Use a double boiler instead of the MW next time - throw out the ruined chocolate. It is extremely easy to ruin chocolate in the MW, and therefore I never use it to melt chocolate. Most of the time when I melt chocolate, I want to keep it melted for a while, and a double boiler is perfect for that.

Lars

Also, chocolate baking bars or discs are better for melting. Chocolate chips aren't really designed for melting - they're designed for holding their shape. So although they melt, the chocolate can easily become grainy and/or thick.

That said, I do sometimes melt chocolate chips because I always have them around. I melt them in a double boiler (aka a bowl over a pot of water) Very Slowly (i.e. the water is barely simmering).

Bonnie

The title of this post brought a tear to my eye.

Me too!

You can melt chocolate in the MW, but you need to watch it and chocolate chips aren't really the best chocolate. As mentioned, they are designed to hold their shapes, so there's other stuff in them and they'll get grainy even if you melt them in a double boiler. If you're melting chocolate, it's worth spending a little more and getting the best you can find.

I melt chocolate over direct heat, but that's even trickier because you can scorch the sugar really fast. But it also melts fast! If you want to be certain however, do it over a double boiler.

Good luck!

Microwaves do work, but I learned years ago in a cooking class when they were very new machines, it's a process. Use 25 seconds at a shot, check them, stir and possibly shoot them again. Repeat this process until melted, stirring each time. This way your less likely to overcook and know they are smoothly melted before the grittiness appears.

Just add some half and half or even milk --stir and mic a bit and stir and again. It will be fine. If not milk add butter and do the same.
I use mic for this but learned to add a milk product.

I had heard to add Crisco, but hesitated to share that tip because all I could think of was greasy chocolate. I guess it couldn't hurt to add a bit more fat, so butter might qualify as well. Although I thought that the milk solids wouldn't help the situation.

High heat = ruined chocolate via any method. I think they call it seizing.

I read somewhere the other day that you can salvage seized chocolate by thinning it down with milk or cream to make choc sauce or syrup. You can't temper it for coatings, but it seems such a shame to ever waste chocolate.

But if it is scorched, I think it really is history.