HI, I AM TINE :-)

It is so great to see you here!

I would love to help you create amazing chocolate bonbons with great taste, perfect texture, and long shelf life. On my website, you will find tons of help in both the free material on The Chocolate Blog and in my e-books.

Perhaps you have come across me on Instagram? It is me who runs the Instagram account tine.prefers.chocolate, where I - on a daily basis - share pictures of my chocolate bonbons, video tutorials, chocolate tips, and lots of other good stuff - all chocolate-related, of course.

Chocolate passion, development of chocolate skills, and collaborations

For as long as I can remember, I have loved chocolate. When dining out, I always choose the chocolate dessert. It has always been like that. Neither a crème brûlée nor a tiramisu is particularly appealing if you can get something (almost anything) with chocolate instead.

I have been making chocolate bonbons for many years, and I have taken courses with several different chocolatiers and have read books by the most well-regarded authors in the world of chocolate. In general, I have thoroughly familiarised myself with everything there is to know about chocolate - and I have done tons of experiments with designs and fillings - in order to achieve the best possible results when making chocolate bonbons.

For the past couple of years, I have worked closely with Callebaut Nordic and the Canadian company Roxy & Rich.

I am part of Callebaut Nordic's blogging team. Therefore, from time to time you will see posts on my Instagram account, which have been made in collaboration with Callebaut Nordic. In these posts, I present my take on a chocolate creation made within a certain framework set by Callebaut Nordic. As a blogger, several times a year I receive special packages from Callebaut Nordic. These packages contain delicious products from Callebaut, Mona Lisa Decorations, and/or Cacao Barry - and it is my (and the other bloggers') task to come up with and create a chocolate creation, which is within the framework set by Callebaut Nordic for the package in question.

As mentioned, I also collaborate with the Canadian company Roxy & Rich, which, among other things, produces cocoa butter colours of the highest quality. I am Roxy & Rich's first and only ambassador who specialises in chocolate. As an ambassador for Roxy & Rich, I create video tutorials every month. In these videos, I use Roxy & Rich's products - mainly their beautiful cocoa butter colours - to create colourful designs on chocolate bonbons, chocolate bars, and chocolate tablets.

Why e-books about chocolate bonbons?

My e-books, which you can purchase in the web shop, are written based on the many practical experiences I have gained during my dozens (and dozens!) of hours in the chocolate kitchen as well as all the theoretical knowledge about chocolate that I have acquired over the past several years.

I am often asked the question of what made me write the first e-book. That is the e-book "CHOCOLATE BONBONS - a practical guide", which got a fantastic reception from the chocolate crowd right from the start when it was released in 2022, and which has sold tons of copies worldwide.

Well, back to what made me write the first e-book. I got the idea to write "CHOCOLATE BONBONS - a practical guide" back in 2021 because - in my opinion - the Danish market lacked such a book. As far as I know, there was no such practically based book on chocolate bonbons on the international market either.

I wanted to write a book that went in-depth and that gave you, the reader, answers and solutions to all the practical questions and challenges that you encounter along the way in the process of making chocolate bonbons. I wanted it to be a book that takes you, who is a beginner, by the hand, and which gives you, who is experienced, additional tips and tricks that you can use in your chocolate kitchen. Based on all the feedback I get from my readers, I am proud to say that I have succeeded in writing the book for both the beginners and the experienced.

As a bonus, with the book I wanted to open the eyes of more chocolate enthusiasts to the fact that it is not difficult to produce fillings that are balanced. In other words, to produce fillings that both taste insanely good, have a perfect texture, and which have a shelf life which is longer than just a few weeks. On the internet (and in some chocolate books), you can find recipes for, e.g. ganache, where the only sugar included is glucose syrup. Such a ganache always has been and always will be (pardon my French) rubbish.

What nonsense, you might think. Because you have probably also tried to make a ganache which - as far as sugar is concerned - was based exclusively on glucose syrup. And you probably thought that the ganache tasted fine. I can reveal to you that I thought the very same when I first started out making chocolate bonbons.

But I promise you, once you have tasted a ganache that is based on more sugars than just glucose syrup, you will not go back. The taste and texture are on a whole other level. You will experience perfectly matched sweetness and silky smooth (and totally addictive) texture. A texture that is very different from ganache made with glucose syrup as the only sugar, where the texture will often have a slightly sticky mouthfeel instead of the silky smooth sensation that we strive for.

Using sugars like sorbitol, invert sugar, and dextrose is nothing less than a game changer for your ganache. Are they difficult to get hold of? Not really. You probably cannot get these types of sugars in your local supermarket, like you can with glucose syrup. But you should be able to get them online, perhaps even in your favourite chocolate web shop. So the next time you place chocolate moulds, coloured cocoa butter, chocolate, and other delicious ingredients or cool equipment for making chocolate bonbons in the basket in your favourite chocolate web shop, remember also to get sorbitol, invert sugar, and dextrose :-)

This is why I set out to write that e-book :-) Since then, as you may know, several shorter theme-based e-books have been added to my chocolate e-book authorship. Why? Because I simply cannot not do it. Constantly, I get ideas for designs, for fillings, for themes - you name it! When I ride my bike to work or to squash practice, when I am at the gym, or when I have a spare moment at home, well, the chocolate ideas come to me.

The private me

I am based in a suburb of Copenhagen, Denmark, with my husband, Jannik, and our two teenage boys, Joel and William. I was born in 1978, I qualified as a lawyer in 2002 and have worked as an attorney-at-law since 2007. For the past 12 years, I have worked with professional liability cases at a large Nordic insurance company. This may come as no surprise to you, but there is a very big difference between a weekday working with liability cases and weekend days/evenings working with coloured cocoa butter and delicious Belgian chocolate :-)

Thank you for reading.

If you have any questions for me or regarding my e-books, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. You can use the contact form on the website.

I hope you will have loads of fun in your chocolate kitchen 💝

Tine