Create your own personalized mini chocolate bars during a workshop at Mon Jardin Chocolaté

Enjoying some chocolate is undeniably a pleasure shared by many! But instead of simply buying it, why not make your own right at home? Several Parisian chocolatiers invite you to dive into the world of cacao and its history through intimate workshops. In the 14th arrondissement, not far from Gare Montparnasse, Carine hosts these fun sessions several times a month. Participants leave feeling proud of having created something by hand—and ready to savor their homemade sweet treats.

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In 2015, Carine Dhers launched Mon Jardin Chocolaté, her organic, handcrafted chocolate boutique. She sources cacao beans from Sao Tomé that are certified organic and Fair Trade. While there is an immersive workshop inside the laboratory for a full morning of discovery, we participated in a more hands-on session to create our own mini chocolate bars, which costs 99 euros.

In a cozy setting amidst the shop, we started by discussing our relationship with chocolate before listening to Carine's storytelling about the journey of her cacao, from harvest to transformation, and then outlining the technical steps we would undertake during the next two and a half hours, with a tasting along the way. Once we’re ready, we put on hairnets and aprons, then dive into the work!

Carine offers us a piece of her chocolate — either dark or milk, according to your preference. We break a few squares to add into the melted chocolate already prepared in the lab. This chocolate, which contains 75% cocoa for the dark version and 38% for milk, is kept at a precise temperature to ensure proper working. If not, it won’t have that appealing shine.

To incorporate our chunk of chocolate (the other half is for us to enjoy at home), we stir gently with a spatula as close to the bottom of the bowl as possible, to avoid creating bubbles — a technique known as tabling.

Even with a few remnants remaining, we do our best before pouring the mixture into a pastry bag. Don't worry if you're not a seasoned baker; the process is quite straightforward and easy to pick up!

With the chocolate ready, speed is key. If your hands are cold, the chocolate may cool too quickly and solidify unevenly, requiring re-heating. Warm hands have the advantage here, which might be a tad frustrating if you're more about taking your time to fill the molds!

We flip our mini-mold over, then fill it progressively with chocolate and sprinkle on decorations to customize our bars. On the table, several jars offer a variety of toppings: sesame seeds, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts, coconut, or buckwheat. Once the chocolate is poured into the mold, add your chosen ingredients quickly before it sets.

After filling and decorating, it’s off to the fridge! Meanwhile, we prepare wrapping to take our creations home or gift them, customizing little packages. Once cooled, all that remains is to demold our beautiful bars, store them carefully, and of course, sample a few pieces — after all, it’s part of the experience!

If you’re seeking a purely technical chocolate-making course, longer workshops might suit you better. Here, the emphasis is more playful and indulgent, with the option to customize your own bar. The venue can be privately booked for bachelorette parties, or team-building events — though space is somewhat limited, with the workshop table in the middle, making group sizes a bit restricted.

This sweet interlude offers a wonderful glimpse into why the craft of artisan chocolatier is a daily challenge — a perfect blend of passion, precision, and creativity!