Could anyone give me some suggestions please? I see so many recipes using chocolate chips and I get so frustrated, because I would love to try them out. However, I can't because where I live chocolate chips or drops are, for some obscure reason, horribly expensive.
Would anyone know if there is a substitute that I can use instead? I've tried smashing up a chocolate bar and the bits are too big, running it through a food processor just makes one big gunky mess. Help, please?
By cettina from Malta, Europe
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Maybe you could use some kind of chocolate bar and crunch it up.
I'd get a plain Hershey bar and let it sit somewhere a bit warm for 15 minutes. Use a sharp knife, like a chef's knife to cut each square into 1/4's or smaller. Cut all the way through. Put in fridge and chill, and add at last minute to cookie dough. These will be softer than normal chips but I'll bet it will be good. Use as many bars as you think will work best for recipe, probably up to 3. Get them when on sale. Right now after Halloween would be a good time to load up on candy.
I'm going to get some honey coated peanuts at my bin store [Sprouts] next time and crunch them with my rolling pin and make peanut butter cookies with added crunch. Desperation is the mother of invention.
Here is an easy trick for using the thin Hershey bars; try sticking them in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes til they are really cold, then take it out and hold flat in the hand and slam it against the counter top then carefully open the paper. Any pieces that are still too big will be easy (and quick) to cut or break into pieces small enough to work as chips in your cookies.
We used to do this with a certain kind of taffy bar and Jolly Rancher bars when I was a kid to make them into mouth sized pieces (and sneak them into our mouths in schoo) lol!
Sugar cookies made with the sour Jolly Rancher bars broken this way are a real treat for kids who love the sour stuff. I never grew out of loving sour stuff. You can also break the Hershey bars into individual squares and then put one on top of each cookies as it comes out of the oven and it will melt and "frost" the top of the cookie.
M and Ms and also grate the chocolate bar as well could help also I have not had chocolate chips on hand and so I use chocolate powder. Works wonderfully :) Just a 1/4 of a cup of chocolate powder in the mix makes wonderful chocolate cookies :) Just chocolate baking powder.
Have you ever thought of using raisins or chopped dates? It would be healthier for you. You did say you have a chocolate bar, but it was thick, have you tried using a large knife to chop the bar into thin strips, while it is at room temperature? Then freeze those strips in a zip lock bag. After it freezes, use a meat tenderizer or hammer on the bag until all the pieces are smaller. Or, you could melt the candy bar in a double boiler or microwave, put it in an icing bag, create little dots with your icing bag and use them as chocolate chips.
Dark chocolate in the US is the same as plain chocolate in Europe. Cadbury makes a dark chocolate bar (how about Nestle"s) - maybe you could get them in Malta. Freeze them first, then grate or break into small pieces. We also make chocolate chunk cookies - which use larger pieces of chocolate and they are VERY good. Happy baking!
Joan from Chesterfield, Michigan
Buy a package of chocolate almond bark which is used as a dipping chocolate and normally on sale a Christmas time. Melt in microwave then pour out in thin layer on wax paper. Let it set then chop it.
Thanks for the suggestions but I still have the problem that I don't live in the US and Hershey bars do not exist in my country. I used a normal cadbury chocolate bar and it wasn't successfully smashed - probably it's too thick, or perhaps milk chocolate isn't the best idea.
You could try carob if they sell it in your country. Also, you might try freezing a dark chocolate bar and grating it on a grater (big holes), or if it's thin, try whacking several times on the counter. Good luck!
Put your chocolate bar in the fridge so it is chilled then grate it, preferably with the large sized 'teeth'.
Yes it is semisweet; milk chocolate is not that good for that stuff. I do believe you could get the semisweet or try the dark chocolate (which is good for you). Remember when you try the semi chocolate it might taste bitter if you taste it before hand however when you add the other stuff. Really good. Also go online to www.verybestbaking.com and they have coupons I am not sure if you can use them in your county but it is worth a try. Good luck.
Thank you so much for all your suggestions! Yes, I can get dark chocolate bars here and I will use them (either Cadbury's or Nestles, both are available here) instead of the milk chocolate I was using unsuccessfully. Coupons are not used here, unfortunately. Sandra's idea seems the best way to go. But grating coarsely would be a good idea to try, too. At least I can try making my own chocolate chip cookies now. Thank you to all of you again!
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