Yesterday, it was late at night. The kids should have been in bed, but weren’t. They have been too excited with all of the preparations for Thanksgiving and christmas happening in our house, church and community.
I started making “celebration sticks,” which is basically pretzel rods covered with chocolate and some delicious or colorful toppings. This was a request from my daughter, who just turned five. She wanted to make sure that these were available for the Thanksgiving table. Ah a girl after my own heart, making sure that the sweets have a place.
Anyway, as I was melting the white chocolate in the double boiler, I got distracted with the kids, and the chocolate seized up. Basically, instead of melting all of the way, it turned into a crumbly ball that was absolutely no cook for dipping in any way. I had to throw most of the first batch of white chocolate away.
In the interest of turning lemons into lemonade, or more accurately salvaging some sweetness from the chocolate, I thought I would post a blog on what you really are supposed to do when melting white chocolate.
Chocolate can seize up for two reasons. The first is when water gets into the melting chocolate. Chocolate just doesn’t like this, and instead of the nice velvet smoothness, you get the lumpy mess.
You can avoid moisture getting into the chocolate by making sure that the water in the double boiler is hot but not boiling and do not cover the chocolate. You can also avoid the issue altogether by using a microwave in short bursts to melt the chocolate. The microwave has its own issues that can cause the chocolate to seize.
The other reason you will have a problem melting chocolate is heating it at two high of a temperature. This will also cause seizing and can happen with the double boiler or the microwave, but is more likely to happen with the latter. Heat the chocolate for no more than 10 seconds at a time, and stir between heating.
You can read more blog posts by Mary Ann Romans here!
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