Happy Sunday and welcome to a new series I’m starting around these parts! I wanted to do an additional quick post on Sundays, with a quick tip for baking that is (most likely) a time saver or patience saver or a savory/everyday recipe that I make often, but haven’t shared on the blog yet. Today’s tip is a simple, but helpful one that I’ve found saves me headaches when I’m trying to easily chop chocolate for cookies or any other baking recipe. Also, this tip works like a dream if your chocolate has been sitting in the cabinet for a while (who are you, why aren’t you eating your chocolate?!) and has gotten harder than usual.
One of the best ways I’ve found to making chopping chocolate even easier to to warm it up slightly! I usually place my squares of chocolate on a plate or bowl and microwave it for just a few seconds, maybe 5-10 seconds at the most. I’ve also placed it in a bowl and set it next to the oven for a few minutes, if I’m preheating it for baking or have a burner on to cook something else at the same time. Heating your chocolate up just slightly makes chopping easier, since you aren’t trying to hack through chunks of hard chocolate, risking it flying all over the place or resulting in uneven pieces. Take my advice though, don’t stick it in the microwave and walk away, because you will end up with half melted chocolate and nothing to mix into your chocolate chip cookie dough.
And that’s it! Short, sweet and to the point. I hope this helps you just a little, even if you are just whipping up a batch of red wine truffles for your momma or a loaf of boozy banana bread for yourself. Happy baking!
Julia Mueller says
I love this new series! Very brilliant! I’ve always had a difficult time chopping chocolate, because the shreds are either too fine or too thick and/or chocolate flies everywhere. I never would have thought to warm it up! Thanks for the intel, m’dear!
Heart of a Baker says
WORD sister, I always have this same problem! I hope this helps just a bit in your next baking journey 🙂
Tessa | Salted Plains says
I am excited about this new series! I think chocolate is the one thing I’m always running out of – no chocolate is safe here! 😉
Heart of a Baker says
I’m glad you are like me!
Laura says
Thank you, for your tip with chocolate preparation ingredient. I will chop chocolate better.
Heart of a Baker says
I hope this helps Laura!