten your skillset--Start crafting with techniques covering everything from coating confections, molding a chocolate shell, caramelizing sugar, and more; cocoa cuisine--Satisfy your sweet tooth with 65 step-by-step recipes for a variety of rich truffles, tarts, cakes, mousses, and more. Sling on the apron and turn up the heat--you have everything you need to start making crave-worthy bites that are sure to delight."--

Book Synopsis

From chocolate enthusiast to home chocolatier

Making melt-in-your-mouth chocolate may seem daunting--but it doesn't have to be! Whether you're hoping to impress guests, give a delicious gift, or add something special to your baked goods--Chocolate for Beginners shows you how to create beautiful confections in the comfort of your own kitchen.

Progress through easy to difficult recipe tutorials for melting, tempering, dipping, and decorating. Try your hand at confections, cookies, sauces, and more--or add a little creativity to your treats using tips for gift packaging, adventurous twists, and fun substitutions.

Chocolate for Beginners includes:

• Bean to bar--Discover the basics with simple kitchen rules for selecting chocolate, tips on necessary equipment, troubleshooting suggestions, and more.
• Sweeten your skillset--Start crafting with techniques covering everything from coating confections, molding a chocolate shell, caramelizing sugar, and more.
• Cocoa cuisine--Satisfy your sweet tooth with 65 step-by-step recipes for a variety of rich truffles, tarts, cakes, mousses, and more.

Sling on the apron and turn up the heat--you have everything you need to start making crave-worthy bites that are sure to delight.

Review Quotes

"I like to think of Kate Shaffer as Dr. Chocolate since she is able to troubleshoot any chocolate problem you could possibly encounter. In Chocolate for Beginners, she offers up an enticing collection of chocolate treats--from truffles to toffee, cakes to candy, pies to tarts. This is a book you'll want to keep in the kitchen to refer to, and cook from, over and over again."--Kathy Gunst, Resident Chef for NPR's Here and Now and author of Rage Baking--The Transformative Power of Flour, Fury and Women's Voices.

"Kate navigates the complexities of chocolate through a simplified and accessible lens that instantly inspires you to throw on an apron and dive into handcrafting your own confections. The guidance offered by this book of techniques and recipes illuminates an enjoyable and educational approach that is digestible to everyone. It provides a type of knowledge exchange that deeply aligns with our core values."--Arnaud Monmarche, CEO BtoB, República del Cacao

"Kate Shaffer is a thoughtful chef and skilled writer. In Chocolate for Beginners she combines those strengths to guide readers joyfully through the process of making professional quality chocolate confections at home. From home cook to professional chef, this book is for anyone who wants to better understand and appreciate chocolate in its many forms."--Dinah Grossman, Chef and Owner of Spinning J Bakery & Soda Fountain (www.spinningj.com)