Conference turris::cooks

    Sharon, sorry, but you'll just have to give them to me.  You're at
    ZK, right?
    
    --Louise

    my sisters do that alot with chocolate they get for the
    holidays...they use them in brownies, cookies and so forth!
    
    anna
    

Sharon,

Gee, you're right down the hall from me.  Is the chocolate here at work?
Maybe my title is a bit strong, but when I was in Switzerland, I ate SO MUCH
chocolate.  I'm not a chocoholic, but when I tasted Swiss chocolate, I became
one (at least for the Swiss variety).  When I came back, I brought about
75 Swiss Francs worth of chocolate back with me.

Nirvana.  You can't get some of the best of the Swiss chocolate here.  And it
DEFINITELY is not as fresh over here.  Oh, those chocolates with REAL liquors
(which can not be imported here in the US).  I think I know where I want to
go on my next vacation.  Sigh.

-Mary Ann

    To use SWISS chocolate for baking would be a sin! 
    
    You can make the best chocolate mousse with it!
    
    I don't have the recipe because I cook without them, but it takes
    1 egg per person
    1 tablespoon sugar
    1 ounce of chocolate
    a dash of Coutreau liquor
    finely shreded orange peel
    
      multiply the above for as many guests you'll have.  It is so good
    that I always used to make it when we had guests,  I haven't made it
    in a loooong time because it is impossible to keep GOOD chocolate at
    home for any length of time...

  When we lived in France, that's all we used for baking -- Lindt dark
  chocolate. Works fine. In fact, it works better than unsweetened
  baking chocolate. Just adjust the sugar down to account for the sugar
  in the dark chocolate. It's not really too high, anyway, compared to
  typical chocolate candy.

>  chocolate. Works fine. In fact, it works better than unsweetened
>  baking chocolate. Just adjust the sugar down to account for the sugar
>  in the dark chocolate. It's not really too high, anyway, compared to
>  typical chocolate candy.

This is the kind of information I'm looking for.  How much sugar should I
cut out?  I'd hate to waste the chocolate by using too much or too little
sugar!  (And I think you folks would lynch me!)

--Sharon

    
    Bittersweet chocolate, chopped coarsely, is the perfect substitute for
    semi-sweet morsels in your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.
    

  Hmmm, how much to cut the sugar. We didn't cut it too much at all, if
  I recall. We just guessed that about 1/3 of the weight of the
  chocolate was sugar, and used that much less in the recipe, which
  wasn't much, since generally, you're not using too much chocolate
  relative to the amounts of other ingredients. But I almost always
  reduce the amount of sugar recipes call for regardless of what kind of
  chocolate, and even if there's no chocolate, because I find most
  recipes way too sweet. So I had a built-in margin for error, and never
  had a problem using Swiss dark chocolate.

  By the way, the reason I said it works better is that it's got much
  higher cocoa and cocoa butter content than US unsweetened baking
  chocolate. When melted, it blends better with other ingredients, and
  has less tendancy to separate or curdle or whatever it is that
  chocolate does when it's too old or has been heated too much.

bittersweet chocolate is a direct substitute for semi-sweet chocolate with no
change in the sugar for a recipe.  If substituting bittersweet chocolate for
UNSWEETENED baking chocolate, you probably want to cut recipe sugar by 1/3 or
so...it really is an experimental thing and you will have to play with it.

    This notes file is an element of the public record and the Swiss
    Chocolate Authorities will be after you if you don't surrender your
    chocolate to Louise as suggested in .1.
    
    :-) :-)
    
    ed

    No problem using it for cooking.  I would save it for those dishes
    that the chocolate is the primary taste for the dessert (eg.  mousses,
    chocolate tortes).  Most of (perhaps all of) the recipes in the Cake
    Bible call for sweetened chocolate.
    
    				-d

    This is a techinical chocolate question......for those who really know
    their chocolate ;-)))
    If one would happen to be in Europe, would one be able to have the
    chocolate mailed back to ones home? Instead of carrying it around...of
    course it *would* become lighter and lighter....
    
    But seriously, can you have it mailed, or would you have to do that
    yourself and has anyone done this before?
    
    Hannah

  The main problem with mailing at this time of year is heat damage, but
  unless you're planning to use it in an unusually delicate recipe (the
  kind where only "chocolat de couverture" or some incredibly high
  quality chocolate will work), then it shouldn't be a big problem. It
  will probably look a little chalky around the edges if it got too
  warm, but that's no big deal for cooking purposes.

  Mailing chocolate airmail from Europe isn't cheap, either.

  We've brought chocolate back in the cargo hold of planes, though (and
  recently, in quite warm weather), and it comes through fine, because
  the hold is quite chilly. The insulation of stuff around it protects
  it both from damage of mishandling and from getting too cold.

  When my husband and I were on our honeymoon, we stocked up on chocolate in
France.  From there, we were going to London to Edinburgh and back to London.
Our chocolate stash was quite heavy (:-), and we were staying at the same
hotel in London on both occasions, so we left it in storage at the hotel.
Perhaps some similar arrangement is possible for you? 

--Sharon