Why Temper?
Tempering makes chocolates glossy, preventing the frustrating, unprofessional, dull grey film that can form over improperly prepared candies or decorations. Tempered chocolate makes an audible snaps when you break it. You only need to temper chocolate that you want to set with a sheen, you do not need to temper chocolate if you are baking a chocolate cake.

The Chocolate Tempering Curve
Due to the different ingredient mixes of dark, milk, and white chocolate their melting and optimal reforming points vary.

Two Ways to Temper Chocolate at Home
The temperatures in the processes below are for dark chocolate and should be adapted based on the chocolate tempering curve for milk or white.

1. Seeding:
   Fill the bottom  of a double boiler halfway with water and bring to a simmer over low heat. Place ⅔ of your finely chopped chocolates in the top section, ensuring that the pot does not not touch the water below because the intense heat could scald your chocolate, making it unworkable. Stir the chocolate frequently while it is melting and take its temperature occasionally, ensuring it does not exceed 115°F.Remove the top pot, drying the outside to eliminate the risk of water falling into the melted chocolate. Add the remaining ⅓ chocolate to the bowl and stir constantly to incorporate. The process of adding the extra ⅓ chocolate and stirring will reduce the temperature of the chocolate and encourage your melted chocolate to set up correctly. Take the temperature of your chocolate occasionally, and keep stirring until you reach 84°F.
2. Ice Water:
   Using two identical bowls, fill one with just enough ice water so that the other can rest inside without spilling the water.In your second bowl, which must be microwave safe. Melt your chocolate on full power for 30-second intervals, stirring in between. When your chocolate is almost completely melted, take its temperature. When the chocolate reaches 115°F, remove from the microwave and place the bowl of melted chocolate into the bowl with ice water stirring slowly, but constantly, ensuring that no water gets into the chocolate, or it will seize. Once it begins to thicken and reaches 84°F, remove it from the ice water.

Completing the Temper
Whichever method you use, after the chocolate has cooled, reheat it to a working temperature of 89°F. You can use the same double boiler you used to melt it, or microwave it for no more than 2-3 seconds at a time, taking its temperature in between.

Checking for Temper
Dip a piece of parchment paper into the melted chocolate and set it down on a hard surface. It should set up hard and shiny within 2-3 minutes. When you break the chocolate, you should hear a satisfying snap. If it does not set up properly, you will need to repeat the process.

Keeping the Chocolate in Temper
Tempered chocolate cools quickly, so it is imperative that you keep it at optimum temperature and stir frequently. If the chocolate starts to set up or harden, gently rewarm for up to 5 seconds, over a double boiler or in the microwave, and mix thoroughly. Check the temperature frequently to ensure that it does not go above 91°F because that will push your chocolate will go out of temper and you will need to begin the process again.

When in doubt…chocolate.

Although chocolate on Valentine’s Day is a bit predictable, sometime predictability can be a good thing. Usually on Valentine’s Day, I try to think out-of-the-box and spend weeks coming up with the perfect Valentine’s Day dessert for my husband. However, this year, time seems to have gotten away from me, so I knew I was going to go for something much simpler.

I am a pastry chef and my husband recently became lactose intolerant…talk about bad luck! Could it be that my hubby would never be able to eat one of my desserts again? Yes, of course there are pills that can be taken, but I really wanted him to be able to have a Valentine’s Day dessert that would be no fuss. No pills needed. No issues. I’ve been experimenting with lots of dairy substitutes, coconut oil, nuts, etc and have been enjoying taking on the challenge of converting some of my favorite classic recipes into dairy-free equivalents. For Valentine’s Day, I decided to convert one my favorite brownie recipes and turn my self-proclaimed brownie-hating husband into a brownie lover.

My husband has always said that he doesn’t really care for brownies. He’s always found them to be a bit dense and too dry, but as a chocoholic, I simply cannot believe this. I think he just hasn’t had a good one and so I took on the challenge of making him a gooey, knock-your-socks-off brownie this Valentine’s Day — and it would be dairy-free to boot.

Upon seeing them, he cautiously took a bite, but then quickly exclaimed that these were the best brownies he has ever had! You really don’t miss the dairy in these. By substituting coconut oil and water for the butter, you can still create that great chewy, decadent texture and the coconut oil adds a very subtle coconut undertone to the brownie.

This recipe is definitely a keeper!

Dairy-Free Brownies

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• pinch salt

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9×13 pan with parchment paper with flaps hanging over two edges.

Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and salt.

Beat the coconut oil, water and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Beat in the two eggs and vanilla.

Add the flour mixture and slowly beat together, scraping the bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.

