"I always wanted my own chocolate shop.” Norma Kelly of Praline Pastry & Chocolate came home to achieve her long-term ambition, and the people of Mitchelstown and beyond have been reaping the delicious benefits ever since.
Norma, from nearby Ballylanders, attended secondary school in the north Cork market town before heading to the capital in 2006 to study for her BA in Culinary Arts at Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin – then DIT).
“I went to Dublin with every intention of coming home, but it took 14 years,” she says, “I loved living there at that time in my life.” Continuing her education with an MSc in Culinary Innovation, she worked as a pastry chef in Dublin restaurants Fallon & Byrne and Gary Rhodes’ Rhodes D7 while also lecturing in pastry at TU Dublin.
While making the most of all opportunities in the city, Norma’s heart was still in the countryside. After marrying Patrick Cleary in 2016 and moving closer to home, she decided it was the ideal time to open her own establishment. Tucked into a unit behind the main street, Praline opened its doors in Mitchelstown in 2017 with an offering that included coffee, beautifully composed cakes and delicate French patisserie.
“People thought we were mad at the start,” Norma remembers. “Especially because of the location.” Although the first iteration of Praline wasn’t easily visible, or in a spot that traditionally had a food offering, it quickly made its mark with people calling in to check out what was on offer and coming back to buy special occasion treats. Norma initially offered savoury breakfasts and lunches, but soon realised that she needed to focus on her strongest offerings.
“I knew I could bake, and bake well, but I didn’t have the space. When I moved away from breakfast and salads and stripped it back, I was able to build it up and add more things that I wanted to make.”
Change of mindset
The year 2020 was a transformative one for many in the food industry. For Norma, it was when she was able to properly realise her own vision for the business. The COVID-19 pandemic gave her the opportunity to focus on what she really wanted to do – and that was to work more with chocolate.
“We worked away with a skeleton staff, but most of the time I was on my own – which gave me time to think. COVID definitely accelerated the introduction of chocolate.” Expanding her production kitchen into the area that had previously been a sit-down café gave her more space and opportunities.
“I think people’s mindset about food changed during the pandemic. People treated themselves, they started to look local and value local, and realise what was on their own doorstep.”
Right from the start, there was a welcoming market for Norma’s handmade chocolate truffles and bars, and that has increased in the years since.
Chocolate has always been one of Norma’s passions – she was the winner of the best moulded chocolate award at the Cacao Barry World Chocolate Masters UK & Ireland in 2015 – and chatting with her in the production kitchen, surrounded by chocolate in many forms, it’s easy to see why.
Starting with sustainably sourced Cacao Barry professional chefs’ chocolate, Norma has used local and Irish ingredients from producers like Tipperary’s Galtee Honey Farm and The Apple Farm, O’Neill’s Irish Atlantic Sea Salt in west Cork, Mean Bean Coffee in Waterford and Co Limerick’s Ballyhoura Mountain Mushrooms for innovative and different flavour combinations. Her beautifully decorated handmade Easter eggs, filled with an assortment of truffles, are always popular.
While Norma’s original space is currently the production kitchen for the business, she went on to open a second outlet – Praline Pastry & Chocolate Café – on the main street in Mitchelstown in December 2023.
At the moment, she’s also busy working on plans to move her production unit to a bigger space just outside the town. This will incorporate a coffee bar – planned for later this month – followed in autumn by an on-site training school, offering classes in tasting chocolate, making bars, truffles, Christmas cakes and seasonal pastries.
Previous classes that Norma offered in Mitchelstown were sell out successes and, from my experience in her kitchen, she’s a patient and thorough teacher.
Family bonds
While building up the business, re-imagining and expanding it, Norma also added three children into the mix: Vivienne (7), Marianne (4) and two-year-old Louis. “It’s chaos at times with young kids but they’ve grown up with it,” she notes. “My parents [who live nearby] are fantastic and we have great childminders.”
With 14 people now working between the production kitchen and café, Norma is quick to emphasise the importance of her staff. “We have a great team, they’re like my family.”
She acknowledges that, while coming home was a great business move, it was lonely at the beginning because she didn’t know other business people, particularly in her age group.
“Then Mikey [Shinnick] opened The Town Coffee Company in 2020 and Kate [O’Callaghan of O’Callaghan’s Cafe and Delicatessen] came home from London during COVID,” smiles Norma,
“We’re very lucky in Mitchelstown. We have great support, regular customers and there’s a good business community,” says Norma.
It works both ways, and Mitchelstown is very appreciative of its locally produced chocolate and chocolatier.
See praline.ie
Tempering chocolate for Easter eggs
Well-tempered chocolate is shiny, has a distinct snap and no streaks. \ Donal O' Leary
What you need
An accurate thermometer
Bowl
Spatula
Palette knife
Stainless steel scraper (or you can buy paint scrapers from hardware stores)
Polycarbonate egg mould (for shaping the chocolate – available online)
300g dark or milk chocolate
Norma uses Cacao Barry chocolate in Praline but, for the home cook, she says that there’s no need to be too worried about brands.
