I Don’t Want To Be Like Chocolate!

Over the past few months, Heidi-Mari and I got hooked on the Lindt Chocolate Studio.  In October   CJ, Heidi-Mari, Josua, Christo and I did the Chocolate Appreciation Course as part of Christo’s birthday celebration. 

It was such a treat!  I never knew it was possible to experience chocolate with all 5 senses and having so much fun decorating Lindor lollies!

Then a few weeks ago Heidi-Mari and I went on the Chocolate Decoration Course!
  

This was quite an intense course. 

Before we could even start making any exotic chocolate decorations, we had to learn about the very delicate structure of chocolate.

A few interesting things about chocolate:

When melted chocolate returns to solid form, the cocoa butter in the chocolate forms a crystal structure. The strange or amazing, depending on who you're talking to, thing about cocoa butter is, it can crystallize in six different forms.  The crystal structure they take on depends on the temperature at which they are formed. If the chocolate is allowed to cool on its own, the crystals of fat will be loose, resulting in a chocolate that is dull in appearance, with white or gray streaks, soft & malleable, greasy to the touch and a chalky taste.  

That can be quite unappetizing.

Below is a table of the six crystal structures of cocoa butter (thanks to Wikipedia.com), the temperature at which the crystal is formed and their characteristics:

Crystal	Temperature	Characteristics
I	17°C   (63°F)	Soft, crumbly, melts too easily.
II	21°C   (70°F)	Soft, crumbly, melts too easily
III	26°C   (78°F)	Firm, poor snap, melts too easily.
IV	28°C   (82°F)	Firm, good snap, melts too easily.
V	34°C   (94°F)	Glossy, firm, best snap, melts near body temperature (37°C).
VI	36°C   (97°F)	Hard, takes weeks to form.

Making chocolate considered "good" is about forming as many type V crystals as possible, which results in a shiny, smooth in appearance and taste Chocolate, and it breaks with an audible snap.  After the Chocolate Appreciation course that is just as an important point, as the melting sensation in your mouth or the amazing aroma of different cocoa beans. 

So how do you go about to produce enough ‘good’ stable crystals so the chocolate will harden into a very stable hard chocolate with a slight sheen, snap when broken, and will keep for months at cool room temperature? Well, that was exactly what our very experienced Chocolatiers taught us for the first hour of our course!  You have to temper the chocolate -  forming the most of the type V crystals by carefully manipulating the temperature during the crystallization.

At first all six forms of crystals have to melt (different temperatures for dark, milk and white chocolate too!) Then the chocolate is cooled while solid chocolate is stirred into the melted chocolate to ‘inoculate’ the liquid chocolate with crystals (again different temperatures for dark, milk and white chocolate).  Crystal types IV and V will form.

The chocolate is then gently warmed to working temperature, eliminating any type IV crystals, leaving just the type V (again at different temperatures for dark, milk and white chocolate).  After this point, any excessive heating of the chocolate will destroy the temper and the whole process will have to be repeated.

The chocolate has to be kept at the tempering temperature while being used.

On Saturday, Heidi-Mari and I tried tempering our own chocolate for the first time!  We had all the right tools, the right chocolate, and were excited! 

One hour after we started tempering, it was clear we did something wrong and the chocolate didn’t want to set.  Somewhere along the process it was exposed to too much heat!  It was so sad.  We had to start all over again.  Thankfully you can use the same chocolate again, just add a fresh batch ‘seeds’ or solid already tempered chocolate.  The second time we were successful and we could start our chocolate decorations!

But what an effort.  The whole time we had to keep an eye on the chocolate’s temperature. The chocolate would cool down below the ideal temperature range, then we had to heat it up, but extremely careful to not overheat it.  All the time we tried to enjoy the moment, but it was a stretch!  

And while I was in the flesh, thinking of chocolate, searching the internet for some more tips on how to ensure perfect tempering with the first attempt, I was in spirit studying the Fruit of the Spirit, yearning to be more of Jesus, especially for my husband and children.

This week I studied Gentleness.  According to the Spirit Filled Life Bible’s Word Wealth, Gentleness is: A disposition that is even-tempered, tranquil, balanced in spirit, unpretentious, and that has the passions under control!  The person who possesses this quality pardons injuries, corrects faults and rules his own spirit well.

And it hit me like cold water!!  The opposite of gentleness is to be like chocolate!

I recently listened to a teaching by John Maxwell.  He teach specifically on leadership. I love listening to his teachings when I have the time.  A mother is a leader - probably the most important, influential leader in all the world, leading foolish and immature human beings,to become mature people who can change the world!  In this teaching by John Maxwell, he specifically focus on leaders who are high maintenance leaders.  Leaders who are more impeding, than leading.  More path blockers, than path finders. 

