Tempered Caramelized White Chocolate

Add a rich, deep flavor to your favorite white chocolate by caramelizing it! Perfect for eating on its own or elevating your favorite baked goods and pastries.

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In pastry school, one of my favorite ingredients was Valrhona Dulcey chocolate, which is a blonde white chocolate with rich caramel notes. It’s so decadent, with a rich, complex flavor. However at over $200 for 2.5 kilos, it’s a bit too pricey for me to use in my everyday baking.

To achieve a similar flavor profile, I like to use caramelized white chocolate as a Valrhona Dulcey dupe.

How to caramelize white chocolate

Caramelizing white chocolate is fairly simple, and requires more patience than skill.

1. Start by preheating your oven to 250F. A low, slow heat will help the chocolate caramelize evenly without burning. However, I found anything lower than 250F simply took forever.
2. Spread your white chocolate in small pieces evenly across a baking sheet lined with a nonstick silicone mat or parchment paper.
3. Place the baking sheet on the middle rack and bake for 15 minutes
4. Use a spatula to mix the chocolate and turn it so it browns evenly. Place back in the oven
5. Every 10 – 15 minutes, mix the chocolate with a spatula until it’s a deep golden brown
6. Pour into a heat-proof bowl and give it a good stir to remove any clumps

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What kind of white chocolate should you use?

I like to use a high quality couverture or bar chocolate. My current favorite is Callebaut White Callets. It’s fairly pricey but significantly less expensive than Dulcey.

Make sure you are using a real white chocolate with a high enough cocoa content, not imitation white chocolate or candy melts.

If you want to be able to temper the chocolate, then you will need to use couverture or bar chocolate, not white chocolate chips.

How do you know when the caramelized white chocolate is done?

I stop once the chocolate is an even deep brown color. You can bake to whatever your desired level of caramelization is

The chocolate looks chunky, what should I do?

It’s okay if the chocolate starts clumping up during the caramelization process. Just give it a good mix every 10 – 15 minutes, and after its done baking to remove the clumps.

How to temper caramelized white chocolate

I like to go the extra step and temper the chocolate. Note this is only necessary if using couverture chocolate or chocolate bars. Chocolate chips have additives in them that make them very difficult to temper.

Tempering sounds intimidating but it’s not that hard! I like to use the seeding method to keep my work space clean.

You will need a thermometer to track the temperature of the chocolate. I like to use this one from Thermopro.

1. Let the caramelized white chocolate cool to around 104F (40C)
2. Drop in a few small white chocolate chunks (the “seeds”) and stir in. You should see the temperature start to drop. Stir until completely melted
3. Continue adding small chunks of white chocolate until the temperature is at 86F (30C). Stir thoroughly after each addition, and try not to add too much white chocolate as it dilutes the caramelized flavor. I try and keep it around 10% of the original weight of the caramelized white chocolate.
4. To test the temper – smear a thin layer of the chocolate on parchment paper. It should set and be snappy when you break it in half.
5. Once the chocolate is tempered, I pipe it into strips or drops on a parchment-lined baking tray and let set. I then store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Why you should temper your chocolate

If you’re going to melt the chocolate down, or put it in a baked good like cookies, you don’t really need to temper the chocolate since the heat will destroy the structure regardless. However, I find that tempering does make the chocolate easier to store and prevents it from blooming.

Tempered caramelized white chocolate is snappy and solid at room temperature. You’re able to touch it without it melting.

Un-tempered caramelized white chocolate is brittle, and still a little soft at room temperature. When I touch it, it starts melting and it also has unattractive white blooms.