How To Make Chocolate Clusters From the Master Chocolatiers at Chuao

Could there be anything more fun than getting a tour of a real-life chocolate factory? We don’t think so! We were fortunate enough to get to explore the Chuao Chocolatier headquarters with Willie Wonka himself, Chef Michael Antonorsi.

We know to always wash our hands before cooking in the kitchen, but did you know that when you are in a candy factory you get to wear a hair net? We wouldn’t want any strands of hair to fall into the chocolate! Chef Michael even wore one to cover his beard.

We’ve never seen so much chocolate in one place. It was like a big bathtub filled with melted deliciousness. And yummmmm, the smells were incredible!

Chef Michael took us around and showed us how they made their bars. The staff was making their “oh my s’mores” bars while we were there, so we got to see them put all the marshmallows on top of each bar by hand.

Before we came to Chuao, our mom had us watch the “I Love Lucy” episode when Lucy and Ethel were working at the candy factory. That was such a funny TV show! We felt like Lucy and Ethel as we sampled the goods and watched the conveyor belt quickly pass the chocolate bars down the line.

Once the bars were made we got to see how they packaged them in the Chuao boxes. They make A LOT of chocolate here! We were in absolute heaven!

After our tour, we started to get down to business. Chef Michael showed us all the ingredients we would be working with to make the clusters.

We learned all about melting chocolate. It can be a tricky process. You have to use a double boiler so it doesn’t burn. And you have to make sure that no water splashes into the chocolate. That happened to our mom once. She says she had to throw it all out and start all over again. It was a big bummer to ruin all that yummy chocolate!

Our chocolate melted perfectly!

Once it was melted we added the rest of our cluster ingredients.

We mixed everything well and filled trays with little scoops. One on the tray, one in our mouth, one in the tray, one in our mouth.

Chef Michael was so fun and silly. We had a blast making these clusters with him! And so much fun tasting them too!

If you’re ever in Carlsbad, CA, try to stop by the Chuao Chocolatier headquarters to take a tour and see how their candy is made. You’ll leave with a belly full of chocolate and a big smile on your face!

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