Where is this place?

Originally Posted by toodlesjupiter

Theresa-
Yes, but it doesn't have any cocoa solids, therefore, in my book, not real chocolate. Also, some people with chocolate allergies are able to eat white chocolate for this reason.

Allergic to chocolate would be HELL for me. I'm going on a road trip next week and making a big batch of chocolate chip cookies (the BF's fav) and chocolate butter cookies with cinnamon (my fav) to make sure we make it ok

The purpose of tempering chocolate is so that when it hardens, it gets that sleek glossy shine instead of a matte finish. To temper, you bring it up to a certain temp, then let it cool slightly - there's a couple ways to do that. You can actually buy a chocolate temper (temperer?) machine for home use but it's really pricey. You only need to temper chocolate if you're using it as a coating for something - you do not need to temper chocolate for something like ganache or as an addition to a recipe.

"Candy melts" are typically called that because they are chocolate flavored rather than containing real chocolate. You can also by couveture (sp?) chocolate which BEHAVES like a candy melt but contains real chocolate - they remove the cocoa butter and replace it with veg shortening so that it melts smoother, but it does have the cocoa solids. Obviously there's less of an "artificial chocolate" flavor to the couveture. It's also more expensive than candy melts and can be a little harder to find.

You do have a couple of options when working with real chocolate other than dropping $400 on a chocolate tempering machine, or getting really complicated or breaking out the instant read thermometer.

You always start by chopping up the chocolate to about chocolate chip size.

For one method, melt about 2/3 of the chocolate in the microwave or over a double boiler. If you use the mic, melt on 50% power in 30 second spurts, stirring every time it stops. If you use a DB, make sure that the water is low in the pan and is not higher than a slow simmer - you do not want steam to get into the chocolate. Once your chocolate is melted, toss in the other 1/3 of reserved chocolate and stir until melted - this will bring the temperature down

Another method, one I use for dipping or drizzling, is to add 1-2 tablespoons of canola oil (you can use veg shortening as an alternative but not butter) to a pound of chocolate, then melt as above. The additional fat content helps the chocolate dry shinier and makes it a little more stable. However, the chocolate won't dry quite as "crisp" as regularly tempered chocolate.

And a great "hide" for imperfectly tempered chocolate dipped strawberries? Give it an extra drizzle of a different kind of chocolate (for color contrast) or a sprinkle of chopped nuts

Exactly. Which is why it puzzles me that people buy choc fountains and think "oh, I can just use choc chips from the grocery" in them. My speech to them is, "Ever bake choc chip cookies? Ever notice how the chips are still a choc chip shape after they come out of a 350 degree oven? When working with a choc fountain, you want choc that will actually MELT!!!"

This is absolutely wrong. Couverture us a high-quality chocolate that actually contains a HIGHER cocoa butter content than normal chocolate (around 32% cocoa butter in couverture) and absolutely requires tempering.