How to Melt Chocolate In the Microwave - A Tutorial

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

Foodie Friday