Melting chocolate requires patience. There is simply no way to hurry up chocolate and keep the quality steadfast.
Use only dry utensils. Keep hands dry. Chocolate is extremely sensitive to water. It will seize up, crumble, and refuse to cooperate. Don't ever add water to chocolate, not even one little itty bitty drop, unless a recipe explicitly says to do so.
As mentioned, patience is important. Try not to melt chocolate when you feel rushed or in a hurry. Somehow, the chocolate knows and provides less cooperation than when it is cajoled along with patience and humor.
It is best to melt chocolate when the ambient humidity is not extremely high. If you can avoid it, don't melt chocolate when it is raining or when there is a dense fog. The moisture in the air that gets into the house may affect your chocolate.
Two ways to melt chocolate are presented here, the oven method and the microwave method.
Whichever method you choose, remember that chocolate can burn, and does so easily. It can turn crumbly or into something with a gooey consistency that will hardly coat anything and may stay sticky no matter how long you let it dry.
For thick coating — like Mom used to prefer and also is my preference — melt chocolate only to the point where the candy center can be dipped into it easily. A more melted and thinner chocolate would result in a thinner coating.
Mom had a reason to cover her candies with a thick coating of chocolate — because people like it that way.
For melting chocolate in the oven, the temperature needs to be no more than 180°F (82°C).
A separate oven thermometer, the kind you set or hang on the oven rack, can be used to verify oven temperature. If your oven won't steady down at 180°F/82°C or lower, then the microwave method may be the best option.
Put chocolate pieces or chips in an oven-proof bowl. Then, into the oven.
Every 3 to 5 minutes during melting pricess, give the chocolate a gentle stir, enough to move the chocolate around and mingle the warmer areas with the cooler. The idea is to spread the heat, gently.
Put the chocolate back into the warm oven immediately after stirring. Keeping it out will let it cool down, which then requires more time for the melting.
A separate spoon can be used to scrape excess chocolate off the spoon used for the stirring. The two spoons can be kept on a plate where they are handy.
Remember that chocolate does not at all like to be hurried. The higher the oven temperature, the more you need to pay attention to the chocolate so it doesn't overheat.
When melted to your preferred consistency, move the bowl onto a not-cold surface — room temperature or a bit warmer should be fine — for use according to the recipe you are following.
The oven may be maintained at melting temperature in case the chocolate needs to be re-warmed sometime during its use.
For recipe inventing and testing, I generally use an appliance that the traditional Amish lifestyle has no access to — the microwave. It is a faster procedure for small batches.
Put chocolate pieces or chips into a microwavable bowl.
Microwave once for 20 seconds (just once!), or perhaps 30 seconds if the amount of chocolate is a cupful or more. If less than a cup of chocolate, just 20 seconds this first time.
Stir to gently move the chocolate around and spread the heat and discourage hot spots.
A separate spoon can be used to scrape excess chocolate off the spoon used for the stirring. The two spoons can be kept on a plate where they are handy.
Microwave again, this time for 15 seconds. Do another stir, the same gentle way.
From this point on, microwave and stir in 10 second intervals. Resist any temptation to microwave for longer periods.
After stirring, put the chocolate back into the microwave immediately so it doesn't cool down more than necessary.
After some 10−second microwave−and−stir steps — perhaps eight or more if the amount of chocolate is at least a cup — the chocolate should be melted enough for using according to the recipe you are following.
If the chocolate gets too thick while being used, it may be microwaved another 10 second interval, and stirred — perhaps several times.
