How To Temper Chocolate

Tempering chocolate at home can be tricky, and you can easily end up with clumpy or spotty results. Getting the temper right, though, gives you a lovely feeling of accomplishment, and you will be proud to share your beautiful chocolates!

The keys to successfully tempering chocolate are:

• Read through all the steps several times before you begin.

• Have everything you need set out and ready to use.

• Have all of your ingredients at room temperature. There are a few exceptions to this that I will cover later in individual recipes, but for dipping fruit or making chocolate bark, you want everything at room temperature. (Everything includes whatever you will be dipping in or mixing into your tempered chocolate!)

• Microwave on 50% power only! Any stronger will make your chocolate overheat. The heating times below are based on my 1000 watt microwave. You may need shorter times if your microwave has a higher wattage, or additional heating intervals if your microwave has a lower wattage.

• Follow the directions! I had many failures at the beginning, and those experiences helped me to figure out what not to do. The directions below work well nearly every time, so be sure to follow them!

STEP 1:  Add the 10 oz bag of vegan chocolate chunks or chips to a medium sized glass bowl:

STEP 2:  Add the shortening:

STEP 3:  Make sure to set your microwave to 50% power each time! Start by heating the chocolate for 1 minute. Not much will have happened, but stir it with a spatula anyway to spread the shortening over the chocolate. Next, only heat for 45 seconds at a time, stirring after each, until it looks like this (it should take 2-3 times): 

STEP 4:  Microwave again at 50% power, but now only for 30 second intervals until all the chunks are melted. It should only take one or two times, and be sure to stir before deciding if it needs additional time as the chocolate will not look melted until stirred. It should look like this:

STEP 5:  Check the temperature of the melted chocolate. You want it to be between 105 and 107 degrees Fahrenheit (40.5 to 41.6 Celsius). If it is too warm, wait until it cools sufficiently to go to step 6. If it is too cool, heat at 50% power for an additional 15 seconds, stir, and recheck the temperature. Repeat if needed.

STEP 6:  Add the 2 oz of vegan mini chocolate chips, and gently stir them in. You don’t need to be too careful here, but you don’t want to introduce many air bubbles as they will show on your finished chocolates:

STEP 7:  Keep stirring gently until the chips are fully melted. Congratulations! Your chocolate is tempered and ready to use!