If you’ve ever followed a brownie recipe to the letter and ended up with an oily mess, the culprit might be the type of chocolate you’re using. Choosing the right chocolate makes all the difference between basic, bland brownies and the rich, fudgy kind that you find in bakeries.
Let’s talk about which chocolate is best for brownies, why milk chocolate doesn’t work, using chocolate bars vs chocolate chips, and some of my favourite chocolate brands for making brownies.
The Chocolate You Use Matters
Chocolate isn’t just for flavour, it also contributes to your brownie structure, moisture, and texture! It’s not hard to tell the difference between a brownie made with high-quality chocolate and one made with low-quality chocolate.
When I was just starting out with baking, I assumed that any old chocolate would work for brownies but I soon found out that was not the case. If your chocolate has too much sugar or not enough cocoa butter, it can completely throw off the whole recipe and lead to a lot of wasted time and ingredients. If you’ve ever removed your brownies from the oven to find an oily, bubbling chocolate volcano (because same), I can almost guarantee it was down to your chocolate.
Why Dark Chocolate Is Usually Best
For brownies, high-quality dark chocolate is the gold standard. And by high-quality, I don’t necessarily mean the price but rather the cocoa butter content.
Using good chocolate will give you a more intense flavour, a better structure and that delicious ‘melt in your mouth’ texture. Also, although it sounds like the opposite would be true due to the increased fat content, good dark chocolate helps to prevent oily brownies because it contains less sugar.
What Percentage Should You Use?
In my opinion, 70% dark chocolate is the best type to use for brownies. It gives them a super rich chocolate flavour while keeping them nice and sweet. I use 70% dark chocolate in all of my brownie recipes.
85% cocoa is another great option. It gives a deliciously rich texture but you’ll typically need to use more sugar or sweet mix-ins to balance out the bitterness, depending on the recipe.
60% cocoa is the absolute lowest you should go if you want your brownies to have that classic rich, indulgent flavour. I personally wouldn’t recommend this one for beginners (unless the recipe specifically calls for it), as you’ll usually need to reduce the overall sugar content in the recipe to balance everything else out.
Why Doesn’t Milk Chocolate Work?
While milk chocolate is great for snacking on, it’s not great for baking brownies. Firstly, it contains a lot more sugar which, as I mentioned above, can cause oily brownies. This is because the sugar needs to be able to dissolve into the fats properly, and that can be hard if there’s too much of it.
Milk chocolate also contains less cocoa, which is needed for that deep chocolate flavour. I don’t know about you, but a milk-chocolate-based brownie just doesn’t sound that exciting to me!
Lastly, milk chocolate contains more milk solids, which can screw up the brownie texture, making them too soft or greasy.
Although it doesn’t make the best ‘main ingredient’, milk chocolate does make a delicious mix-in for brownies! I often add a whole bag of milk or white chocolate chips to my batter, and I also love adding other milk-chocolate-based treats such as Mars Bars, Maltesers and Kinder Bueno.
Chocolate Bars vs Chocolate Chips
When you see ‘chocolate’ listed in a brownie recipe, it can be tricky to decipher what exactly the author means. Should you use a chocolate bar or chocolate chips, and what’s the difference?
In my baking experience, dark chocolate bars are best for melting into brownies. They usually contain fewer stabilisers or emulsifiers, and they melt a lot more easily. Chocolate chips, on the other hand, are designed to hold their shape, which means that they don’t always melt smoothly and often seize up. They also have more ingredients like oils added to them, which can mess up the brownie texture, and ultimately, the flavour is just not as good.
The only exception to this would be if you’re using super high-quality dark chocolate chips, but these can be tricky to come by, especially if you’re a home baker shopping in the supermarkets.
What to Look for on the Label
When you're shopping for your dark chocolate, here’s what to look for:
- 70%-85% Cocoa content. If it doesn’t say it on the front of the packaging, check the ingredients list on the back- it’ll be there somewhere! If you’re still not sure, a higher price tag often means higher quality (although not always).
- Look for ingredients like cocoa mass, cocoa butter or cocoa solids, and avoid chocolate containing palm oil or milk fat/powder.
- Avoid compound or baking chocolate with additives.
Best Chocolate Brands for Brownies
These are just a few different chocolate bars that I have used in my recipes but feel free to check the ingredients on them to compare with your favourite. Again, anything from 70-85% will work well in most brownie recipes.
- Lindt Excellence 70% dark chocolate
- Sainsbury's Venezuelan 70% dark chocolate
- ASDA Extra Special 73% Madagascan dark chocolate
- Tesco Finest 75% Ecuador dark chocolate
- Green & Black's Organic 70% dark chocolate
Recap & Mistakes to Avoid
- The cocoa content in chocolate helps to give the brownie structure and improves its texture. Always use quality dark chocolate and avoid milk chocolate or chocolate with low cocoa content.
- Chocolate chips are made to hold their shape and, therefore, do not melt as well as bars. For best results, use chocolate bars over chocolate chips.
- Avoid using chocolate made with vegetable oil, milk powder or milk fat.
- The fat-to-sugar ratio in your recipe really matters! Make sure to use the type of chocolate and the exact amount of sugar that the recipe recommends, especially if you’re a beginner baker.
I hope you find this post helpful on your baking journey! Once you get the hang of the basics, you’ll be making gorgeous brownies on repeat! And starting with good-quality chocolate means you’re already halfway there!
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