Chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate is always too soft?!
Chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate is always too soft?
Whenever I melt semi-sweet chocolate chips for anything (this time it happened to be chocolate covered pretzles), I add oil because this is what my mom always did. She always told me this keeps the chocolate from burning and getting clumpy. Problem is no matter how cold it gets or how long I leave it to set, it still is REALLY soft and melts all over your hands! Am I adding too much oil? Do I even need to ~add~ oil when melting chocolate?
Answers:
You don't need to temper semi-sweet chocolate. In most grocery stores they have a chocolate bark you can buy and it's perfect for chocolate covered pretzels. My son made these when he was in school and sold them. He used the pretzel rods. It's about $2.79 for a block of this bark. Look for it in your cake mix area.
No, you don't need to add oil, just melt the chocolate very slowly over low heat in a double boiler (2 pans, the lower one filled with hot water) and you shouldn't have a melty mess again!!
I have never added oil to my chocolate when melting it for dipping. I just buy a good quality melting chocolate from my local cake/candy supply store. I am sure that is why your's is too soft.
I melt mine in a heavy glass bowl in the microwave--making sure to stir it every 10 seconds or so. This is easier than the double broiler method, but just as effective. I dip strawberries all the time and pretzle rods at Christmas time. I have never had clumpy chocolate unless I get a drop of water in it, or heat it too long.
Searching for "tempering chocolate" will help...
Basically, the way that chocolate hardens depends on how high it was heated. If memory serves, you want to avoid heating the chocolate above 92F to maintain the crisp, glossy texture.
I agree with the other folks - using a double boiler is your best bet, and don't add oil! Some recipes also call for a little bit of parafin (household wax) - and I'll bet if you look at the ingredients for commercially prepared chocolate items, they probably have some sort of wax added.
I use chocolate almond bark to make chocolate covered pretzels.