Lubec - If you have an idea for an upcoming "Take This Job and Love It" email Chelsey at canderson@wabi.tv


Chelsey Anderson is catering to her sweet tooth in this "Take This Job and Love It."

Monica's Chocolates in Lubec has been recognized by the President and First Lady, Senator Collins and in print nationwide.

That's a lot of pressure, so Chelsey got right to work on Monica's popular bon bons.

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Autumn- "The inside is peruvian filling and then around the outside we have a collection of chocolate pecans."

The recipe for the peruvian filling is secret. It comes from Monica's father in Peru. Monica taught herself all the other techniques of chocolate making through trial and error, and from reading. She's been at it 6 years and has figured out the best way to make the tastiest chocolates.

Autumn- "Scoop up a little on the tip and you want to make sure it touches each edge of the pecan so when it dries it's all a complete pieced there.

Autumn- "If there's a little hole in it you want to fill it in so it doesn't dry out."

Chelsey- "Okay. Let's give this a try."

The process kind of reminded me of frosting a cake or mudding dry wall.

Chelsey- "Mine's a lot blobby-er than yours."

Chelsey- "Is that covered enough?" Autumn- "Yeah, yeah that's good. And just plop it right here."

By the time the tray was finished it was time to coat the bon bon entirely in chocolate.

Autumn- "So you just want to drop it in and then catch it on the fork. Scoop up some chocolate so it's all covered and then tap it on the knife to get all the excess off."

Autumn- "When you can start to see the outlines of the pecans there, scrape off the bottom and then put it onto the tray."

I gave it a try but I didn't really have the finesse Autumn did.

Chelsey- "I must have really had it swimming." (laughter) Autumn- "I think so!"

Once that was finished I moved on to the next station, which had a sheet of caramel laid out.

Monica- "You try it." Chelsey- "Yes, I will try it. I'm pregnant, of course I'll try it!"

Chelsey- "Mmm! It's really good! So your carmel even tastes better than other caramels; is it because it's so fresh?" Monica- "No, it's the best quality and supplies."

Monica searches the world for her ingredients but buys local when she can. She believes in helping Maine's economy and has increased her workforce each year.

Monica- "The idea is not to make money for one person, it is so everybody has jobs."

I stopped eating all the ingredients up and joined Rose, who was making sand dollars- or turtles.

Rose- "You just take a piece of caramel and squish it."

Rose- "Place it that way so the ends of the pecans stick out."

My turn.

Rose- "Just kind of squish it into the form of a ball."

Then I put the caramel in the plastic wrap and let the tortilla press do the work...

Rose- "Okay! Don't squish too much!" (laughter) "It will get too big!" Chelsey- "I don't think that's what we were going for."

So we rolled the caramel into a ball and I tried again.

Chelsey- "Okay. I'm not going to push as hard this time."

Rose- "That's good." Chelsey- "That's good?" Rose-"Yep."

Chelsey- "Okay, and then I want to lay so all the points...."

We finished the tray and then it was time to add the chocolate. Similar to the bon bons I coated the bottoms of the sand dollars, and then dolloped out chocolate for on top of the sand dollars.

Rose- "And it's done."

Monica- "We'll let that dry, we'll pack it, and it goes to sale."

So after trying my hand at chocolatiering would I get the job?

Monica- "I think so, yes. You were very good. I see you work down perfect. For first time, very good. Next year you have job here."

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For more on what Monica's has to offer visit www.monicaschocolates.com

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