Make & Take Chocolate Class

Last week I came across a retweet regarding a Make & Take Chocolate Class from Allo! Chocolat in downtown Waukesha. My mom and I found out about these classes at a Freeman Friday Night Live earlier in the season, and she mentioned that she really would love to get a group together for a class for her birthday. In the short notice that the retweet offered the class as a Buy One, Get One Admission free, we decided that just the two of us should try it out. I called the next day and booked us for the September 5 Make & Take Chocolate class in the Allo! Studio for $25.

The holiday weekend threw both me and my mom off on dates and days and we showed up on Tuesday night. The studio was closed up and locked up and I was puzzled. That's when I used my iPhone and realized that Tuesday was the 4th and not the 5th. So we did what anyone would do, laughed and went and got wine!

We walked down to Generations at 5 Points and grabbed a table in the bar area. We were greeted politely and informed they had half price bottles of wine, so of course we ordered that and some baked brie and laughed at ourselves for showing up the wrong night. Both hit the spot!

Generations at 5 Points wine & baked brie

Baked brie close up

Ok, so onto Wednesday and the actual class. This time when we showed up, the studio lights were on and our teacher was inside ready to welcome us in. Our class was to have five students in it but the room could easily seat up to 20. We waited for the others to arrive and only two more showed up. I'm not sure how they found out about the class, but we are all fans of Allo! Chocolat so I assume that is our common bond.

The class teaches you about the different types of chocolates that the store uses to make all of its delicious treats as well as the history of chocolate. While you learn about the chocolates, you are tasting too! NOTE: come hungry because you eat a lot of chocolate in this class!

From left to right - bitter sweet, dark, milk chocolates

We were given a worksheet and a recipe sheet for all the things that were made in the class. The worksheet was more of a guide for us while trying the four different types of chocolate we were using: 72% Bitter Sweet Cambra, 52% Semi Sweet Dark, Milk and White. We noted the appearance, aroma, texture/mouth-feel and flavor/finish. So already in the class we had four pieces of chocolate in us :)

worksheet from Allo! Chocolat

The class then turns into the making part where we learned proper techniques to melt chocolate and how to dip. The first food that we dipped was a biscotti into white chocolate. With fall on its way, we even could put on some orange sprinkles. The teacher then shared some tiramisu truffles that she dipped in white choolate earlier that day with us.

Dipped biscotti

Next, we melted some dark chocolate (the teacher's favorite) and dipped oreo "cookie pops" into it while using the remaining white chocolate to drizzle over the pop. We even learned that instead of buying the fancy $10+ utensil to dip chocolate truffles, we could use a plastic fork with the middle two prongs broken off.

dipping tongs

Dipping in action

Finished dips

While the teacher made the five minute chocolate cake in the microwave, we learned how to pipe chocolate into those fancy cake topper shapes. Using just a ziploc bag and left over melted chocolate, we piped onto some patterns and then made some free-form options. Once the cake was done and cooled, whip cream was added to the top of our pieces and we inserted a chocolate decoration.

Chocolate piping

We also got to try some of the truffles that Allo! Chocolat sells and they were so delicious. This was about the time that I hit sugar overload and could have used a cracker. But it was all so wonderful.

Allo! Chocolat truffle

Allo! Chocolat buttercream truffle

I won't give away all the secrets of this class because I really think that the class is worth attending. And every class will be different based on the attendees. But we got to take all of our goodies home in a bag to be enjoyed over the next few days!

Goodie bag!

Allo! Chocolat offers many different classes for all ages: A Discovery Chocolate class is for the youth,  a cooking with chocolate class, make & take and later this year a warm your heart class with marshmallows and cocoa are for the more mature cookers and bakers.

My chocolate pipings!

I will definitely keep these in mind and I know that my mom is very interested in the cooking class and getting some of her "lady-friends" together for the class.

Allo! Chocolat is a gourmet chocolate shop on Main Street in downtown Waukesha. They make all of the chocolate treats in the shop and also offer nuts, caramels and nostalgic candies. It is a go-to for me when friends come in from out of town and they always love the shop. I also stop in for gifts, treats for me and definitely when I have had a rough week at work. My foodie penpal this month is most likely going to get a treat from here.