The weekend before Valentine’s Day, I surprised The Hubs with a road trip and a cooking class. (What a combination—he is such a trooper!)
We traveled to The Canebrake near Wagoner, OK. The resort is located on the shores of Ft. Gibson Lake. It is a truly beautiful spot.
This eco-friendly and green resort is a retreat, a spa, a yoga destination, and includes a fabulous restaurant. (For my take on one of their signature cocktails, click here.)
We have visited this restaurant twice for Thanksgiving, for numerous romantic meals, and now it was time to take a chocolate cooking class with Pastry Chef Sarah Leavell.
The class started at 10:30 and lasted until almost 1:30. It was chocolate heaven, I tell you! When we arrived, the tables were decorated with exotic chocolate samples and Chef Sarah’s abundant library of chocolate cookbooks. (I was thrilled to see David Lebovitz’s chocolate cookbook right by my place setting.)
As Chef Sarah began her class, she encouraged us to sample the chocolate she had out for us. (All of it was purchased at Whole Foods.) Our table gladly passed the serving dishes and we tried ginger infused chocolate, dark chocolate with caramel and sea salt, guajillo and pasilla chillies with Tanzanian bittersweet chocolate, and my favorite—dark chocolate with quinoa. This bar tasted like a Nestle’s Crunch bar only remarkably better. (I am off to Whole Foods to buy a stash of these bars to hoard.)
Chef Sarah gave us a lesson in tempering chocolate and a brief history of chocolate before she set out on her marathon cooking class. All the chocolate she used for her recipes was at least 70% cacoa.
We, like any normal humans, cannot get our hands on enough chocolate. I have to say, however, that after this marathon chocolate cooking extravaganza, our cravings are sated for quite awhile.
Similar to how I shared our last cooking class adventure, I will highlight Chef Sarah’s recipes and tips in the next few posts.
What’s coming up then?
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Classic chocolate truffles
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Chocolate almond cups and marbled chocolate strawberries
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Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate Earl Grey Buttercream
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Chocolate Pear Jam
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Cocoa Chili Rubbed Steak with Manchego Melts and Chimichurri
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Double Chocolate Ice Cream with Cocoa Nib Pistachio Praline
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Chocolate Spaetzle with Butterscotch and Orange
Can you see why we almost overdosed?
Tip on cooking classes: Always find a seat to the right of the chef or instructor. I learned long ago in one of my teaching methods classes to be cognizant that one always has a tendency to address students or an audience on the right. Sadly, we were sitting to the chef’s left and saw her back many times BUT she did make many rounds to all the tables during her demonstrations.
Postscript: I can’t tell you how much I loved that chocolate with quinoa. I swiped the label off our table so I could scan it in and share it here. You must seek out this bar, no matter how difficult!
Interesting fun facts: Chef Sarah’s favorite chocolate to cook with at home is Ghiradelli and (sit down for this) Hershey’s. But her favorite chocolate to eat by itself is Patric (which is somewhat local, being made in Columbia, MO.)
Hmmmm—may need to plan a road trip soon.
A classic truffle, an almond cup, and a marble dipped strawberry.
Stay tuned for these delicious recipes!
Hooray! I have t hat Ghirardelli cookbook…the cupcakes are amazing! And I will scope out my WF for the quinoa chocolate.
PS…love the tip about sitting to the right of where the chef is teachinng!
Let me know what you think of that utterly fantastic quinoa chocolate!
I am so excited for this series! I love making things with chocolate and truffles are right up there! I’ve wanted to go to the Canebrake for a while but we haven’t made it yet – When we saw it on Discover Oklahoma, even my husband was impressed. I have learned a few things about working with chocolate in the last year so I’m anticipating every post as a potential project for me! I love Ghirardelli to cook with and honestly, I never thought “better” chocolate would make my dish better but it does!
I can’t wait to get my hands on some Patric. We are headed in that direction soon and I hope to bring some back. I would love to go for a retreat to The Canebrake, but it is almost too close for a vacation. Does that even make sense?
Yes, it wouldn’t feel like a vacation to you – but I spent so much time on Lake Ft. Gibson, Jackson, Wahool and Sequoyah Bay and over at the dam as a kid – it does seem like one to me! I would love to see what you think about the chocolate from Missouri – can’t wait!
Oh my god, chocolate heaven coming up my friend 😀
Cheers
CCU
Truly a chocolate extravaganza! You won’t believe it!
What an awesome surprise! Roadtrip and a cooking class. You can’t go wrong with chocolate 🙂
Dontcha’ know it! It was a supreme combo!
What an amazing experience. I would not have imagined that quinoa and chocolate would be so good together.
Seriously! With all the chocolate technique I witnessed, I was probably most delighted by this chocolate bar!
I love those quinoa chocolate bars too–I have two in my chocolate “stash.” What a fun cooking class to take. 😉
I don’t have any now! 🙂
What a great experience!
Chocolate with quinoa…I want to try it!
I know you would love it!
This is death by chocolate, and what a sweet death it is!
Wow, what a fun day you had! Can’t wait to see the recipes!
Lucky!!!!
Well this sounds like fun!!! I can’t wait to learn some of the techniques and recipes that she shared with you. I also need to find some of that quinoa chocolate. That’s just weird enough to want to try. 🙂
Wow I can’t wait to try the quinoa!!!! fantastic.
How exciting ~ I’ve never really tried to do chocolate stuff so this would be a really fun class ~ Also didn’t know about sitting on the right. Probably goes for concerts, too, as I spent the last Diana Krall concert staring at her back 🙂
Hmmm—I never thought about concerts. I was so far away at the last one it was hard to tell. 🙂
[…] Alas, this is the final post in my series chronicling our chocolate odyssey. […]