The Important Difference Between Chocolate Chips and Baking Chocolate (and Why It Matters!) (2024)

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The Important Difference Between Chocolate Chips and Baking Chocolate (and Why It Matters!)? ›

What About Chocolate Chips? While you can bake with chocolate chips, they are not the same as baking chocolate. Chocolate chips have less cocoa butter and contain stabilizers to help keep their "chip" shape while baking. They usually can't be used interchangeably with baking chocolate in recipes.

Crawford explains that the main difference between chocolate chips and baking chocolate is that chocolate chips contain added stabilizers. These stabilizers, often in the form of soy lecithin, help the chocolate chips keep their shape when they are heated.

Cooking chocolate, particularly the unsweetened variety, is designed specifically for baking and cooking. It's typically much less sweet than regular chocolate, as it contains no added sugar. Therefore, it has a strong, bitter taste that most people find unpalatable on its own.

Baking chocolate, or cooking chocolate, is chocolate intended to be used for baking and in sweet foods that may or may not be sweetened.

If it's baking, the right choice is probably chocolate chips. Chocolate chips hold their shape better than bars, adding structure and creating chunkier cookies.

And if your local store doesn't carry exactly what you're looking for, remember, chocolate is also forgiving: You can swap chips for baking chocolate (and vice versa) if needed. Ultimately, what types of chocolate you choose depends on your preference and what you're using each for.

Baking chocolate is commonly referred to as unsweetened or bitter chocolate. Baking chocolate contains no sugar or milk solids, but is usually made with lecithin and vanilla. Baking chocolate is popular in American baking for brownies, sauces, etc., and is available in most grocery stores.

When I make chocolate chip cookies, why don't the chocolate chips melt in the oven? Cooking chocolate tends to have less cocoa butter than eating chocolate, which raises the cooking chocolate's melting temperature and makes it more difficult to melt.

For baking chocolate, chocolate manufacturers will look for cocoa beans with a strong chocolate taste, whereas for normal chocolate that you just eat on its own they will tend to look for a chocolate taste + other flavor notes (woody, fruity, earthy, spicy...).

Even though baking chocolate is specifically designed to bake with (typically labelled simply as bittersweet chocolate, semisweet chocolate, or unsweetened chocolate), it often contains added sugar and unwanted additives. Especially the baking chocolate typically found on grocery shelves.

Does baking chocolate have less sugar? ›

Because baking chocolate has a low sugar content, it allows you to control the final sweetness of your baked goods. You'll also notice that your baking chocolate might not look as shiny as your chocolate bars. That's because baking chocolate often isn't tempered.

Baking chocolate usually contains little or no sugar compared to ordinary eating chocolate, and has a higher percent of cocoa solids. Cooking chocolate intended for tempering or coverture will sometimes have a higher cocoa butter content too, so that it melts consistently and smoothly.

It's sugar-free by design, as most recipes that call for unsweetened baking chocolate (also called bitter chocolate) are developed with the appropriate amount of sugar added to counteract its bitterness. Unsweetened baking chocolate is not suited for all baking and should be used only when specified.

Flavanols from chocolate decrease inflammation, reduce platelet activity, improve immune function and expand arteries, which increases blood flow. Epicatechin, a type of flavanol found in high concentrations in chocolate, can relax blood vessels and improve blood pressure.

Chocolate melts faster the higher the percentage of cocoa butter and fat, so dark chocolate melts the fastest. Once melted, it's glossy and has a good viscosity. Good-quality dark chocolate with no less than 70 per cent cocoa solids will leave you with a darker, richer flavour.

They are specifically made to keep their shape in the heat of the baking process. This is done by using waxes and other extra solidifying ingredients. Chocolate morsels, however, are more natural chocolate and will melt when baked.

Always make sure the chocolate you are melting is chopped in similar size pieces so they melt at the same rate. You can use chocolate chips, baking chocolate bars or wafers. Choose high-quality chocolate (I prefer Ghirardelli or Guittard). It has a higher fat content and is more forgiving during the melting process.

To avoid these additional ingredients in chocolate chips and chunks, I like to use either chocolate from a baking bar or chocolate fèves instead. Baking bars and fèves don't contain any of the additional ingredients found in chips and chunks. Instead, they contain more cocoa butter.

Created by Samuel German in 1852, and named after him, it's a sweetened, dark chocolate baking bar. It contains more sugar than its semisweet or bittersweet counterparts, and was developed as a shortcut for bakers that premixed chocolate with sugar.

Substitute for unsweetened chocolate (1 oz.): 3 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder plus 1 Tbsp. cooking oil or shortening, melted. Substitute for chocolate, sweet baking (4 oz.): ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder plus ⅓ cup sugar and 3 Tbsp.

Can you use old chocolate chips for baking? ›

They're fine to cook and bake with, don't toss them. They have "bloomed" there are two two types of whitish coating that can appear on the surface of chocolate: fat bloom, caused by changes in the fat crystals in the chocolate; and sugar bloom, due to crystals formed by the action of moisture on the sugar.