Chocolate troubles

All bakers have them at some point in their lives - that moment of panic when you realize you just ruined that bowl of melted chocolate.

For those not in the know, I'm talking about when liquid hits melted chocolate. Your once beautiful, shiny bowl of chocolate becomes a gluey, hard mess of seized chocolate.

Here's what the difference looks like:

But, but, it makes sense, right? Logic would tell you if your melted chocolate is too thick to just add a little milk or water. Logic also might have just took your wallet while you weren't looking. Don't trust it as much now, hmm?

I had one of these moments just last week, which is why I'm writing this post.

I was making these brownies with my sister Jesse, when something terrible happened. I was microwaving the chocolate, butter and water together, when after a few stirs, it looked lumpy, inedible and disgusting. I wish I took a picture, because it looked pretty darn impressive - all the butter had separated from the cocoa and no amount of whisking was going to save it. Jesse looked scared, and we both contemplated throwing it out. Frankly, I should have known better. Looking at that ingredient list, obviously it would seize. I had just never had cocoa powder seize before. Chock that one up to experience.

Ok, so how to save this mess: I remembered hearing somewhere that pretty much the only way to save seized chocolate is to add more liquid. It sounds counterproductive since that damn water was what made it seize in the first place, but chocolate ganache (cream and chocolate) has to work somehow. We added the eggs and sugar, and lo and behold, no more separated weirdness.

A few tips to avoid this problem:

1. When melting, make sure you bowl is completely dry; a drop of water could made it seize.

2. If you're using a double boiler instead of a microwave, wipe the bottom of the bowl once you take you chocolate off the heat. Don't want to take any chances of that water getting into the chocolate.

3. Another way chocolate can seize is if the heat is too high. So for the double boiler folks, you want the water steaming, not boiling, so keep the heat low. For the microwave folks, always do small time increments (keep it below 20 seconds), keep stirring, and stop when the chocolate is almost all melted. Keep in mind that white chocolate is extra finicky, so be a little more careful.

4. Whatever the method, if not using chips, make sure you chop your chocolate in small, uniform pieces.

5. I hate to say it, but if your chocolate does seize, and you don't intend on adding more liquid as a next step, it's best to just throw it out and start over.


The brownies turned out awesome, by the way. Make them.