How To Melt Almond Bark In The Microwave Without Burning It

Everyone knows chocolate. The beloved sweet melds a magical combination of cocoa butters, chocolate liquor, sugar, vanilla, and lecithin, an emulsifier, to craft a dessert with wide-ranging appeal. Whether it's baking chocolate or a bar showcasing a single origin producer, the treat covers a wide range. Yet chocolate can be tricky to melt, so there's also almond bark, a sweet foodstuff that offers similar qualities in terms of texture and appearance, but without the use of cocoa.

Also called confectionary coating, don't confuse the food with a chocolate bark peppered with nuts. Instead, almond bark uses sugar, vegetable fats, vanilla, and stabilizers to craft a chocolate-like product that can easily liquify and cover everything from pretzels to strawberries. So, if you're wondering what's the best way to melt the sweet for tasty coated treats, then turn to the microwave.

To avoid burning, heat shaved almond bark chips for 30 seconds at a time in a microwave-safe bowl until melting starts. Remove the container and mix the contents with a spatula, perhaps adding a bit of vegetable shortening to aid with melting. Then, add more shaved chips as needed and heat the almond bark for short 10 second intervals, stirring as needed, until the mixture is melted to your liking. Whenever you're hoping to whip up a similar alternative to chocolate-covered ice cream bites with ease, keep this technique in mind.

By way of the contained cocoa fats, chocolate is a tricky sweet to handle once heated. It requires tempering, meaning calculated steps of heating and cooling in order to re-solidify properly. Almond bark alleviates this issue and allows for much easier reforming once melted. However, that doesn't mean it can be tossed into a microwave unattended for minutes at a time; the substance does burn easily.

That's the reason why you'll want to use a controlled heating mechanism like a microwave and keep a close eye on the duration. It's better to stay patient, with consistent mixing breaks to help ensure that the heat is spread evenly. And furthermore, monitoring its progress based on the microwave container is also important. Glass is a better conductor of heat than plastic, so it'll warm up quicker, which means you'll need to be vigilant to prevent burning. Yet, once you do get the process down, melting almond bark will proceed with ease, especially as opposed to tempering chocolate in the microwave without burning it.