Couverture vs. Chips

The chocolate used in all baking recipes should be couverture, also known as baking chocolate. Couverture chocolate has been formulated to melt and incorporate into other ingredients, to yield lusciously rich taste and texture. Chocolate chips and chocolate candy bars are NOT made for melting into the body of recipes like brownies and cakes. They have added (though natural) ingredients that are designed to keep them stable and hold their shape in chocolate chip cookies, which is good, but it means they will not melt smoothly into other recipes. Buy the best-quality chocolate available to you, as the quality of your dessert is only as good as the quality of chocolate you use. The recipes in this book were tested using basic grocery store chocolate, so you know they will work and be delicious, but if you can upgrade, so much the better!