Yes, You Can Caramelize White Chocolate In The Instant Pot
If you've ever found yourself in a room of self-described "chocolate lovers," then you know the kind of vitriol a lot of people who claim to love all things cocoa have toward white chocolate. "It's not REAL chocolate," they'll claim, even though real white chocolate is in fact made with cocoa butter. Unfortunately, there are a lot of inferior white chocolate candies out there containing just the legal bare minimum of 20% cocoa butter, as well as other "white chocolate" candy coatings that don't contain cocoa butter at all. This is probably how the treat got its reputation for being inferior to milk or dark chocolates. However, not only is real white chocolate delicious, but it also has transformative properties that would make an alchemist gasp. That's because white chocolate can be turned into culinary gold, thanks to caramelization.
The best white chocolate is already creamy, buttery, and sweet, but caramelization turns it into something with more complexity. Compared to plain sugar, caramelized sugar is made up of more than 1,000 different flavor compounds, explains Serious Eats. Pair that with the nuttiness of the toasted milk solids and the richness of the cocoa butter that are also in white chocolate, and it's easy to see how caramelized white chocolate could amp up the flavor of many different desserts and baked goods. But although caramelization might conjure images of constant stirring over a scalding, bubbling pot, the truth is that you can make caramelized white chocolate in the Instant Pot.
Instant Pot white chocolate caramel
Caramelizing white chocolate is a simple trick that will take your favorite sweets to the next level, and it can be made with an almost totally hands-off method, thanks to the pressure cooker. Instead of baking the white chocolate on a sheet pan, like many recipes call for, America's Test Kitchen demonstrated a method for pressure cooker caramelized white chocolate on TikTok, and it couldn't be easier.
@testkitchen Don't hate on white chocolate just yet: Caramelize it. Erica shows you how! #whitechocolate #howto #dessert #desserts #foodscience
♬ original sound – America's Test Kitchen – America's Test Kitchen
As with all pressure cooker recipes, you'll first want to add some water to the pot. But you don't have to worry about water getting into the white chocolate and making it seize. That's because the chocolate is broken up and added to a mason jar. Once the lid is screwed on, it's placed on the rack insert of the pressure cooker, so it sits above the water. The longer you cook it, the darker the caramelization will be — but this quick method gets you delicious results with a "rich, butterscotchy, deep caramel flavor" in as little as 45 minutes.
For the smoothest results, use high-quality white chocolate that contains at least 30% cocoa butter. But even if you have white chocolate with a lower cocoa butter percentage, you can caramelize it to improve the flavor — just blend with heavy cream to smooth out the texture if it initially comes out crumbly or chalky.