Tempering – the heating and cooling of chocolate to a specific temperature – is probably the hardest part about working with chocolate.

Why is tempering chocolate important? You know when you take a plain chocolate candy bar and you break it in half or you take a bite out of it and you hear or feel it snap under the pressure? Tempering gives it that snap. It also gives the chocolate a shiny finish.

How to temper

Now remember chocolate is already in temper when it is in the bar form. When you melt it you are taking it out of temper. Then you have to put it back into temper so that when you dip, the shell becomes shiny and snaps when you bite into it.

There are several different techniques to perform tempering chocolate. First you need to melt the chocolate. You can do this several ways:

• Melt it in a double boiler
• Microwave it
• Put it in the oven and allow the oven light to heat the chocolate
• Use an electric frying pan
• Use a chocolate tempering machine

The possibilities are endless. However, NEVER melt the chocolate over direct heat because chocolate can burn very easily. You will want to bring the chocolate up to a temperature of 110º F then cool it to about 88º F. Now as you are dipping, the temperature of your chocolate will drop thus taking it out of temper. Slowly – VERY SLOWLY – heat it up but do not exceed 90-91º F.

Now for some specifics.

Take one pound of chocolate and chop it into little pieces. This helps it to melt more evenly. Melt 2/3 of the chocolate and heat it up to 110 degrees F. Once that's done, take if off the heat and add the rest of the chocolate to the melted chocolate. This is called "seeding" the chocolate. It allows you to bring down the temperature of the chocolate a little more quickly than just stirring it alone.

Another way is by melting 1lb of chocolate up to 110º F. Pour 2/3 of that onto a marble slab. (Remember they are naturally cool). Spread that around until the temperature is about 82º F. Then add it back to the hotter chocolate and it should be around 88 degrees F. This technique is illustrated in Candy Making For Dummies.

I was watching Alton Brown on the Food Network (I'm a Food Network junkie) and he heated up his chocolate using a heating pad and he said that if you don't allow it to heat up past 91º F. it will stay in temper. I haven't tried it so I don't first-hand how well it works, but it sounds like an easy way of keeping the chocolate in temper.

Another way to temper chocolate is to use chocolate tempering equipment. A chocolate tempering machine can be quite expensive, but your chocolate will turn out perfectly tempered each time. The machine melts the chocolate and keeps it at a constant temperature of about 90º F.

Now that your chocolate is in temper, get dipping and molding!