What’s In an Espresso Chocolate Bar?

Espresso is known as high caffeine drink, designed to help keep us awake when we are half asleep. However, espresso has another side that does not involve a liquid form. This variety of espresso comes in the form of a chocolate bar for your baking needs.

I came across the idea of using espresso when I was baking double chocolate chip cookies. I was running low on chocolate chips and didn’t have nearly enough to satisfy the recipe requirements. Instead of running out to the store, I decided to rummage through the cabinets to see if there was something else I could use. Hidden in the back of one of the cabinets, and luckily, not expired, was an espresso chocolate bar.

Since I still need approximately ½ cup of chocolate chips, I decided to chop the espresso chocolate bar into very small pieces. I didn’t want anyone to notice there was something different about the cookies until they bit into them. I was pleasantly surprised that the cookies came out as good as they did. The espresso added that extra kick you don’t normally get in cookies.

If you would like to use an espresso chocolate bar in your cookie recipe, you can either halve the amount of chocolate chips to make it 50-50 or make it 75-25 depending on how strong you like espresso. Since espresso has a strong flavor I would be careful of how much you put into your batter. Too strong of a flavor might turn people off especially if they are not coffee drinkers.

Espresso also works well in brownies, cakes, muffins and cupcakes. So if you are looking for that extra kick, chop up some espresso chocolate bar and add it to your favorite batter. You will keep your audience guessing on what the mystery ingredient is.