Sometimes the rich sweet flavor of milk chocolate just isn’t what you’re looking for, sometimes you want to relish in the underlying bitterness that is intrinsic to darker chocolates, and Bittersweet Chocolate Day is the day to celebrate them. There are a lot different types of chocolates, but dark chocolate reigns supreme on Bittersweet Chocolate Day.
History of Bittersweet Chocolate Day
The first thing to know about Bittersweet Chocolate Day is precisely what kind of chocolate it celebrates. The most common type of chocolate in the United States is milk chocolate, synonymous with brands like Hershey’s and Ghirardelli’s most popular lines of chocolate. These are made with lots of sugar, and a healthy dose of milk, bringing about the flavor most people know and love.
Bittersweet Chocolate, with one variety also known as Dark Chocolate, takes a different approach. Fat and sugar are added to cocoa, without the milk to even out the bitterness. It tends to be harder, richer, and a common ingredient in baking, and is one of the foundational flavors in the richest chocolate drinks, especially Mexican chocolate, which is made with a hint of Cayenne.
REAL Bittersweet, however, is a lightly sweetened chocolate. Oddly, this is the kind of chocolate most commonly used in baking, including the American Favorite, chocolate chip cookies.
How to Celebrate Bittersweet Chocolate Day
The best way to celebrate Bittersweet Chocolate Day is to indulge your taste for the bitter side of things by picking up a bittersweet chocolate mix. If you’re a fan of chocolate chip cookies, then get your hands on a bag of the bittersweet variety (not the semisweet!) and mix yourself up a fantastic batch. We find that the best of chocolate chip cookies are made with walnut included, which really serves to bring the flavor together.
- 10 tbsp of butter
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup + 3 tbsp packed light brown sugar
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 egg
- 7 oz bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped, get 70% if you can find it!
Melt the butter in a saucepan, and heat it until it begins to create a light foam and take on a nutty smell, that’s when you need to stir in the vanilla extract! Take the heat off, and let it cool for 10 minutes.
While it’s cooling, combine the dry ingredients together into a mixing bowl, pour in the butter mixture, add in the egg and mix it up a few moments, and mix in the chocolate, and mix until it’s all evenly mixed.
Start scooping out ¼ cup scoops of the cookies onto a cookie sheet, and sprinkle them with more sea salt. This next step is vital, be sure that you let them refrigerate for anywhere between 1 hour, and 3 days. The longer you let them sit, the better they’ll taste when you cook them.
When you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 400 degrees, and then get them in the oven while the dough is still cool, and bake for 10 minutes! Voila! You’ll have an amazing treat that’s ready to eat!
