topic Re: Chocolate question in Kitchen

Chocolate question

2zbeach — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 23:50:25 GMT

When baking,if you don't have Baker's chocolate,can you make up the difference with the chocolate you eat,provided it's the same type? Just curious......

Re: Chocolate question

KYToby — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 23:57:37 GMT

Bakers is a brand. You may use any brand.

Chips, though, are not the same.

Re: Chocolate question

tkins — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 00:02:28 GMT

It would depend on what you were going to make. On some recipes it might work, although you might need to make some adjustments. What were you thinking of making?

Re: Chocolate question

Sabatini2 — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 00:26:30 GMT

On 3/25/2014 2zbeach said: When baking,if you don't have Baker's chocolate,can you make up the difference with the chocolate you eat,provided it's the same type? Just curious......

Baker's chocolate is unsweetened & therefore bitter. Sugar & vanilla is used to sweeten it, so it's not the same as chocolate you'd eat.

Re: Chocolate question

Dorothy11 — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 01:20:17 GMT

Baker's chocolate is unsweetened, and is not of very good quality. I recommend experimenting with some better quality chocolates as they make a huge difference in the flavor of your dessert. Depending on what you'r making, you could substitute a bittersweet chocolate 75-85%. Some readily available brands are Lindt or Ghiradelli. If you have a Trader Joe's nearby, they have a very good Belgian chocolate in large blocks.

You might be amazed by the flavor difference of a quality chocolate. Fine quality 100% (all chocolate, no sugar) is really quite edible, unlike Baker's.

Tell me what you're making and I can give you more specific advice.

Re: Chocolate question

brandiwine — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 01:41:08 GMT

On 3/25/2014 pas4116 said:
Baker's chocolate is unsweetened, and is not of very good quality. I recommend experimenting with some better quality chocolates as they make a huge difference in the flavor of your dessert. Depending on what you'r making, you could substitute a bittersweet chocolate 75-85%. Some readily available brands are Lindt or Ghiradelli. If you have a Trader Joe's nearby, they have a very good Belgian chocolate in large blocks.

You might be amazed by the flavor difference of a quality chocolate. Fine quality 100% (all chocolate, no sugar) is really quite edible, unlike Baker's.

Tell me what you're making and I can give you more specific advice.

Couldn't agree more. Quality chocolate makes a huge difference

Re: Chocolate question

2zbeach — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:47:21 GMT

Trying to make gluten free cake....calls for 6 oz Baker's chocolate. I wanted to use up some of the Hershey's kisses that are in the refrig. Thanks for all the info.

Re: Chocolate question

depglass — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:40:16 GMT

A friend introduced me to Guittard's chocolate chips for my oatmeal cookies. They are head and shoulders above the old Nestlé's I used to use. If you have them in your area, check them out.

Re: Chocolate question

JeanLouiseFinch — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:58:40 GMT

Baking chocolate bars and candy bars are not the same thing. You'd probably be better off finding an equivalent amount in cocoa powder. Some additional fat will have to be added as well. There is plenty of substitution info on the Internet.

Re: Chocolate question

Vamp — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:22:08 GMT

As Sabatini said, baking chocolate is not sweetened, so a chocolate bar that you eat is going to make your recipe sweeter. You can use it, but you may want to cut back on the sugar added in the recipe, depending on what you are making.

Another alternative if you don't have baking chocolate on hand is to use unsweetened cocoa powder. 3 level tablespoons of cocoa + 1 table spoon of oil = one ounce unsweetened baking chocolate. My box of cocoa powder has this written right on the back of it.

Re: Chocolate question

2zbeach — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 21:01:30 GMT

Got it! Thanks,everyone.

Re: Chocolate question

Nightowlz — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 21:16:27 GMT

On 3/26/2014 depglass said:
A friend introduced me to Guittard's chocolate chips for my oatmeal cookies. They are head and shoulders above the old Nestlé's I used to use. If you have them in your area, check them out.

I drank Hot Chocolate with some espresso powder from Williams Sonoma all winter. The hot chocolate is made with Guittard's chocolate. I really like it.

Re: Chocolate question

Nightowlz — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 21:19:25 GMT

I bought some chocolate from Chocoley Chocolate this winter to make fudge & other candy with It was really yummy. I made some cashew clusters using some dark & milk chocolate & DH loves them. If you sign up for their emails they will send you their newsletter with coupons all the time. I bought the big block of caramel so I can cut into pieces & dip into chocolate & sprinkle with sea salt. We love sea salt caramels.

Re: Chocolate question

sfnative — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 22:51:14 GMT

The kisses won't work to make up the difference as they are not unsweetened and are very inferior. As others have said, Bakers can be bested and to that end, I always purchase Guittard in flat rounds (not a big hunk which is difficult to work with). Guittard is so wonderful, both unsweetened and sweetened chips. Check out their website. I've stopped trying to purchase from other sites, as they're always out of stock. (Guittard is miles above Ghirardelli in my humble opinion.)

Also, if any of you have a chocolate fountain, you MUST try Guittard in it. OH, MY!

Re: Chocolate question

KYToby — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 06:27:18 GMT

Baker's makes multiple kinds of chocolate -- not just unsweetened. It is a brand -- not a type.

If the recipe calls for unsweetened, you may use any other brand of unsweetened chocolate (same goes for semisweet, etc.).

Re: Chocolate question

Flo08 — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 16:49:35 GMT

If you are looking for a way to use up the Kisses you have on hand they make great ""frosting"" for brownies. Just put a bunch on top of a hot batch of brownies when they come out of the oven and spread like frosting when they melt. You will need to judge how many to use depending on the size of the pan. My guess is about 1 1/2 kiss per serving.