In the dark, slightly pointless days before I became a chocolate correspondent, we would have one small, high-shelf-dwelling tin of chocolate in the house. In it would be milk, plain and white, largely for culinary needs, with the odd bit of nice snacking chocolate, too. Invariably, however, it would all get eaten up by not-me and I’d go on the lookout for chocolate to fragment or melt into baked goods, and there would be none.
So I took my revenge and bought industrial quantities of chocolate chips in 2.5kg bags, which were brilliant for all manner of solid or molten-chocolate baking needs. No one would touch them because they registered not as chocolate, but baking ingredient.
Quite the best are Callebaut 54% dark chocolate pistoles (£20.64 for 2.5kg). These removed all need for the ‘dark or milk chocolate chip’ debate, sitting perfectly between the two. And the pieces are a good size, without venturing into chocolate button territory, which would risk turning them into a stealable confectionery item.
If space or money is at a premium, look at Waitrose 1 49% milk chocolate (£1.60 for 80g). It is intensely creamy - cocoa butter is the first ingredient - but with a surprisingly strong backbone of cocoa. It’s an excellent eating chocolate first and foremost, with scant competition in its price bracket. But if you also have to chop it up for cooking, it yields beautifully to the knife, melts well and augments anything it’s added to. Well worth a place on any secret shelf.