“Use good quality chocolate and make sure that it has minimal ingredients – cocoa mass, cocoa butter, sugar, natural vanilla flavour, soy or sunflower lectin, milk powder for milk chocolate – nothing else. No vegetable oil, no palm oil, no other sugars, like xylitol.
“People get hung up on cocoa content,” says Norma, “but you can’t define chocolate by its cocoa percentage. Something like a 70% can be very bitter, or it could be really nice as well. It’s about your own preference.”
No matter which chocolate you choose, she says, it’s important to “get to know your chocolate, get comfortable with the chocolate and get to know how it feels as the temperature cools.”
Melting the chocolate
When it comes to melting, Norma is an advocate of the microwave. “There’s no water, no moisture,” she says. “No matter how hard you try [with a bain marie set up], the glass bowl gets too hot and you’re almost guaranteed to get moisture into the chocolate with steam from the pot.
“In the microwave, it’s important to go slowly and in increments,” she adds. “For instance, with 1kg of chocolate, heat it for one minute, then go up in bursts of 10-20 seconds, stirring every time and finishing when there are still a few lumps in the chocolate. Stirring is very important. Don’t go away and leave it.”
The seeding method
1 Chop the chocolate – it melts more evenly – and set one-third (100g) aside.
2 Place the remaining 200g into a bowl and melt until it reaches between 45-50°C.
3 Add the remaining 100g of chopped chocolate to the bowl of melted chocolate and stir, keeping an eye on the temperature.
4 When the chocolate is at 28°C, heat it up again to 30°C. When this temperature is reached, pour the chocolate into your mould.
The Table (tablier) method
1 Chop all 300g chocolate, place it in a bowl and melt until it reaches 45-50°C.
2 Pour the melted chocolate on to a clean, cool worktop (marble is best, although stainless steel also works).
3 Using a palette knife and stainless steel scraper, keep the chocolate moving by folding it back into itself until the temperature has lowered to 28°C.
4 Scrape it into the bowl and heat until it reaches 30°C. Pour the chocolate into your mould.
Don’t forget: chocolate can be mood-dependent. “If we’re in a bad mood or in a hurry, it’s guaranteed to go wrong,” laughs Norma, “but we can always re-temper it. There’s no waste in chocolate.”
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"I always wanted my own chocolate shop.” Norma Kelly of Praline Pastry & Chocolate came home to achieve her long-term ambition, and the people of Mitchelstown and beyond have been reaping the delicious benefits ever since.
Norma, from nearby Ballylanders, attended secondary school in the north Cork market town before heading to the capital in 2006 to study for her BA in Culinary Arts at Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin – then DIT).
“I went to Dublin with every intention of coming home, but it took 14 years,” she says, “I loved living there at that time in my life.” Continuing her education with an MSc in Culinary Innovation, she worked as a pastry chef in Dublin restaurants Fallon & Byrne and Gary Rhodes’ Rhodes D7 while also lecturing in pastry at TU Dublin.
While making the most of all opportunities in the city, Norma’s heart was still in the countryside. After marrying Patrick Cleary in 2016 and moving closer to home, she decided it was the ideal time to open her own establishment. Tucked into a unit behind the main street, Praline opened its doors in Mitchelstown in 2017 with an offering that included coffee, beautifully composed cakes and delicate French patisserie.
“People thought we were mad at the start,” Norma remembers. “Especially because of the location.” Although the first iteration of Praline wasn’t easily visible, or in a spot that traditionally had a food offering, it quickly made its mark with people calling in to check out what was on offer and coming back to buy special occasion treats. Norma initially offered savoury breakfasts and lunches, but soon realised that she needed to focus on her strongest offerings.
“I knew I could bake, and bake well, but I didn’t have the space. When I moved away from breakfast and salads and stripped it back, I was able to build it up and add more things that I wanted to make.”
Change of mindset
The year 2020 was a transformative one for many in the food industry. For Norma, it was when she was able to properly realise her own vision for the business. The COVID-19 pandemic gave her the opportunity to focus on what she really wanted to do – and that was to work more with chocolate.
“We worked away with a skeleton staff, but most of the time I was on my own – which gave me time to think. COVID definitely accelerated the introduction of chocolate.” Expanding her production kitchen into the area that had previously been a sit-down café gave her more space and opportunities.
“I think people’s mindset about food changed during the pandemic. People treated themselves, they started to look local and value local, and realise what was on their own doorstep.”
Right from the start, there was a welcoming market for Norma’s handmade chocolate truffles and bars, and that has increased in the years since.
Chocolate has always been one of Norma’s passions – she was the winner of the best moulded chocolate award at the Cacao Barry World Chocolate Masters UK & Ireland in 2015 – and chatting with her in the production kitchen, surrounded by chocolate in many forms, it’s easy to see why.
