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. Rating: 4.5

    Hi,
    For the 80% Dark Chocolate Recipe, can I use cacao powder instead of cacao nibs,, if yes, do I need to change the amount of cacao butter, and what portion do I need to use? And do I Milt the cacao butter and then add the cacao, or can I grid them on the food processor ?
    Thank you in advanced

  2. Rating: 4.5

    Can you use cocoa powder instead of nibs??
    And can you show a recipe for white chocolate??

    • This is good

    • I will use these a lot coz they are so good

  3. Rating: 4

    Really like to be your student. Want to learn the procedure involved in the chocolate making, the equipments and machines involved.

  4. Rating: 3

    hi Ann , i need to know the exact ingredients of milk chocolate, using cocoa powder, not cocoa nibs…

    • I made the recipe as is without the cocoa nibs, I didn’t replace anything, just omitted them. Worked fine!

  5. Rating: 5

    Hello! Instead of sugar, could I use honey or maple syrup as a sweetener?

    • You could try, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend it, liquids like that have too much moisture and can cause the chocolate to sieze, or crystallize over time. And if you add corn syrup, then you have modeling chocolate, so it’s hard to say haha– like you could do it, but I would recommend trying a test batch out first.

    • This is sh!t

  6. Rating: 5

    can you give the recipe to do this with cocoa powder? love your work!!

  7. Rating: 5

    Hi! You mentioned in the video a list of places around the world to buy beans from, though the video is several years old. Do you have a current list?

  8. Rating: 5

    Lovely recipe. How long will they keep for?

    Could these be produced on a commercial scale too?

    • Hi Samuel, Chocolate keeps for up to two years if stored in a dark (usually wrapped in foil) cool environment. To make bars for commercial sale I think you’d need to invest in a melange to get the grind step really fine so that it has a smooth mouth feel. There are a few boutique chocolatiers popping up who make their own bean to bar chocolate. Most chocolatiers just buy in bulk chocolate from callebaut, melt it, temper it and mold it or make into truffles. If you’re a big enough outlet callebaut does let you taste the chocolate flavours made from all different beans and choose your favourite combination to make a unique chocolate for your store.

    • thank you

  9. Rating: 4.5

    Ann…I did it!!!!!Look at my beautiful bars! THANK YOU !!!!

    • I can’t see your pic for some reason, but well done. It is quite satisfying to make your own chocolate from the bean.

  10. Rating: 4.5

    Ann, I got my chocolate to set at room temp and I got good snap but there is no gloss. Any advicd?

    • Hi Marie, Tempered chocolate will give the high sheen gloss when it is set in a mold or on acetate. ?

  11. Rating: 5

    can you use coconut oil instead of cocoa butter

    • Hi Oliver, they have different properties. Cocoa butter sets snap hard (like chocolate) and melts at about 34C – so it melts in your mouth. Coconut oil melts at 24C so it will not be hard at room temp – you’d need to keep it in the fridge.

  12. What brand of cacao nibs do you recommend I should use?

  13. Hello Ann, the milk chocolate recipe above, what is the percentage formulation because I know milk chocolates have different percentages?

  14. Hi Ann which type of chocolate is the best for making your blocks of chocolate with jummy fillings?
    I love the channel I made a masterchef dessert I turned out really good.

    • Hi Naomi, Ann likes to use a dark chocolate but mixes it up when making treats for others. It will depend on the type of fillings you want to use and what chjcolate will work best with that.

  15. Hi Admin How To Cook That. Do you have to use skim milk powder? can I use normal standard milk?

    • Hi Naomi, the balance of ingredients is key. Milk powder will work best, though you cab use full fat over skim if you prefer.

  16. Hi Ann. If I want to make milk chocolate can I just blend it for al longer time to make it smooth

    • Hi Amir, that won’t work.

  17. Hi Anne, i’m totally entranced by your chocolate creativity… one question, for milk chocolate made with cocoa powder and cocoa butter do you use whole milk powder or skimmed? Thanks, Peter H.

  18. Hello. Just a question. Can i use cacao butter instead of cocoa butter. Is it the same? Is it going to work?

    • Hi Apo, Cacao butter is the raw form, commercial cocoa butter is usually more processed. So yes it should work fine.

      • Am i going to use the same proportions?
        Thank you!!

  19. Hello, What is the finest kind of cocoa beans?

  20. Hi ANN ,
    Could I make this CHOCOLATE BARS ,and then reuse them to make chocolate truffles ?? and if i do not have Grinder for the chocolate can I use the food processor??
    thank you for your amazing channel , i have tried all your truffles recipes .

    • Hi Bdour, yes you can make bars and store for use in the truffles. You can use a grater attachment on your food processor to grate the chcolate but just chopping the chocolate up with a standard blade won’t work.

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