Sweet Tips For Tempering Chocolate

If you’ve ever watched The Great British Baking Show or seen the hot chocolate bombs that took the internet by storm this past winter, you know about tempering chocolate. While it may seem tricky, with a bit of practice and few simple tools you’ll be making shiny, snappy chocolate in no time!

What is Tempered Chocolate?

Tempered chocolate is chocolate that has been melted and cooled repeatedly in a specific temperature range to manipulate the crystals within the chocolate. When done properly, it leads to chocolate that is shiny and hard when it cools at room temperature with a satisfying snap when broken.

Tempered chocolate is used for candy bars, chocolate decorations, hot chocolate bombs, and a lot of other really cool desserts!

How to Temper Chocolate

There are a few methods you can use to temper chocolate, including a stovetop double boiler/seeding method and the microwave method. If you’ve never tempered chocolate before, the microwave method is a great place to start – all you need is a microwave-safe bowl, an instant-read candy thermometer, and silicone or wooden spoon. For tempering chocolate, keep in mind that semi-sweet chocolate should not be heated above 90ºF, milk chocolate shouldn’t go above 86ºF, and white chocolate shouldn’t go above 84ºF.

Place 12 ounces of (semi-sweet) chocolate in the bowl and microwave it for 30 seconds on full power, then stir it well. Microwave it for one more 30-second stint then stir again. Continue stirring in 10-15 second increments (10 if your microwave has a higher wattage, 15 if you have a lower-watt microwave), stirring in between and checking the temperature each time to ensure that the temperature never goes above 90ºF. Once the chocolate is all the way melted and is within the 86ºF – 90ºF range, you’re ready to use it.

How to Use Tempered Chocolate

One of the most rewarding ways to use tempered chocolate is to coat homemade candy bars like homemade Snickers, homemade Twix, or homemade Kit Kat bars. You can also make trendy hot chocolate bombs!