Episode 21 - Cooking with Chocolate

Mikalya from The Flour Handprint shares her tips and tricks for cooking with chocolate. Learn about how chocolate is made and what types are best for baking.

Today's episode is all about chocolate.

I chat with Mikayla from The Flour Handprint who shares the ins and outs of cooking with chocolate.

Mikayla is a wife, mom to a wild 1 year old, a trained writer and an eating enthusiast. She's dubbed herself a food nerd who enjoys spending her time reading cookbooks and experimenting in the kitchen with new ingredients and cooking techniques. Her blog The Flour Handprint is all about making good food from scratch and designed to help other home cooks get creative and confident by sharing seasonal recipes, year around favorites, and cooking guides. She believes that understanding the why and the how behind every recipe is the secret to unlocking your inner chef, and hopes to share the fun and freedom she feels when cooking along the way.

I had a blast chatting with Mikayla about all things chocolate and this episode sure is choc full of handy tips.

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

The recipe of the week this week Is my Healthy Chocolate Crackles. I had to pick something with chocolate now didn’t I? Chocolate crackles are an Aussie icon and this lightened up version is just as delicious as the classic without the sugar crash. Rice bubbles, cocoa, peanut butter, coconut are mixed together into delicious no-bake balls.

LISTEN IN

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Episode 21 - Cooking with Chocolate

HOW IS CHOCOLATE MADE

Starts in a football shaped pod from a cacao tree. Inside is a white pulp that containers cacao beans that become chocolate.
The beans are fermented for days, then dried, roasted and cracked to extract the cacao nib.
The cacao nibs are then ground up to become chocolate liquor becomes the chocolate we know - chocolate bars.

TYPES OF CHOCOLATE

Milk Chocolate
Dark Chocolate
White Chocolate

NATURAL COCOA POWDER VS DUTCH PROCESSED

Natural Cocoa Powder is pure chocolate solids. It's acidic and will react to things like baking soda and is useful in baking.
Dutch Processed Cocoa is treated with potassium carbonate which strips it from its acidic properties that react to baking soda. As such it should only be used in recipes where you use baking powder.
Dutch Processed Cocoa is smoother, milder and mellower than natural cocoa powder in recipes.

CHOCOLATE CHIPS

Chocolate chips usually have ingredients added that help increase the melting point so they are perfect for cookies as they won't completely melt while baking.
If you're wanting to melt them right down you may need to add a fat so it doesn't seize up.
Great to have for baking but not as useful as a chocolate bar.