As I reflected the implication on me as leader in my home, I had to ask myself: “am I leading or am I impeding?”  Am I a path finder or a path blocker, a high maintenance leader and the biggest problem in my own home? I once heard, “Mothers is not supposed to loose it, they are supposed to find it.”

Immediately I saw the correlation between a high maintenance Mother and chocolate!  

Sadly I pinpointed some characteristics of a high maintenance leader in myself.

• Wide, mood swings

I’m a drama queen, one day up and the other day down, often it is impossible to quite figure out where I am. Some days I’m not approachable at all and my family have to tip toe around me.  My wide mood swings cause them to stay on edge, kills consistent communication, having them on guard all the time.  It’s especially weary on my dear husband and older children.

• Not in control of my passions

I’m a passionate person.  I do everything with passion, unfortunately not only the good things, also when things get stressed and I’m not in control, I react passionately wrong! When I’m busy with something I struggle to leave it to help a little one or stop when time doesn’t allow to carry on.  

• Overload and under underpowered

I often overload my children with tasks, without making sure they understand or have the physical or emotional ability to do the task. The results, a low moral and lost of creativity.

• Think of themselves first

How often I’m concerned about how am I going to look when my children are acting foolishly. Or even worse, what is going to happen to me, in a difficult situation? Selfishness is a sure sign of insecurity.  Did I mentioned I’m insecure? 

I often manipulate others, devalue servanthood, undermine teamwork, and bring out the worse in my children. 

According to Maxwell, leaders cannot afford to be insecure.  Leadership needs maturity, it is hard work, high expectations!

Leaders need to be responsible and accountable to themselves and others;

Leaders need to set positive examples and are valued by their production;

Leaders are subject to others opinions and continually face people challenges;

Leaders serve.

• Negative

A negative attitude make everyone around me sad.  Negativity limit creativity, fail to express gratitude, hinder communication, is the lid on the growth of the people in my home.

Now, there are three kinds of people.

1. People who know their weaknesses, but that are unwilling to change;
2. People who is to insecure to ask, “What am I doing wrong.”
3. People who know their weaknesses and change.

Since I’ve studied gentleness, I’m conscientious to be even-tempered. I especially take care to be balanced in spirit and have my passions under control. I don’t want to be like chocolate.  Just the slightest change in temperature or drop of water added and its a mess  and you have to start all over. 

Thankfully our Heavenly Father is a Father of second chances and we can always start over. 

I’m up to the challenge to change, I no longer want to be a high maintenance Mother, it is weary on my family and weary on me too!  

Who is taking up the challenge with me? Face the facts, dear Mother and let the truth set you free!! 

In 2 Peter 1:2-8, Peter (a man of great passion, who allowed God to temper him) encourage us with:

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Fruitful Growth in the Faith

   

5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I need knowledge of the Word of God, along with diligence, self control and perseverance, to see sweet fruit in my home. What do you need to be tempered? 

Come my fellow Mothers, are you up to the challenge?  You are welcome to share your challenge or part of it, in the comments below.

With much love

Linnie

Health Talks and Some More Recipes

Over the past three months, Christo started to give Health Talks once a month on a Monday evening at Eirene Health Shop.  It appeared to be quite popular. The latest talk about Natural First Aid in the Home, being a full house of 25 people!

In the Natural First Aid in the Home talk, Christo shared mostly out of our personal experience of having a house full of children, six of them boys, who tries anything from climbing trees, falling out of swings, hitting their heads on stairs - leaving blood everywhere, stepping on bees, riding wild horses and getting thrown off; to unforeseen burns in the kitchen; to a mother who cut open her head while spring cleaning the house (LOL); to babies developing high fever or diarrhea in the middle of the night.  

Christo demonstrated how to support a lightly injured arm or green wood fracture with apple cider vinegar, Traumeel S and lots of cotton wool. 

He showed what he did with my head when I cut it a few weeks ago while spring cleaning the house.  The application of yarrow (soldier’s bush) to instantaneously stop bleeding, cleaning the wound and ‘stitching the tissue’ with ordinary maizena.

Maizena saved us a few thousand rand, which would be what it would cost going to the emergency room for stitches, and I don’t have any stitch marks were the wound was.  

We also shared our well known remedies for shock and pain.  Each attendee received a small Yarrow plant.

Don't miss out on these Health Talks.  

Book now for December's In-Store Talk "How to Enjoy the Festive Season and Still be Healthy" on the 5th of December 19h00 - 20h30.

Every talk evening Heidi-Mari and I prepare a salt and sweet snack for the attendees.  This month we gave Spinach packets made of croissant dough

and 

Rolled Danish Pastries.  

Both baked with spelt flour (thus wheat free) and whenever sugar is needed, Rapandura sugar.

