kernel oil, to produce a wide array of confectionery products, including chocolate truffle centers, chocolate meltaways, and fillings for sandwich-type biscuits. Such products derive their silky smooth textures and melt-in-your-mouth sensations from these fat blends. However, cocoa butter and lauric fat exhibit different melting and crystallization behaviors, which pose limitations when developing confections made from these mixtures. Principally, the presence of lauric fat in a cocoa butter system can result in bloom or excessive softening (eutectic) in the finished product [1].The phase behavior of blends of cocoa butter and lauric fat can be studied to understand the compatibility and equilibrium conditions of a binary system. Eutectic effects can be visualized through solid fat content (SFC) profiles or isosolid diagrams, which depict the relationship between fat composition and temperature with lines of constant SFC and illustrate fat compatibility. Several authors have investigated the phase behavior of cocoa butter and lauric fat using isosolid diagrams [2][3][4]. In these studies, eutectic formations were observed at intermediate levels of lauric fat. Eutectic interactions are said to be due to differences in thermal properties, triacylglycerol profiles, and polymorphic forms of fats [5]. However, these studies were specific to cocoa butter-palm kernel oil blends and did not compare the phase behaviors of different types of lauric fat in cocoa butter systems, specifically coconut oil or a lauric fat fraction.The crystallization kinetics of cocoa butter has been a subject of intense focus [6,7], yet there is a paucity of research on the effect of lauric fat on cocoa butter crystallization. Ribeiro et al. [8] studied the kinetics of isothermal crystallization of cocoa butter-palm kernel oil blends by analyzing the increase in SFC over cooling time. The addition of low levels of lauric fat effectively delayed the onset of cocoa butter crystallization and decreased the Abstract Binary mixtures of cocoa butter and lauric fats have widespread use in chocolates and confections, yet incompatibilities between these fats can present formulation and processing constraints. This study examined the phase behavior and crystallization kinetics of cocoa butterlauric fat model systems and chocolate-lauric fat blends. Solid fat content (SFC) profiles and isosolid diagrams confirmed eutectic and diluent interactions, indicating a softening of cocoa butter by lauric fat addition. Crystallization kinetics of model systems adhered to an exponential growth model. High lauric fat levels delayed crystal growth and reduced equilibrium SFC of cocoa butter. Coconut and palm kernel oils altered the solidification mechanisms of cocoa butter to a greater extent than fractionated palm kernel oil. Chocolate systems displayed multi-step crystal growth that contrasted with the exponential growth observed in the model systems. At high lauric fat levels (30%), crystallization onset was significantly lengthened. Blends with high lauric fat c...