Chocolate for chocolate chips/chunks

[paulraphael]

I remember reading that chocolate chips are formulated so they don't melt at baking temperatures as much as plain chocolate would. Is this true?

I like chocolate chunks in cookies, but the only ones I ever see are made out of crappy chocolate. If I chopped up some high quality bittersweet chocolate, would it stay intact in the cookie dough, or would it melt all over the place?

[etalanian]

Yes, go ahead and chop up some really good chocolate and put it in your cookies; it won't melt all into the dough. The reason chocolate chips are made differently is so they will keep their little pointy drop shape during baking.

There are some wonderful chocolate bars, from Lindt and others, that are easily broken up to use as chocolate chunks. Use your favorite chocolate for the cookies. You can also make chocolate chunk brownies the same way.

Enjoy your cookies!

Eileen

[sugarseattle]

chips usually have dextrose, which allows them to hold their shape during baking, but then can make chips taste waxy when they're not just fresh out of the oven...i love treating myself with choco chip cookies made with nice couverture! YUM!

[Sebastian]

Plus choc chips usually have a much lower fat content than eating chocolate - less fat makes them less likely to flow when that fat melts during baking.

[LVic]

I use chocolate chunks in baking (brownies, cookies, etc) and have always done very well with just tossing them with about 1 TBSP of flour (usually re-using the bowl I just combined the dry ingredients in) before combining with the batter. Keeps them from sinking or melting completely into the batter. I found out the hard way that when a recipe advises you to let melted chocolate cool completely, that is good advice - my 1 1/2 lbs of chips in 3 sheet pans of brownies just completely disappeared in the chocolatey oblivion. Still delicious, though!

I've always chopped my own chocolate chunks (usually TJ's Pound Plus Bittersweet or Guittard bulk) and love the big boost in flavor over most chocolate chips (I do pretty well with Ghirardelli Double Chocolate or Guittard chips, when I can find them, that is.) But then again, I consider a square of baking chocolate to be a perfect snack, so you can tell I lean a little toward the bittersweet side of things.

[PastryGuru]

Chocolate chips, in general, are not made to the same quality specs as "eating chocolate". Personally, I don't care to use chips unless they're also good enough to eat. When my supplier runs out of chips, I just melt and temper some couverture, spread it on a sheet pan and chop it into chunks when it's set. If I'm making 4oz. cookies, then I just toss some pistoles into the batter.