A sweet assignment
Freshman Jerinn Anderson, 14, reacts to the ganache on her hands, while she and Kaileia Parks, 17, make truffles. Photo by Chrystal Doucette/Columbia Basin Herald
MOSES LAKE — Valentine’s Day brings visions of cards, flowers and candy.
Their hands covered in chocolate, Angie Murray’s students rolled ganache into sweet and nutty coatings Thursday. Some were destined to be gifts for loved ones.
The creative cooking class at Columbia Basin Secondary School spent time making truffles just days before Valentine’s Day.
“It’s like working with mud — really, really thick mud,” said freshman Jerinn Anderson, 14.
Each took home a custom handmade collection.
Sophomore Reva Hindman, 16, said she is giving the truffles she made to her boyfriend and her boyfriend’s mother.
Hindman said she always wanted to learn how to make truffles.
“I think mine came out really good,” she said.
Jasmine Panoja, 15, planned to give truffles to her brother and grandmother.
Murray said the students are doing well in her class, and they seem engaged.
Stir fry, caramel cinnamon rolls, sweet bread, focaccia bread, Almond Roca, chicken Marco Pollo and calzones are some of the creations students have made this year.
For the truffles, students added flavoring, to give the chocolate a unique flavor. The most popular combination students chose was caramel and vanilla.
“My favorite flavor in the world is vanilla,” said sophomore Ciara Wilson, 15.
She said she added caramel to complement the chocolate’s richness.
Freshman Morgan Powers, 14, and senior Skyler Pilot, 17, chose to add caramel and raspberry flavoring.
“All I added was the main ingredients and a little bit of raspberry and a little bit of caramel,” Powers said.
Pilot said he plans to give his truffles to his dad and stepmother.
Asked how her truffles taste, sophomore Josie Aubrey, 15, gave a thumbs up with chocolate filling her mouth.
French chef Auguste Escoffier invented the truffle in the 1920s according to popular legend, notes specialty foods magazine “The Nibble.”
“One day, as his (apprentice) attempted to make pastry cream, he accidentally poured hot cream into a bowl of chocolate chunks rather than the bowl of sugared egg he should have aimed for,” according to the magazine. “As the chocolate and cream mixture hardened, he found he could work the chocolate paste with his hands to form a bumpy, lopsided ball.”
The ball was rolled into cocoa powder, and was named for its resemblance to truffle fungus.