What kind of chocolate, and method, should I use to make a simple chocolate to drizzle on top of otherwise plain sugar cookies? I've tried melting Nestle's chips in a double boiler, added some powdered sugar, and then a bit of cornstaarch to try to thicken it. It was too runny, and when cooled still didn't harden enouch -- cookies in a jar would stick to each other. Is there a cerain kind of chocolate for melting and then hardening?
You could try 'bark' or coating chocolate. I see it in the local mega-mart.
Couverature, but that needs tempering. Try your chips again, and be sure not to overheat. Also, don't add other stuff to it to try to thicken. Or if flavor isn't too important to you, then I would recommend bark, also.
why not leave the chips unadulterated. melt and drizzle on cookie, let harden. should be firm like the chips but not rock break teeth breaking hard. That's what I do when i want to dip the ends of biscotti in chocolate and it is good.
you can put the chocolate chips in a glass measuring cup (make sure it's dry, or the chocolate can seize, that's nasty stuff). Melt a little, stir, melt again, then drizzle on your cookies. Put the cookies in the fridge for a short time and the chocolate will harden. I've done this with biscotti.
I think because the original poster is not satisfied with the state of the chocolate after melting.
This is subjective, but it seems after making thousands of chocolate chip cookies over a decade, some brands of chocolate chips are better at reverting to their "natural" state. I tended to buy the cheapest, and then decided the chips were staying too "gooey". It seems better with a more expensive brand.
I'm also willing to believe it might not be the chips, but something else in the process that is providing some variant, though I couldn't say what. I've made the same recipe enough that the variants that I used to see are long gone.
Commercial chocolate chip cookies have a relatively firm chip, and they generally don't melt too badly in your fingers while you eat them.
I think that's what the poster is asking about, because after melting the chocolate chips, they stay too soft and thus it's too messy in your hands.
Michael
Does it turn to a state where it remains relatively "hard" when back to room temperature?
Michael
I've used gently in the microwave melted regular chips - think i used Kroger brand to dip the ends of biscotti in with much success. kept them cool ( to room temp) it sets up and then store in a tightly sealed container. I think all chocolate chip i have used returns to a more solid state when cooled after warming to liquid state. Chocolate chips r the easiest thing to work with. Any brand i think..
Or, if you want to avoid differing effects due to varying ingredients in different brands of chocolate chips, just use straight dark choclate and chop it coarsely before melting.
There's no particular reason to use chips if you're going to melt the chocolate anyway.
-- Larry
no, it just saves you the trouble of having to chop chocolate
But the chocolate IS different in chip form. It has things added to it to keep it's shape when baking. They aren't as easy to work with when melted because they don't have the cocoa butter that hard, block chocolates have. That would make a difference in dipping cookies or candies.
Melondy
I had to go back and reread the original post, because I thought there had been a good reason for the chips.
When I was a kid, I had a cookbook aimed at the young, with fun sorts of simple things you could make. And one entry in there was a means of easily icing a cake. Take the cake out of the oven, and while it's still hot or warm (I forget which), you'd sprinkly chocolate chips over it. The heat of the cake would melt them, and you'd just spread it around so it was even.
And I thought that was the case here, until I went back and read the part about melting the chocolate chips separate.
And at that point, I am lost. You don't need to chop up chocolate if you are melting it, it merely takes a bit longer.
Michael
Ed Zachary
It is almost always best to chop chocolate to melt it because then it melts quicker and thus cooler, closer to being tempered. If you chop all your chocolate, melt about half of it, stir to finish to a smooth melted mass and then add the rest of your chopped chocolate and stir...you are simulating tempering. The 'fresh' chocolate will melt slowly and absorb alot of the heat, lowering the temperature and tempering your chocolate. Then your chocoalte will again have that shine and snap like before you melted and "un"tempered it.
Melondy
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