Chocolate Chips

Best chocolate chips

Like unsweetened chocolate, chocolate chips tend to be coarser and less flavorful than bar chocolate. Generally speaking, chips don't contain as much cocoa butter, which means they don't melt as well. They're also less creamy than dark chocolate bars because they are rarely conched (a refining process that improves smoothness).

A handful of manufacturers, however, are producing chocolate chips that rival bar chocolate for texture and flavor. Not only are they upping the cocoa-butter content, they're also turning to unorthodox techniques and ingredients. One such manufacturer, Guittard, refines and conches the chocolate in its Classic Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (*est. $2.80 for 12 ounces), resulting in glossy, creamy chips that rival chocolate used in high-end candy shops. Although Guittard's chips are flavorful and complex, these disc-shaped chips fail to hold their shape in cookies. Editors at Cook's Illustrated award Guittard the top prize nonetheless. Tasters loved the just-right balance of sweet and bitter flavors and the satiny texture of these chips. Guittard also sells oversized Super Cookie Chips (*est. $2.80 for 10 ounces), which fare slightly less well in testing. Some tasters found them rich and well balanced, while others called them bland.

Although Tropical Source chocolate chips (*Est. $3 for 10 ounces) contain unusual ingredients, such as a small percentage of soy flour and unrefined cane juice crystals instead of white sugar, these chocolate chips earned first prize by a wide margin in an older 1998 test at Cook's Illustrated. Editors say that the cane juice crystals temper the sweetness of these chips and that the soy flour makes them creamier. These chocolate chips are complex, slightly bitter, and silky in texture. Tropical Source chips are only available at health food stores and by mail order.

Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (*est. $3 for 12 ounces) taste strongly of chocolate, but they lose points in reviews for being overly sweet. These chips can be gritty when tasted raw, but they melt in the mouth quickly. Ghirardelli, however, is one brand that's available in most supermarkets.

Nestlé Toll House chocolate chips (*est. $2.50 for 11.5 ounces), a perennial bestseller, earns middling reviews in two tests at Cook's Illustrated. Some testers felt that the chocolate flavor of these chips is "decent," while others call these chips saccharine, "like a marshmallow." Another Nestlé product, Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks (*Est. $2.50 for 11.5 ounces) fares better in recent tests. These chunks are said to have a stronger chocolate flavor and only moderate sweetness. If Guittard chocolate chips aren't available, reviewers say the Nestlé Semi-Sweet chunks are a decent alternative.