Sweet Gourmet: Baking Chocolate Guide

Several types of chocolate may be used when baking cookies, pies, cakes, bars, and other sweet treats. The amount of cocoa butter and sugar can affect the texture and taste of chocolate-from bitter to very sweet. Below is a quick guide to the most popular kinds of chocolate used in baked goods.

** UNSWEETENED CHOCOLATE – Unsweetened chocolate contains nothing but pure chocolate and cocoa butter. There's no sugar added. This chocolate is dark in color and has a strong flavor.

** UNSWEETENED COCOA POWDER – Unsweetened cocoa powder is pure chocolate that's had a majority of the cocoa butter removed.

** SEMISWEET AND BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE – Semisweet and Bittersweet chocolate contains at least 35% pure chocolate. Cocoa butter and sugar have been added. This type of chocolate is often used in cookies and can be used interchangeably.

** MILK CHOCOLATE – Milk chocolate contains at least 15% of pure chocolate, and is mixed with cocoa butter, sugar, and milk solids. It has a creamy texture and is often used to make chocolate candy.

** WHITE CHOCOLATE – White chocolate is unique in that it contains no pure chocolate. However, it does have cocoa butter. Other ingredients are sugar and milk solids. When buying white chocolate for baking, be sure to check the label first to avoid confusing it with other similar looking white baking products.

** SWEET CHOCOLATE – Sweet chocolate contains at least 15% pure chocolate. Other ingredients are sugar and cocoa butter. Use sweet baking chocolate when you want your baked goods to have a rich chocolate flavor, without the bitterness of other types of chocolate.