How to Melt Chocolate for Dipping

I love dipping things in chocolate!  Almost anything tastes better dipped in chocolate!  Chocolate covered pretzels, marshmallows, cookies, strawberries, bananas, raspberries...I love chocolate covered treats!  But not only does it taste good, it is also a simple way to make homemade goodies!



Chocolate Covered Marshmallows on a Stick with Jimmies



But before you dip, you have to melt your chocolate.  It sounds simple, yet I have found, that it can be so easy to mess up!

I recently received an email asking for help and advice on how to melt chocolate so I thought I would share all of my hints, tricks and tips with everyone! 

1.  Decide if you are going to use real chocolate (like chocolate chips) or melting chocolate (like Wilton's melting chocolate.)  This will make a difference.  Regular chocolate is more difficult to melt correctly.  Melting chocolate has more room for error.
2. Decide how you are going to melt your chocolate: 
• Melting Chocolate in a double broiler will give you the best results with the least room for error, however, it takes longer and is not always the easiest way.
• To melt in a double broiler, place a small amount of water in the bottom pan of a double broiler, the water should not touch the top pot.  Place the chocolate or melting chocolate in the top pot and start heating.  Stir frequently until chocolate is just melted, turn the heat off and dip away. 
• Melting chocolate in the microwave is quickest, dirties the fewest dishes and is my go-to method even though it can be trickier.  
• When melting chocolate or melting chocolate in the microwave, place chocolate in a microwave safe dish (I use a mug).  Be careful, the dish will get hot!
• If you are using regular chocolate or melting chocolate, set the power to 50% and microwave for 30 seconds at a time. 
• Stir in between each 30 second interval.  This is important!  Chocolate can actually retain its shape while being completely melted, so if you go by sight alone, you will overheat your chocolate! 
• When your chocolate is mostly melted, use smaller intervals, 20 seconds, 10 seconds, 8 seconds.  Really.  A few seconds can make the difference between melted chocolate and overheated chocolate, so be careful!!! 
• When your chocolate (or melting chocolate) is almost completely melted, just stir it.  Most likely the last couple of chocolate pieces will melt.  This is a great way to insure you do not overheat your chocolate. 

Chocolate is easily overheated.  The symptoms of overheated chocolate are tricky to spot because they are similar to chocolate that is not yet fully melted.  Overheated chocolate will be thick, chunky and dry.  If you melt overheated chocolate more, it will just get thicker and drier.  There is a fine line between melted chocolate and overheated chocolate so just be careful.



Chocolate dipped Pretzels with Jimmies



Now you want to you know my real secret??

Vegetable oil.

Before you melt your chocolate, add in a little vegetable oil.  This will help your chocolate from drying out.  It can also fix slightly overheated chocolate!  Vegetable oil is my life saver and I rarely melt chocolate without it!

So next time you decide to dip chocolate, melt carefully, stir frequently, and add a touch of vegetable oil to your chocolate to ensure perfectly dipped treats!

This idea was also published in The Current


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