Caramelized White Chocolate

Past the pale, sweet exterior of white chocolate lie three ingredients with a lot of potential—sugar, milk, and fat (in the form of cocoa butter).
What happens when you expose these to enough heat? The sugars toast and you get caramel.

How to enjoy it (besides out of the jar): Melt it into hot chocolate. Whisk in some hot cream to make a ganache, then sandwich it between cookies. For a grown-up version of Magic Shell, stir in vegetable or coconut oil (about a tablespoon to 8 ounces/225g of chocolate, melted), pour over ice cream, and sprinkle on flaky salt.

Alternatively, if you keep roasting until it seizes into crumbles, don’t worry. It is completely salvageable and, in fact, it may be a handier form to keep around for baking (into the whole wheat chocolate chip cookies, for example). You can freely toss handfuls into scones, brownies, or banana cake. You can also force it to become completely smooth with the aid of a blender or a fine-mesh strainer if you wish; just warm with a little cream or neutral oil in a double boiler, then either blend or strain.

Makes about 1½ cups (360ml)

1 pound (450g) white chocolate

Sea salt, to taste

1 Preheat oven to 265°F (130°C). If the white chocolate isn’t already in small chunks or fèves, chop it coarsely. Scatter it on a clean, dry rimmed baking sheet.

2 Roast the chocolate in the oven for about 45 minutes, stirring and smearing it around with a spatula every 5 to 10 minutes (make sure the spatula is clean and dry when you start each time). Don’t worry if it looks lumpy and crumbly at times—it will smooth out as you stir 

3 Continue cooking until the chocolate is as dark as you like (I like a rich toffee color). Stir in sea salt to taste.

4 Pour into a jar to store—it will harden as it cools, and may look mottled (this is normal for untempered chocolate). Store at room temperature, and warm it over a pot of barely simmering water when you’re ready to use it. It should keep for several months.

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