To make the Spinach Packets you will need:

½ recipe croissant dough

spinach filling (recipe below)

egg wash (1 egg and 1 egg yolk)

To make the spinach filling you will need::

300 g organic spinach (snipped into pieces)

1 onion (chopped)

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup organic ‘biltong’ (snipped into pieces)

1 cup plain cream cheese 

½ t salt

black pepper to taste

3 eggs

100 ml organic cream

• In a saucepan, melt the butter. On medium heat add the onion, stirring occasionally until the onion is translucent.

• Turn up the heat, add the spinach and stir it around over high heat until it wilts and all extra liquid has evaporated.  

• Add the biltong.
• In a separate bowl mixed together the cream cheese, salt, black pepper, eggs and cream.
• Add to the spinach.
• Allow to cool.

To make the packets:

• Line a sheet pan with baking paper. Roll the dough out big enough to fit into the sheet pan, about 5 mm thick, trim the rectangle to fit into the sheet pan and transfer it to the prepared sheet pan. Refrigerate the rectangle for about 20 minutes, or until firm but not brittle.  Reserve the trimmings in the refrigerator, until firm.
• Cut the rectangle into 10 cm squares, put back into refrigerator. 
• Roll the reserved trimmings into 15 cm long strips.  Halve each strip and put back in refrigerator. 
• When ready to fill the squares take 4 squares at a time, out of the refrigerator. Don’t allow the dough to get to room temperature, on a warm day.

• Put 2 slightly rounded teaspoons of spinach in the center of each square. 

• Fold one corner over the filling and brush the tip with egg wash. 

• Fold the opposite corner over the first and press gently to seal them.  

• Brush the top with egg wash, fold up another corner, brush with egg wash again, and fold up the last corner.  Gently push down on the center to hold the flaps together.  Pinch the corners and edges to seal them.

• Take 8 strips at a time out of the refrigerator and place 2 strands over each packet and tuck them underneath.  

• Place the packets on a sheet pan, lined with baking paper and cover with plastic wrap.  
• Let proof until the dough’s almost twice as thick, about 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.  Brush the packets with egg wash.  Bake for about 20 minutes, then check whether the pastries are browning too quickly; if so, turn down the oven to 160 degrees C.  Bake for about 10minutes longer, or until golden brown.

• Serve warm or at room temperature.

For the Rolled Danish Pastries you will need:

1 recipe croissant dough

1 cup hazelnut frangipane (recipe below)

2 tbsp rapandura sugar

3 tbsp hazelnuts, crushed

3 tbsp raisins

2 tbsp finely grated cacao

½ tsp ground cinnamon

egg wash

apricot glaze

To make the hazelnut frangipane:

1 cup hazelnuts (peeled as much as possible)

3 tbsp rapandura sugar

1 tbsp cornstarch or maizena

1 egg

2 tbsp butter

Peeling Hazelnuts: Roast the nuts in a 180 degrees C oven for 15 minutes.  while still hot, rub them vigorously together between two towels.This procedure gets rid of most of the peel.

• Grind together the hazelnuts and sugar in a food processor.
• Add the cornstarch and egg and process for about 1 minute, or until smooth.
• Add the butter and process for 30 seconds more.

Making the Rolled Danish Pastries:

• Line a sheet pan with baking paper. Roll the dough out big enough to fit into the sheet pan, about 5 mm thick, trim the rectangle to fit into the sheet pan and transfer it to the prepared sheet pan. Refrigerate the rectangle for about 20 minutes, or until firm but not brittle.

• Spread the hazelnut frangipane over the rectangle in an even layer.
• Mix together the sugar, crushed hazelnuts, raisins, grated cacao and ground cinnamon.

• Sprinkle the above mixture over the hazelnut frangipane.

• Begin rolling up the rectangle by pinching it along one short end.  

• Continue rolling, as tight as you can, alternating between tucking under the dough with your fingers and rolling it with the flats of your hands, until you’ve rolled it up into a log.
• Line sheet pans with baking paper.

• Slice the roll into rounds by sliding a piece of fishing line under one end of the log and 

• pulling the two ends across each other.
• Truck the little flap of dough from the end of the roll under the center to hold it in place and arrange the rounds on sheet pans, leaving at least 5 cm between each one to allow for expansion. Cover with plastic wrap and let proof until each layer of dough has expanded by 50 percent, about 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Brush the pastries with egg wash.  Bake for about 20 minutes, then check whether they’re starting to get too brown.  If so, turn down the oven to 160 degrees C. Bake for about 15 minutes longer, or until golden brown.
• Remove the pastries from the oven and brush with the glaze while still hot.

I’m entering the Spanish Packets in Heidi-Mari’s Fortnightly Baking Fun Challenge. 

This fortnightly theme is Anything Goes!  

Bon Appetite!

Linnie