I want it to be very smooth, and about the right shape to sit
against my hard palate. If it has corners it's difficult to refrain
from chewing (though this isn't the only
factor). This means most of the standard shapes for chocolate
don't work very well: if I break a piece off a larger bar it's going
to have some sharp parts.
I don't want it to be very sweet. I enjoy sweet chocolate, but
I'd like to be eating less sugar. I would also ideally have a piece
and think "that was good, but I don't want more", which is less my
experience with sweeter chocolate.
I don't want something fancy. So far I have managed not to develop a
taste for expensive chocolate, and I'd like to stay that way if
practical.
I haven't found anything that fits these preferences very well. For
example, Hershey's Special Dark nuggets do well at being non-fancy and
smooth, but they're about twice the size I'd like (10g; 5g would be
better) and they're too sweet (~50% sugar). Looking online, two ideas
that might be about right:
Guittard 74%
wafers. At 26% sugar these might be too sweet? Hard to
tell how big they are.
Dove
Deepest Dark 82%. These are 16% sugar, which might be about
right? They're 8g each, which is a little bigger than I'd like but
probably ok. Individually wrapped, which is mildly convenient but not
necessary.
I haven't tried either of these, though, and they're a bit more
expensive than I'd like (both are $0.69/oz, $11/lb). Maybe the best
place to look is chocolate intended for baking? Anyone have
suggestions?
Buy a mold, buy bulk chocolate that you like, melt and temper it. Possibly you could also make little, mouth-sized puddles of tempered chocolate instead of using a mold.
it's not that hard so long as you have an instant-read thermometer. I have done it following instructions online and had a very good success rate. If you mess it up, it's also possible to just re-melt and try again.
I have somewhat unusual preferences in chocolate:
I want it to be very smooth, and about the right shape to sit against my hard palate. If it has corners it's difficult to refrain from chewing (though this isn't the only factor). This means most of the standard shapes for chocolate don't work very well: if I break a piece off a larger bar it's going to have some sharp parts.
I don't want it to be very sweet. I enjoy sweet chocolate, but I'd like to be eating less sugar. I would also ideally have a piece and think "that was good, but I don't want more", which is less my experience with sweeter chocolate.
I don't want something fancy. So far I have managed not to develop a taste for expensive chocolate, and I'd like to stay that way if practical.
I haven't found anything that fits these preferences very well. For example, Hershey's Special Dark nuggets do well at being non-fancy and smooth, but they're about twice the size I'd like (10g; 5g would be better) and they're too sweet (~50% sugar). Looking online, two ideas that might be about right:
Guittard 74% wafers. At 26% sugar these might be too sweet? Hard to tell how big they are.
Dove Deepest Dark 82%. These are 16% sugar, which might be about right? They're 8g each, which is a little bigger than I'd like but probably ok. Individually wrapped, which is mildly convenient but not necessary.
I haven't tried either of these, though, and they're a bit more expensive than I'd like (both are $0.69/oz, $11/lb). Maybe the best place to look is chocolate intended for baking? Anyone have suggestions?
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