Spread brownie mixture evenly into pan and bake for 20-30 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes and then use the parchment to lift the brownies onto a flat surface. Use a heart-shaped cutter, or several of them to cut the brownies into shaping, keeping them as close together as possible. This works best when the brownies are slightly warm. Let them cool slightly into the cutters before removing them and cutting out more. Cool completely, or just eat warm.

A little surprisingly, all of the tomato plants still look identical. I wonder if they will ever look easily distinguishable from each other or if they will always look the same to my untrained eye.

Right now, the mixed pepper leaves are much smaller than the cayenne peppers, but I’m assuming that’s just because they sprouted about a day later.

Sadly, some of the parsley and cilantro sprouts can’t seem to hold themselves up anymore and they have collapsed. I’m hoping it is just a watering issue and made sure to give them each an extra spritz of water today. Hopefully they will perk right back up.

The eggplant finally sprouted, with tendrils that seem to circle around themselves, until they straighten out and look quite similar to the tomato sprouts.

The cantaloupe seeds all sprouted as well. I can’t wait to have garden fresh melon this summer!

So in total so far we have sprouted:

• 4 parsley cells
• 5 sage cell
• 4 rosemary cell
• 5 thyme cells
• 5 cilantro cells
• 5 tarragon cells
• 5 oregano cells
• 5 chive cell
• 2 lavender cell
• 5 basil cells
• 5 cayenne pepper cells
• 5 yellow grape tomato cells
• 5 tomato cells
• 5 cherry tomato cells
• 5 zebra tomato cells
• 4 carrot cells
• 5 snap pea cells
• 4 yellow squash cells
• 3 zucchini cells
• 4 cantaloupe
• 4 cucumber cells
• 4 eggplant

The only seeds that we are still waiting for any action on are the mint…a bit surprising to me since mint is supposed to grow like a weed! Well, in that case, maybe it’s better that they haven’t gotten going just quite yet!

Over in the newer seeds I planted, mint, cantaloupe, eggplant and cucumber, 4 cucumber cells sprouted! Their sprouts, unsurprisingly, look very similar to the zucchini and yellow squash, though the leaves are just a bit smaller.

A second yellow squash cell sprouted, with a beautiful, tall, straight stem.

The second zucchini sprout is also standing proudly.

The snap peas just keep getting longer and longer…

…and the herbs keep on multiplying.

So in total so far we have sprouted:

• 4 parsley cells
• 4 sage cell
• 1 rosemary cell
• 5 thyme cells
• 5 cilantro cells
• 5 tarragon cells
• 5 oregano cells
• 5 chive cell
• 1 lavender cell
• 5 basil cells
• 2 cayenne pepper cells
• 5 yellow grape tomato cells
• 5 tomato cells
• 5 cherry tomato cells
• 5 zebra tomato cells
• 4 carrot cells
• 4 snap pea cells
• 2 yellow squash cells
• 2 zucchini cells
• 4 cucumber cells!!

Hopefully by tomorrow some of the other new seeds will have sprouted!

The initial zucchini sprout is getting enormous! It is now the tallest plant in the bunch with two very large leaves and a thick stem.

The sugar snap peas just keep getting taller and taller! I’m assuming that I’ll need to plant some sort of stake in the ground for them to grow around. I better start researching now so I’m prepared when it’s time to transplant them!

The carrot sprouts are also getting quite tall and are competing with the tomato plants in their plentifulness now! I also need to do some research on how to tell when a carrot is ready to be picked since I obviously won’t be able to see the vegetables ripeness in the same way as the other veggies.

So far, 2 parsley cells have sprouted. 1 currently looks like the cilantro and 1 looks like the rest of the herbs, so I guess it needs a day or two to figure itself out. Also, 1 of the sage cells sprouted. Interestingly, none of the herbs have a unique smell yet. I wonder when they get that.

So in total so far we have sprouted:

• 2 parsley cells
• 1 sage cell
• 1 rosemary cell
• 5 thyme cells
• 5 cilantro cells
• 5 tarragon cells
• 5 oregano cells
• 4 chive cell
• 5 basil cells
• 5 yellow grape tomato cells
• 5 tomato cells
• 5 cherry tomato cells
• 5 zebra tomato cells
• 2 carrot cells
• 4 snap pea cells
• 1 yellow squash cells
• 2 zucchini cells

At this point we are only waiting for the cayenne peppers and lavender to sprout! Also, don’t forget about the new group that we planted with the mint, cantaloupe  cucumbers, and eggplant…we haven’t seen any action there yet, but I’m hoping they’ll pop up any day now!

When I sowed these seeds I was told to do a bunch of each because all of the cells may not sprout. It seems as though I have the opposite problem now! I planted 5 cells of each veggie and herb, though I had 4 different varieties of tomato, meaning that in total, I had 20 tomato cells. I’m not sure if it’s fortunate or unfortunate, but at this point, all 20 cells have sprouted! The yellow pear tomato sprouts have gotten so tall that I may need to lose the greenhouse cover!

