British Expatriate Network

Andrew, help please!
Have decided to make chocolates for Christmas and am now finding recipes which speak of tempering the chocolate, ie. melting it, then taking part of the mix and spreading it on a cold surface and then adding it back. Is this really necessary?
Also what kind of cold surface, I don't have a marble slab and I don't have a smooth counter top?
I have made choccies some ten years back and never did this so what's with the tempering?

Anne,

That is the traditional way of tempering chocolate. And yes, a marble slab/countertop is an essential part/piece of that process.

Like you, I haven't done a lot of chocalte thingies lately, so I did a bit of research and came across this

The quick tempering method is to melt two-thirds of the chocolate to be tempered to a temperature of 115F then add the remaining one-third (finely chopped) chocolate to the melted mixture, stirring until the mixture has reached 89F and is smooth.

So you'll need a candy thermometer, and some gentle heating too.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew, it's like having my own personal chef on hand. You're a diamond. I shall get the thermometer manyana and start tempering immediately. Thanks again. annie