I work for a hometown chocolate factory but they buy their chocolate in 10 lb bars. Out of curiosity and fun I wanted to make my own out of scratch so I found a common and simple recipe using cocao butter, cocao powder, milk powder (using carnation instant), and a sweetener. Now here is my problem. I first wanted to try agave syrup and ive been adding the sweetner after the powder has been thoroughly blended with the butter and within 10 seconds it gets clumpy so i then tried honey and same thing. I read online this is called "scaring" So just to finally make an actual batch I just used basic table sugar and the sugar didnt even dissolve it stayed grainy in the chocolate. The flavor was good but when you bite into it you can see the sugar crystals. So my question is how can I add a liquid sweetener to the chocolate mix? I am using a double boiler over a low simmer. Any other advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

I know how to temper but I am not tempering in this stage.

 

I have heard it referred to as "seizing" but I've never heard to lumpy chocolate as "scaring".

You said you are using a double boiler but never said the temperatures you are using. That is the important part. Double boiler, direct stove top or microwave the method of heating doesn't matter. It's the temperature of the chocolate that is crticially important. It sounds like you got the chocolate too hot.

Also, water is a BIG problem when making chocolate. The steam rising and close proximity of water make it possible that a drop or two got into your chocolate. Try adding a bit of oil and continuous mixing to save the batch.

Next time try making a small batch in the microwave or on the stove top with a heat dissipater plate. If using the microwave only nuke for a very short period until you learn how the chocolate heats. As it's crystalline structure changes it absorbs microwaves differently. At first you may need to hit it harder to initiate heating but as it starts to melt back off on the microwaves so you can slowly creep up to about 110-120f depending on the chocolate you are making. Much like tempering do not over heat chocolate.

 

While I've only had experience in melting chocolate over a double boiler, I'd think the same principles apply. I only heat the water till it gets hot, but not actually letting it simmer. If the water starts to cool, I actually remove the top one and reheat the water then put the top pan back on.
While I like honey, I'd think it would add that honey taste to the chocolate. If you want to use sugar, I think you need to turn it into liquid first. Equal parts sugar and water. Not sure how that affects the chocolate tho.

 

Um, chocolate is mostly composed of oil-based hydrophobic material that don't mix with water but instead dissolves into non-polar materials like fats and oils. Sugar is the opposite, hydrophilic and dissolves in water, but not oils.
So, when you're adding sugar to chocolate, you generally add powdered / finely ground sugar into the chocolate mix, and then physically mix it, because the water-loving sugar won't dissolve into the oil-loving chocolate. Another work around is to use a slightly 'different' sugar that dissolves better, which is why you have the distinctions between different molecular versions of sugar such as sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose and galactose.

 

I am using a double boiler over a gas stove top boiling water simmer on the lowest setting. I guess I need to check the temperature of the mixture before adding the sweetener and only use powdered sugar if I must use sugar.

 

Ok, It was getting to hot, I have been turning the flame off and just letting the hot water do the work and its working fine now when adding the liquid sweetener but now that this part works I notice the milk powder is causing some grittiness. Is this because I am using carnation instant, too much or is the temperature wrong? someone told me to try condensed milk, any thoughts on that? Thanks.

 

TEMPERATURE, TEMPERATURE, TEMPERATURE. Until you start talking about temperature (specific numbers) we can't help.

There are inexpensive, easy to work with chocolates that are forgiving of temperature. It's the type often sold in kits to melt into fun mold shapes and doesn't require tempering. "Real" chocolate is very sensitive to different temperatures at different stages, and just for fun there is a maximum do not exceed temperature or you'll ruin/burn it. Those temperatures will vary depending on the type of chocolate and recipe you are using.

 

I am trying not to exceed 115 as thats what we keep it at night, at work. I am not wanting to melt down already made chocolates I want to make my own from cocao powder and adding milk powder making it milk chocolate but its not coming out smooth. So I think the milk powered isnt dissolving properly or something of that sort.

 

It takes a lot of continuous stirring. You are working at such a low temperature that everything takes a long time. It is about half the temperature of boiling water so getting things to dissolve happens more slowly.

 

Does your finished product need to be hard like a hard candybar? If the most important thing is the flavor and not the finished form, try using coconut cream in place of the milk and cacao butter. You can warm it up and dissolve coconut sugar in it, then add to the cacao powder.