A second zucchini cell sprouted and looks so different from the first. The first one that sprouted was just a long white and green strand, however, the second one looks like a zucchini flower! It’s beautiful!

The snap peas no longer look so devilish, but instead stand tall in their cells.

Two of the carrot cells have also sprouted!

Over in the herbs, the basil that I thought was going to push through yesterday, has. All 5 cells!

So in total so far we have sprouted:

• 5 tarragon cells
• 5 thyme cells
• 3 cilantro cells
• 1 chive cell
• 5 basil cells
• 3 snap pea cells
• 5 yellow grape tomato cells
• 5 tomato cells
• 5 cherry tomato cells
• 5 zebra tomato cells
• 2 zucchini cell
• 2 carrot cells

I hope my family is ready to eat their veggies this summer! I also need to figure out exactly how I’m going to plant these. My backyard retains a lot of water and has a tendency to turn into a pond, so perhaps I need to look into building raised beds. Have any of you ever buit one?

The snap pea tendrils are looking more and more devilish every day and a third snap pea cell sprouted.

The thyme sprouts are all slowly growing little brownish red dots on their ends. I guess those are what will eventually actually be the thyme leaves. All 5 of those cells have now sprouted! I better start thinking up thyme desserts too! I’m guessing there will be lots of simple syrups in my family’s future.

Most of the basil cells look like the soil is being pushed up, so hopefully tomorrow morning there will be basil sprouts!

In total so far we have sprouted:

• 5 tarragon cells
• 5 thyme cells
• 3 cilantro cells
• 1 chive cell
• 3 snap pea cells
• 4 yellow grape tomato cells
• 3 tomato cells
• 1 zucchini cell

And as promised, I just had to rectify the issue of not having planted any mint initially, so I went ahead and did that this morning, along with cantaloupe, cucumbers, and eggplants! Can’t wait to see how those sprouts look!

It’s been pretty amazing watching the seedlings grown. So far, all of the thyme, cilantro and tarragon sprouts look identical. They all have very short, skinny stalks with two green circles on the very end. I guess they have to still grow a bit to get their individual characteristics.

On the other hand, the snap pea shoots look distinctively like pea shoots. So different from the herbs with a thick, light green curly tendril.

The tomato plants have a tall, skinny stalk with a small, flat leaf on the end.

And the zucchini sprout’s pencil-thin stalk seems to just keep getting longer and longer! It is now half white and half green.

When the sprouts come up, they tend to push the dirt up with them, making the cell look like an earthquake hit. There are a couple of cells that look like the dirt is getting pushed up, so hopefully there will be sprouts in them tomorrow morning.

In all of my hastiness planting my seeds, I forgot to plant any mint! How could that have happened? I’m definitely going to need to rectify that and plant some this weekend!

In total so far we have sprouted:

• 5 tarragon cells
• 4 thyme cells
• 3 cilantro cells
• 2 snap pea cells
• 3 yellow grape tomato cells
• 1 zucchini cell

When I planted all of the seeds, I planted 5 cells of each, assuming that some of them wouldn’t grow…apparently I’m going to be making a lot of desserts with tarragon this summer as all 5 of them have sprouted!

Looking forward to checking on them tomorrow!

This morning I came down to spray my seeds with some water when I was thrilled to notice that we have sprouts!

I’m so excited to announce that some of the plants have started sprouting! All 5 tarragon cells have sprouted as well as 2 thyme and 1 cilantro cells.

I didn’t think any vegetable seeds had started growing yet, but then I looked a little closer and wouldn’t you know it but one of the zucchini cells sprouted!

I’m so excited to come down and check on them each morning! I can’t wait to see what appears tomorrow morning!

I lived in New York City for 10 years and each year tried to grow a small herb garden on my fire escape. However, year after year my plants all died, mostly because I would forget about them. Out of sight, out of mind…

My husband and I moved to the suburbs in September and I am now determined to grow a veggie and herb garden in our beautiful backyard. A friend of mine, an avid farmer, convinced me to try and grow from seeds and so, I will give it a shot.

The process was actually surprisingly easy. All we did was place some potting soil into 2 50-cell growing kits and put a couple of seeds into each one. We labeled them, thoroughly watered them, brought them inside in a sunny spot, put the plastic tops on the kits and we were on our way!

We planted 5 cells each of 10 herbs: flat leaf parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, cilantro, tarragon, chives, lavender, oregano, and basil, and 10 vegetables: chili peppers, 4 types of tomatoes, sugar snap peas, zucchini, summer squash, carrots, and peppers.

Each day I’ll give them a little water with a spray bottle and hopefully I’ll be able to keep these guys alive! I can’t wait to see how they grow!