Merry Carbohydrate.. I mean Christmas everyone! I am up to my elbows in baking and thought I would sare one of my tips on melting white or dark chocolate for dipping and other recipes. Its actually an alton brown technique, but i adopted it. Use a heating pad. Put your chocolate in a glass or metal bowl. Lay the heating pad in another bowl and snuggle the bowl with the chocolate into it on top of the heating pad. Turn the heating pad on high, cover with a dishtowel and walk away. The chocolate will slowly melt AND heres the good part... it won't get so warm that it has to be tempered. You can do your dipping or spreading and it sets up beautifuly! I like to put my chocolate into a tall drinking glass and use it to dip the big pretzle rods. If you have a lot to do you can keep adding some chocolate to it. I also like this technique when im putting together a dozen things at once because you don't have to babysit the chocolate, it will be ready when you are. Hope this is useful to someone.
