Seven Middlesbrough group members, a past member and a couple of extra ladies enjoyed a fabulous evening at Chunk Chocolates of Stokesley in North Yorkshire in October.
Chocolatier Natalie Collins treated us to a talk on the origins of cocoa beans and the history of chocolate, a tasting of several dark chocolates from different South American countries, and a gin tasting of three types made locally by the Captain Cook Distillery before the practical fun began!
We all made a portion of ganache, adding the gin of our choice, and piping it into Natalie’s ready made tiny chocolate cups along with various layers of toppings from freeze dried strawberries, violets, golden crunches, fudge pieces, mini smarties, nuts and popping candies to crushed raspberries. We had a huge platter of fresh fruit (black and green grapes, strawberries and big juicy dates), along with marshmallows, chunks of fudge and gorgeous chewy mild liquorice which we then dipped into melted chocolate of our choice (dark or milk) and popped onto grease proof paper to add our toppings or sprays of gold and silver dust.
While our chocolates cooled and dried ready for boxing as gifts (or just to enjoy ourselves) we enjoyed an Aztec hot chocolate (again with more added gin of our choice if we wished).
We all thoroughly enjoyed our two hours of chocolate and gin indulgence! We treated ourselves from group funds to pay the £10 each deposit for this lovely night out, the remainder paid individually, in total £30 each but well worth it for such a fun, delicious and creative evening out.