Chocolate

Some of the upcoming recipes will require you to melt chocolate. Chocolate is very fussy; if you don't do it right it will "lose it's temper." (And yes, that really is what chocolatiers call it—losing it's temper.) Basically, this means the chocolate will look ugly and won't be smooth-textured when you're done. You don't want to make chocolate lose it's temper!

I've found all kinds of worky instructions for melting/tempering chocolate, and I'm sure they give you the true and correct way to do it every time. But it involves buying a special chocolate thermometer, and heating and cooling and heating and cooling several times until it is just right. So this is the easy way to get it right most of the time:

This is for real chocolate--not chocolate chips (or Hershey bars, etc.) I'm talking about something like a Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate baking bar (I also like the semi-sweet). Or the really nice, expensive chocolate you can buy at nicer baking supply stores, like Peter's chocolate.

But for our purposes, we'll use two Ghirardelli bars, which you can find at the grocery store.

• Chop your chocolate into small pieces, no larger than 1/2-inch.
• Put about half of the chocolate pieces in a heat-proof bowl (I use a soup bowl).
• Bring 2 inches of water to simmer in a small saucepan, over medium heat.
• Set the bowl of chocolate over the pan, reduce heat to low. Do not let the water boil under your chocolate. It just needs to be hot.
• DO NOT LET ANY WATER GET INTO THE CHOCOLATE!
• Let chocolate sit until the pieces are glossy, have lost definition, and are fully melted around the edges.
• Remove bowl from heat and gently stir the chocolate until it is completely liquid (you don't want to incorporate a lot of air into it).
• It should just barely feel warm to touch--not hot at all.
• Now it is ready for dipping or molding.
• When the chocolate cools off too much to be used, add a little more chocolate to the bowl and repeat the process.
  
  

Simple. :-)