Starting with sustainably sourced Cacao Barry professional chefs’ chocolate, Norma has used local and Irish ingredients from producers like Tipperary’s Galtee Honey Farm and The Apple Farm, O’Neill’s Irish Atlantic Sea Salt in west Cork, Mean Bean Coffee in Waterford and Co Limerick’s Ballyhoura Mountain Mushrooms for innovative and different flavour combinations. Her beautifully decorated handmade Easter eggs, filled with an assortment of truffles, are always popular.
While Norma’s original space is currently the production kitchen for the business, she went on to open a second outlet – Praline Pastry & Chocolate Café – on the main street in Mitchelstown in December 2023.
At the moment, she’s also busy working on plans to move her production unit to a bigger space just outside the town. This will incorporate a coffee bar – planned for later this month – followed in autumn by an on-site training school, offering classes in tasting chocolate, making bars, truffles, Christmas cakes and seasonal pastries.
Previous classes that Norma offered in Mitchelstown were sell out successes and, from my experience in her kitchen, she’s a patient and thorough teacher.
Family bonds
While building up the business, re-imagining and expanding it, Norma also added three children into the mix: Vivienne (7), Marianne (4) and two-year-old Louis. “It’s chaos at times with young kids but they’ve grown up with it,” she notes. “My parents [who live nearby] are fantastic and we have great childminders.”
With 14 people now working between the production kitchen and café, Norma is quick to emphasise the importance of her staff. “We have a great team, they’re like my family.”
She acknowledges that, while coming home was a great business move, it was lonely at the beginning because she didn’t know other business people, particularly in her age group.
“Then Mikey [Shinnick] opened The Town Coffee Company in 2020 and Kate [O’Callaghan of O’Callaghan’s Cafe and Delicatessen] came home from London during COVID,” smiles Norma,
“We’re very lucky in Mitchelstown. We have great support, regular customers and there’s a good business community,” says Norma.
It works both ways, and Mitchelstown is very appreciative of its locally produced chocolate and chocolatier.
See praline.ie
Tempering chocolate for Easter eggs
Well-tempered chocolate is shiny, has a distinct snap and no streaks. \ Donal O' Leary
What you need
An accurate thermometer
Bowl
Spatula
Palette knife
Stainless steel scraper (or you can buy paint scrapers from hardware stores)
Polycarbonate egg mould (for shaping the chocolate – available online)
300g dark or milk chocolate
Norma uses Cacao Barry chocolate in Praline but, for the home cook, she says that there’s no need to be too worried about brands.
“Use good quality chocolate and make sure that it has minimal ingredients – cocoa mass, cocoa butter, sugar, natural vanilla flavour, soy or sunflower lectin, milk powder for milk chocolate – nothing else. No vegetable oil, no palm oil, no other sugars, like xylitol.
“People get hung up on cocoa content,” says Norma, “but you can’t define chocolate by its cocoa percentage. Something like a 70% can be very bitter, or it could be really nice as well. It’s about your own preference.”
No matter which chocolate you choose, she says, it’s important to “get to know your chocolate, get comfortable with the chocolate and get to know how it feels as the temperature cools.”
Melting the chocolate
When it comes to melting, Norma is an advocate of the microwave. “There’s no water, no moisture,” she says. “No matter how hard you try [with a bain marie set up], the glass bowl gets too hot and you’re almost guaranteed to get moisture into the chocolate with steam from the pot.
“In the microwave, it’s important to go slowly and in increments,” she adds. “For instance, with 1kg of chocolate, heat it for one minute, then go up in bursts of 10-20 seconds, stirring every time and finishing when there are still a few lumps in the chocolate. Stirring is very important. Don’t go away and leave it.”
The seeding method
1 Chop the chocolate – it melts more evenly – and set one-third (100g) aside.
2 Place the remaining 200g into a bowl and melt until it reaches between 45-50°C.
3 Add the remaining 100g of chopped chocolate to the bowl of melted chocolate and stir, keeping an eye on the temperature.
4 When the chocolate is at 28°C, heat it up again to 30°C. When this temperature is reached, pour the chocolate into your mould.
The Table (tablier) method
1 Chop all 300g chocolate, place it in a bowl and melt until it reaches 45-50°C.
2 Pour the melted chocolate on to a clean, cool worktop (marble is best, although stainless steel also works).
3 Using a palette knife and stainless steel scraper, keep the chocolate moving by folding it back into itself until the temperature has lowered to 28°C.
4 Scrape it into the bowl and heat until it reaches 30°C. Pour the chocolate into your mould.
Don’t forget: chocolate can be mood-dependent. “If we’re in a bad mood or in a hurry, it’s guaranteed to go wrong,” laughs Norma, “but we can always re-temper it. There’s no waste in chocolate.”
Read more
Chocolate delights prove love is the sweetest thing
Bean & Goose: ‘we tell an Irish story with flavour’
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