3/6/13

what to do with melted chocolate that has seized up?

What to do with melted chocolate that has seized up?
Make bark!
IMG_1628
There has been a few times when I rushed the melting process, or had just the smallest amount of water left in the pan to cause a nice, fast, quick seize of the chocolate.
And the part I hate the most is throwing that chocolate in the trash.
Last week I had a nice (expensive) batch of high quality chocolate that seized up on me because I left the stove for a mere minute.
Cursing the whole way to the trash barrel to toss it, I saw a bag of salty cashews on the counter and instantly thought "hey, why not make a quick batch of bark?"
It worked!
You have to work fast though; move that seized chocolate to a jelly roll/cookie pan, place down some parchment paper, spread out the chocolate (you might have to use your hands depending on how thick or hard the seized chocolate is), then adorn with nuts, candies, fruit or whatever you wish.
IMG_1518
The only downfall (if you want to call it that)  it's not a smooth bark.
Seized chocolate after all is funky looking, but tastes just fine.
Unless you've burnt the chocolate then it might taste off.
IMG_1624
Why throw away that perfect (and in most cases expensive) chocolate away?


14 comments:

  1. You're a genius! I'm so lazy and bored when melting chocolate- about 30% of the time it seizes up on me. Thanks for the tip. :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. If you keep adding liquid to the seized up chocolate - slowly - it will smooth out again. It will be runnier, but it will still be chocolate and won't have that grainy texture. No need to waste it or make bark, if you don't want to!

    ReplyDelete
  3. i've a feeling whatever chocolate i work with will seize up so i am looking forward to making bark!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'd be tempted to drizzle in a drop of water or two just to make the chocolate seize...any excuse to make a good bark.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I hate it when that happens! The bark is a great idea!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have a really tough time throwing chocolate away, too.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Adding oil to your chocolate will fix your seized chocolate.

    ReplyDelete
  8. so relieved that your chocolate didn't go to waste--that'd be utter sacrilege! :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love when stuff works out like this - awesome way to save the chocolate.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great idea! I was left with an unfortunate amount of "useless" chocolate when I was trying (very unsucessfully) to temper chocolate for mallomar cookies. I used some as chips in cookies but the rest, I am embarrased to say, went in the trash. Next time I have "useless" chocolate, I am making bark!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Grrrr! I had this happen to me over the weekend and hadn't had it happen in ages! I'm even writing about it in my next post. I have the lump of chocolate in a tupperware b/c I kept thinking there's a way to salvage it! I hate throwing out good chocolate$$ Good call on the bark!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Could one make Haystacks with seized chocolate that has been 'fixed' ?

    ReplyDelete

I love your comments!

Share

Get This