— Donna Marino

We have a lesson in essential vegan desserts on tempering chocolate. So what that really means is when you get, let's say you have a bar of chocolate. When you open the bar of chocolate, unless it has been damaged, it is in temper, it shiny and it snaps. As soon as the chocolate is heated, though the molecules, it's very technical, go there every which way. And the chocolate might dull when you're dipping something or might be softer than you wish. So there are several ways to temper chocolate. My preferred way, and I think it is the easiest way, is what's called the seeding method. So you use, you melt 70% of your chocolate slowly and properly over some barely simmering water in a band Marie, which you can make by sitting a heatproof bowl over, but not in the water, water and chocolate. Except in one dessert that we make in essential vegan desserts do not mix when the chocolate is melted, almost 100% you add in the other 30% of the chocolate, which has been chopped finally, or in chunks. Some people prefer the finely chopped chocolate. I prefer chunks but not really huge chunks. And you stir that in and your chocolate should be tempered that way. And you test it by putting a little bit on a knife or on a piece of paper and then you put it on the counter and it should set in about 5, 6, 7 minutes. If it hasn't tempered, you can melt it and start again. So Donna, that's really the way. There is a product called cocoa butter silk, which is tempered cocoa butter. And it is said that if you use a particular percentage of this cocoa butter silk in your chocolate as it melts, it makes the chocolate temper very easily. I have purchased some, I haven't used it yet, so I can't speak to that.