How to Melt White Chocolate Using a Stove or Microwave

White chocolate is a semi-sweet, real chocolate despite its radically different appearance compared to other types of chocolate. White chocolate consists of cocoa butter, milk solids, and sugar. Notably, it doesn’t contain the cocoa solids that give both dark chocolate and milk chocolate their trademark tastes and dark tints. White chocolate pieces also have a lower melting point and are more prone to overheating than these other types of chocolate.

You can use white chocolate in candies, cake batters, truffles, chocolate wafers, and brownies. White chocolate bars are also available, albeit less ubiquitous than milk chocolate and dark chocolate bars. You can drizzle melted chocolate—whether white, milk, or dark—over other confections.

The double boiler method is a quality chocolate melting process that gives you a lot of control over liquefying white chocolate chips or other small pieces of white chocolate. Here are four tips for heating and softening white chocolate on a stovetop:

1. 1. Get the right equipment. Purchase or create a makeshift double boiler to use this method. A double boiler consists of a pot for boiling hot water plus a heatproof bowl (usually a good quality metal bowl or glass bowl) that can fit atop the pot without being submerged into the boiling water itself. You will also need a stirring implement, like a rubber spatula, and heat-proof gloves or other protective gear to avoid burns.
2. 2. Chop up the white chocolate. Melting wafers of white chocolate is a lot easier than dealing with an undivided mass of the sweet, so use small pieces of white chocolate rather than a big block. If you’re melting chocolate chips, you can skip this step, as they’re already small enough to not present any problems.
3. 3. Boil water. Once you have your double boiler, you can add about one or two inches of water and start boiling. Keep the simmering water level low enough that the bottom of the bowl—the top part of your double boiler—won’t actually touch the water itself.
4. 4. Heat the chocolate. If you’ve kept the amount of chocolate you’re planning to use at room temperature, that will expedite the melting process. Turn the stove down to low heat and add your white chocolate to the upper bowl of your double boiler to begin the melting process. Stir the white chocolate regularly to prevent it from becoming lumpy—you can add a tiny amount of vegetable oil, coconut oil, or an alternative to loosen it. Once there are just a few lumps left and the rest has liquefied, take the bowl away from the stove, as the residual heat will melt the rest of the white chocolate.

Using the microwave method to melt white chocolate can be a faster alternative to using a double boiler. Here are three steps to microwaving white chocolate until it liquefies.

1. 1. Use small pieces of chocolate. Even though it’s easier to handle a larger piece of white chocolate in a microwave than you would in a double boiler, smaller pieces are still preferable. You will be doing plenty of stirring as you get this process going, and the smaller the pieces are to start with, the easier they’ll be to handle throughout it.
2. 2. Use low power. White chocolate melts at a much lower temperature than other types of chocolate, so microwaves operating at high heat can easily overheat the mixture. Make sure to turn the microwave down to medium or low power to ensure the chocolate melts quickly, but not fast enough to damage its flavor or consistency.
3. 3. Heat in short bursts. Place a microwave-safe bowl filled with white chocolate in the microwave and heat it in 15-second intervals. After each time, remove the bowl and stir the chocolate. Continue the process until you achieve a smooth consistency to your white chocolate and are able to stir out any remaining lumps.

If you’re hoping to learn how to melt chocolate in a slightly more sophisticated way, consider looking into tempering. To temper chocolate—white or otherwise—means to go through a process of heating, cooling, and reheating it very gradually to ensure you achieve the ultimate smoothness and flavor. While simply melting white chocolate will be more than enough for most recipes, tempering can take it to the next level.

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