After my cake disaster yesterday, which I couldn't save, I've decided to turn lemons into lemonade, or wait--cake disaster into cake balls! I have a question. I don't have a double boiler or any glass bowls, so would it be ok to melt chocolate in the microwave? Also I think I've heard that adding butter or crisco will make a nice hardness and shinyness. How much should I add to a 12oz pkg of choc chips? Thanks!!!

I do not add any butter or crisco to mine. from they way i understand it it makes the chocolate a little softer. I just put the chips in a bowl and micro them at 50% power. I ususally will stop and stir them about every 30sec-1 min depending on the amount.

I usually add about teaspoon or two of butter flavored crisco before I microwave. I melt the chocolate and crisco on full power at 30 second intervals and stir in between. The crisco helps make it a little creamer and easier to coat the balls.

one more question: is it easier to coat the balls while they are cold, or should they be at room temp?

IMHO it's easier to coat when they are cold!

The crisco does help make it softer, like say when you make chocolate dipped strawberries and you don't want all the chocolate to break off when you bite into it.
I don't have a double boilder either but I often melt my chocolates in a stainless steel bowl. I have a big one that fits over my pan, and I have also used a smaller one that fits in my pan. With the smaller size you really want to heat LOW on the water just below a simmer, and you have to be extra careful not to get water in the bowl or it causes the chocolate to seize up .
Good luck!

I normally use the Merckens chocolate melts, but yesterday I decided to do the "tuxedo" strawberries using Ghidarelli's double chocolate morsels and Nestles white premium morsels. The ratio is suppose to be 1 Tbl of crisco to 1 cup of morsels. It said it right on the Nestle wrapper. I did the chocolate at full power for 50 seconds, and it was perfect. To look at it, the morsels don't appear completely melted, however, once you start stirring, they all pretty much melt.

These morsels were perfect for the strawberries. The white definitely hardened faster than the chocolate though. It was perfect as far as texture went though. Thick "hardened" chocolate, but like Montanakate said, it doesn't break off and crack into pieces in your mouth. It is perfect. Hardened, yet not brittle....if that makes sense.

I wonder how the morsels would work in candy molds? They definitely tasted better than the chocolate melts. Has anyone used the morsels in molds????