Jacques Torres is my hero. I grew up watching his PBS show, Dessert Circus, where he made whimsical desserts, such as chocolate checkerboards with playing pieces, chocolate cages and croqombouche (a pyramid of cream puffs surrounded by spun sugar). The man can pipe out an entire batch of macaroons in one minute. I’ve made about a thousand macaroons, and it still takes me several minutes to form them.

Even more astonishing than Torres’ skill is his eagerness to share knowledge.  Besides serving as Dean of Pastry Studies at New York’s French Culinary Institute, Torres gives free Saturday demos about once a month at his Chocolate Haven store.

This week, he showed a crowd how to make a chocolate Christmas tree.

First, Torres explained that you must temper chocolate to realign the crystals…

…so it snaps cleanly when you break it.  Untempered chocolate develops white streaks (called bloom) on top, because the solids separated from the fat.  Once hardened, untempered chocolate won’t pull away from molds, so you’ll have to give people your molds along with your truffles, Torres said. His preferred method of tempering is melting chocolate over a double boiler and then adding solid chocolate to the liquid.  Then, use an immersion blender to break up the chocolate bits and circulate the good crystals.  Continue adding solid chocolate until the liquid measures 88F (for dark chocolate) or 86F (for milk and white chocolate).  To test the temper, dab some chocolate on the tip of a knife.  It should set up within one minute.

It’s easiest to keep the chocolate at the correct temperature if you work with a lot of it.  If you only temper one cup of chocolate at a time, it will cool down and harden too quickly…

…which is why Torres tempered about seven pounds of chocolate for the Christmas tree base.  If you have leftover chocolate, pour it in a pan and let it harden.  You will have to re-temper it if you work with it again.  What a pain.  Now I know why chef David Lebovitz hastily dips everything in leftover tempered chocolate.

Note: you only have to temper chocolate if you’re making candy or need a hard, glossy surface.  You do not need to temper chocolate for cake batters, mousse or ice cream.

The hardest part about working with chocolate is staying clean, Torres said. When I’m at home, I lick my fingers rather than wiping them (shh, don’t look).

To make the Christmas tree, temper white chocolate and pour it into a pan so it’s about 1/4-inch thick. Then cut out a stencil out of wax or parchment paper.

Lay the stencil on top of the chocolate and use a paring knife to cut around it. Don’t cut all the way through the chocolate on the first pass, or else it will crack. Just score the chocolate and go over it a couple times. But if your chocolate does crack, it’s okay, because you can always eat your mistakes, Torres said as he showed off his belly.

To make holes in the tree, heat up a metal cutter.

Oops, that was too hot.

Then use the cutter to plop out holes.

Torres made “glue” by putting melted chocolate in a parchment cone.

Torres and his assistant steadied the tree on top of the circular base and “glued” it in place.

Then, he glued truffle “ornaments” into the holes and on the ends of the tree.

Oops, one hole didn’t quite make it.

It was time to use some more fire power.

Next, Torres painted leaves…

…by using a mixture of powdered food coloring and melted cocoa butter.

Lastly, he painted some ornaments.

The finished product, along with a tree that was made earlier. Can you guess which one was prepared beforehand?

No, we did not get to eat the demo, but his staff did pass out samples of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts and peanut butter cups. The peanut butter cups were what Reese’s were meant to be: intense peanut flavor without being overpowered by high-fructose corn syrup. The milk chocolate was a little too creamy for me though. I would have preferred it to have the snap of well-tempered chocolate.

Afterwards, I proudly bought a two-pound bag of dark chocolate.  At $6/pound, it’s the best bang for the buck, especially since Torres claimed it was fair trade.  Chances are, non-fair trade chocolate is made through child labor.  I’m not talking about young farmhands helping out their family.  I mean child slavery, in which children are reportedly bought for about $30 and forced to carry bags that are bigger than they are.  But that’s another post.

Torres’ “pistoles” were well-tempered (he practices what he preaches!) and had hints of caramel and coffee flavor.  I’m no expert on tasting chocolate, so excuse my description.  There were no patches of bitterness or acidity, but instead it was almost too neutral.  Of course, the last chocolate I used was Valrhona guanaja, which spoiled my tastes.  Guanaja’s flavors are so multi-faceted that eating it is a cerebral experience.  The taste lingers long after the chocolate is swallowed.  It’s a little bit woodsy and cherry like.

P.S.-If you look at the first picture of Torres and me, he’s wearing different clothes.  That’s because I met him during another demo in the summer.

Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven
350 Hudson at King Street (1 block South of Houston)
New York, New York 10014
212.414.2462 phone
212.414.2460 fax

Shows/Recipes:
Chocolate with Jacques Torres
Passion for Dessert with Jacques Torres
Blue-Chip Cookies for the NY Times

Books: