Ann Reardon

How to make chocolate at home bean to bar

how to make chocolate at home
Bean to bar chocolate is taking the world by storm. Follow the video to see how you can make your very own chocolate at home. The best part is that you can control just how much sugar to add as well as any extra ingredients.

Just as there are many different flavours of coffee as a result of the beans used, there are also loads of variations with cocoa beans. However it’s likely that most of the chocolate you’ve ever tasted will have come from only one variety. Bean to bar chocolate makers use different beans from all over the world to help independent growers and to bring those flavours to you. If you want to make your own chocolate then you can also contact a bean to bar chocolate maker to source a small quantity of cocoa beans and cocoa butter. There’s a growing list of bean to bar chocolate makers here. If you’re thinking about ordering some beans, then as a general rule 115g (4.06 ounces) of beans produces around 90g (3.17 ounces) of roasted, peeled cocoa nibs.

And even if you can’t get hold of cocoa beans, you can swap out the nibs in each recipe for half cocoa butter and half cocoa powder by weight.

bean to bar chocolate ann reardon
STEP 1. ROASTING
Spread the beans out in a single layer onto a lined baking tray. Take out any shriveled beans
Preheat your oven to 129ºF (54ºC) , put the beans in and turn the heat up to 250ºF (121ºC) for 15 minutes.
Turn the oven back down to 122ºF (50ºC) and open the oven door for a minute to let it rapidly cool down. Then close the oven door and leave the beans in there for another 12 minutes.

Take them out of the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes.

STEP 2: PEEL THE BEANS
The easiest way to do this for small quantities is by hand. Gently twist the bean and then remove the shell.

The other way you can do this is to crush the beans using a rolling pin. Tip them onto a bowl and gently blow with a hairdryer to remove the lighter shells.

cocoa beans where to buy

STEP 3. MILL THE BEANS Use a blender or food processor to make the beans as fine as you can.

STEP 4. GRIND THE BEANS
You can use a mortar and pestle or grind the beans as finely as you can. If you want them really fine like in commercial chocolate then you’ll need to buy a chocolate melanger, but they are not cheap.

Warm the mixture to melt the cocoa butter in it and continue to grind. If you are using a mortar and pestle you will need to add the additional melted cocoa butter now.

band to bar chocolate recipe ann reardon

STEP 5. TEMPER the chocolate. Make sure you temper your chocolate before you mold it or it will not set at room temperature. You will find my video on tempering chocolate at home here.

bean to bar chocolate recipes

how to make chocolate video ann reardon

Dark Chocolate Recipe Makes two 75g (2.65 ounces) bars
90g (3.17 ounces) cocoa nibs
40g (1.41 ounces) or 1/3 cup (icing) powdered sugar
26g (0.92 ounces) cocoa butter – optional but needed if you are making by hand without a chocolate melanger

milk chocolate recipe ann reardon

Milk Chocolate Recipe (similar to the proportions in a bar of Cadburys milk chocolate)
46g (1.62 ounces) or 3 Tbsp plus 2 tsp sugar
16g (0.56 ounces) or 1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp cocoa butter
14g (0.49 ounces) or 1 Tbsp plus 2 tsp cocoa nibs
24g (0.85 ounces) or 1/4 cup milk powder
Additional 8g (0.28 ounces) or 2 tsp cocoa butter if making by hand without a chocolate melanger

home made chocolate how to cook that

80% Dark Chocolate Recipe (similar to proportions in a Lindt 80% dark chocolate bar)
35g (1.23 ounces) or 1/4 cup cocoa nibs
30g (1.06 ounces) or 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
25g (0.88 ounces) or 2 Tbsp cocoa butter
13g (0.46 ounces) or 1 Tbsp sugar
2g (0.07 ounces) or 1/2 tsp vanilla seeds scraped form a vanilla pod

by Ann Reardon How To Cook That

2015

My Cookbook

ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.

114 Comments View Comments

  1. I just watch your video and i realize you came to Ensenada to get your chocolate beans, that amaze me so much because I never thought that you ever came here! I hope you enjoy you stay here, I really love your videos and I’ve been following you for a long time, send you a lot of love and take care!. XOXO ❤️

    • Hi Dannya, Thanks for the feedback.

  2. Would it help at all if I’d put the icing sugar and cocoa powder into the blender first and blend it for a few minutes? I know it’s not gonna be as smooth as in the stores but even a little bit?

    • Hi Emmi, As these are both pretty refined products, it probably won’t make any difference. You would need an amazing blender to make those mixtures finer than they already are. If you try it, let us know how it goes.

  3. Greetings –
    I also posted this comment on your youtube video but got no response, so here I am. I was wondering if in place of a chocolate grinder you could attach sort of a stone disk to a hand drill (as if it were a drill bit) and use that. Don’t worry about getting the stone attached to the drill, that is not part of the question. Also, a secondary question, would it be possible to in place of a blender use a coffee grinder? Thanks so much.
    Please reply,
    Duftyr

    • Hi Duftyr, This is a difficult question as Ann has not tried the grinding methods you suggest and so we really can’t comment on if they will work. Good coffee grinders are also used as spice grinders and may be sufficient for grinding chocolate, but it depends on the quality and how fine the grind can be and how the machine copes with the oils that are released. If you try it, do let us know how your chosen method goes.

  4. How long does this chocolate last?

    • Hi Ahmed, Chocolate will last longer if it is wrapped in alfoil and stored in an airtight container, preferably in a cool dark place. Humidity, heat and light will all impact the chocolate. Stored well chocolate can last months but it always gets eaten in my house within a couple of weeks. Best to use it within 2 months. If you add other ingredients to it, then the life of those ingredients will impact on how long you can store it for.

  5. Hi Ann,
    Can you make 8 bit cookies next week?plz! And also Can you please make a nerdy nummies cake? Because I want you to come to her house and surprise her! If you do tell her it’s from me! thanks!

    • yes they should nerdy nummies !!!!

  6. Amazing

  7. there are two anns out there and one has apicture of you and is called Ann and the other is Adminhowtocookthat. Who is the real one?!

    • Hi Katie, I am Ann’s helper that types up her responses to all your questions, while she is cooking up yummy things for her subscribers. I am sitting at her kitchen table answering questions on her behalf.

  8. We have one company in the Cape, South Africa that makes chocolate from bean to bar. Originally they used a modified washing machine to make the chocolate. My fave is the one made from beans from Madagascar its got a very Citrusy taste with hints of raisin, toast, vanilla and spice and also from Soa Tome this one have tastes of Sweet cherry, peach and apricot, as well as spices

  9. Where can I to bay the cocoa butter? I asked every supermarkets in England, but they do not saling cocoa butter!!!!!!!

    • Hi Liubou, this is a speciality product so I don’t think you will find it in many supermarkerts. Try health food stores or speciality suppliers. A quick online search for the UK brought up half a dozen suppliers. Here is one you could check out: https://www.buywholefoodsonline.co.uk/organic-cocoa-butter

  10. What brand is the chocolate you use? What is it called? I don’t live in Australia i live in Ohio.

    • Hi Katie, Sorry but You will need to investigate what is available in your area. Ann has provided a list of suppliers she is familiar with on the blog page.

  11. i was just wondering what you mean by cream in some of your other videos. sorry if this sounds like a stupid question. please please please answer Ann. im trying to make the chocolate cup.

    • Hi Sydney Locker, Ann usually uses what is called pure cream in Australia. As cream come in different forms and by different labels across the worl, she has set up this blog page to help you work out what it might be called in your area: https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/cream-use/

  12. Beautiful, Ann. You are always so thorough! 🙂

  13. Thanks for the tutorial, Ann! It’s a great way of making chocolate, I can’t wait to try it out some day! The Mexican Dark chocolate looks the best 🙂

  14. Thanks for cocoa idea BUT it seems like a lot of work for a candy bar ! i’ll just buy cocoa powder like VARONA etc. and good quality bar chocolate ! THANKS

  15. Where can cocoa butter be purchased?

  16. Where do you buy cocoa butter?

    • Hi Fern, You can get this from health food stores and local suppliers. Here is a link for some options on amazon: http://goo.gl/2bd8Sb

  17. That looks so cool! But I don’t have coco beans so I won’t be able to make this. 🙁 But those of you who can, ENJOY!! 🙂

  18. I’m so excited. I can’t believe that this is your video today – this morning I was thinking how great it would be to figure out how to make chocolate from the bean. WOW – i can’t wait to try this. Did you note where we could purchase the beans from? You may have mentioned it but i was so excited i probably missed it. I love watching your videos and then making them myself – a perfect way to learn.

    • Hi Jennifer, You will need to source a supplier in your area, though An has suggested some local makers hear. We found you can purchase beans and cocoa butter online with relative ease. The products are often available from health food stores.

  19. Very good

    • thanks Tulay 😀

  20. Thank you for this, I asked for this a while back and so excited that you did it. A couple of questions since I have done this before, I used cocoa butter and cocoa powder, my chocolate always came out grainy, when I add milk powder the mixture curds and when I try tempering , it doesn’t even though I use your tempering tutorial. Kindly help!!!!

    • Hi Dina, Even just using cocoa powder it will be grainy when compared to commercial chocolate because the particle size of the cocoa powder is bigger than what they process chocolate down to. If you want it really smooth like store bought chocolate you’ll need to use a chocolate melanger.

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