How can I resolidify (temper?) pure cocoa butter?

October 25, 2013 7:39 PM

How can I get liquified cocoa butter and candy to reharden?

Contrary to my Metafilter alias, I am not a chef. I do create recipes though, and am a little unclear about the properties of cocoa butter. I've read how to temper chocolate using a thermometer, although I haven't attempted to hand temper chocolate with a thermometer yet.

The candy coating I am making do not contain cocoa solids. Just nut butter, food grade cocoa butter, and a couple of powdered ingredients. I expected the cocoa butter to firm up my homemade candy coating, but the coating, and the cocoa butter I melted in a bowl, have not resolidified yet. It's been 3 hours since I melted the cocoa butter in the microwave.

Do I need to stir in some "seed" cocoa butter, in the form of shavings, perhaps? How can I get the butter and candy to reharden?

posted by sunnychef88 to Food & Drink (4 answers total)

Stick it in the fridge?
posted by aniola at 8:41 PM on October 25, 2013

Best answer: Cold is your friend.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 9:45 PM on October 25, 2013

What's the ratio of nut butter to cocoa butter? If you have too much nut butter it's possible that it won't ever get truly hard. But yes, refrigerate and see what happens.
posted by Bella Sebastian at 11:09 PM on October 25, 2013

Best answer: Yes the oil in the nuts is leaching into the cocoa butter and softening it by dissolving some of the fat crystals. You see something similar in Peanut Butter Cups - the bottom layer of chocolate is often quite soft while the surrounding ring is further away from the nut oils and stays harder.

I don't think the product is going to work.
posted by Fiery Jack at 4:05 AM on October 26, 2013 [3 favorites]