Semisweet chocolate is the standard for chocolate chips. Neither too sweet nor too dark, it appeals to everyone and complements most recipes. If you want something a little different, you either have to hunt around to find a bag of specialty chocolate chips or chop up a bar of chocolate into chunks to stir into your cookie dough. Dark chocolate lovers should keep an eye out for the new Extra Dark Chocolate Chips from Guittard the next time you find yourself in need of chocolate chips for baking. These chocolate chips have a much more intense chocolate flavor than semisweet chocolate chips, and come in a very convenient package.
The Extra Dark Chocolate Chips are 63% cacao. Guittard doesn’t give a cacao percentage on their semisweet chocolate chips, which I used for a comparison, but the dark chips are noticeably less sweet. They have a slight fruitiness and a slight bitterness to them when eaten plain, though neither element stands out really strongly once the chips have been baked into something, and are a nice change from semisweet chocolate chips. They’re especially good in double chocolate cookies, where you want to maximize the cocoa flavor.
These chips might be a bit hard to find in stores, but some specialty cooking/baking stores carry them and you can find them at some online retailers, as well.
Linda
November 18, 2008Are these similar to the Ghiradelli 62% chips that are slightly larger or are they only darker but the regular size chocolate chip?
Heather T
November 18, 2008Great post – I actually just found these at a store where I live!
Michie W.
November 18, 2008I have to say that I am not a fan of semi-sweet chips in my chocolate chip cookies and when I make them, I use milk chocolate chips. The only reason why I am posting this is because I ONLY use Guittard milk chocolate chips. I think they are awesome for my particular chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Jennifer
November 18, 2008I picked up a couple of bags of these at the NYC Chocolate Show. Very excited to put them to good use!
Cheryl
March 4, 2009I am glad you liked them, they are SO much more fantastic than I expected!