At
Purple Chocolat Home
we LOVE chocolate.
Of course that doesn't mean that everything we make
is chocolate, but we love that smooth, creamy richness
as it slowly melts in your mouth.
There are some tricks to melting chocolate and as an
amateur chocolatier, I am often frustrated by the way
cookbooks tell you to melt chocolate. There are two
things that will ruin chocolate - 1st - water and
2nd - too much heat. I don't even want you to get
near water with your chocolate - so why would you
ever want to do it over a double boiler. Melting it in the
microwave is so quick and easy and you never have to
worry about it seizing from getting water or steam in it.
I did a post on the book Chocolate Chocolate
from the Park Sisters who are professionals and
they said to microwave the chocolate -
for their House Truffles-
HIP HIP HOORAY!
This is what I have advocated
for years. And NO you don't have to shave it into
really small pieces - way to much work - big chunks
work great too and are so much quicker and will take
you only a minute or two longer.
The trick to microwaving chocolate, and I microwave
around 25 pounds of it each Christmas when I dip
my chocolates, is to stir it even if it doesn't look like
it has melted. It will scorch on the bottom and if that
happens you have to throw it out. BUT, once you know
how to microwave it, you can microwave large or small
amounts in just minutes so why do it any other way.
Ok, so this is dark chocolate which I needed to melt
and I only needed 4 oz - not a lot.
So this small amount is placed in a small
microwave safe bowl (be sure your bowl is microwave
safe or it might not just burn your chocolate, but it
might burn you as you get it out of the microwave).
30 seconds on high in a standard microwave -
Now the critical point - you must stir it up from the
bottom, whether it looks like
it needs to be stirred or not!
If I were doing a large mixing bowl of chocolate
I would stir it after one minute rather than
30 seconds, but with small amounts you
will want to microwave it in shorter bursts.
An additional 30 seconds on high and a second stirring and
the small bowl of chocolate looks like this.
(This is a total of one minute.)
If I were doing a large bowl of chocolate, I would
still stir it after 30 seconds on the second time in the
microwave, just to be careful. The most important thing
is to stir the chocolate off the bottom as that is where
it will scorch if it doesn't get moved around.
One more 30 second burst in the microwave and another
stir and the chocolate is smooth and creamy. If you have a
few lumps, stir them out rather than microwave it any additional
time.
Again, if I were doing a large mixing bowl of chocolate, I would
stir it after 30 seconds and then give it another 30 seconds. A
large bowl, cut into large chunks melts almost as quickly as a
small bowl. It will only take a minute or two longer.
Hope this makes your life easier.
(To answer a question - no you don't have to use squares,
I was just using them for the recipe I was making. This
works for chips, chunks, etc.)
Do please lick the spoon when you are done -
you know "Women need chocolate!"
I will be sharing these tips with
