• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Edible Times
  • About
    • Hire
  • Recipes
    • By Diet
      • GAPS
      • Gluten Free
      • Keto
      • Paleo
    • Breakfast
    • Desserts
    • Dinner
    • Drinks
  • Just Cook
  • Macarons
  • Start Here
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • All Recipes
  • How To
  • French Macarons
  • About
  • Hire
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • ×

    Home » Recipes » Desserts

    Chocolate Dessert Recipes & Snacks for Every Diet

    If you're looking for reliable, chef-developed chocolate recipes, you've come to the right place!  Macarons, cake, fudgey brownies, and even gluten-free ditties (that will fool your gluten-eating friends!).

    If you prefer a low-carb, ketogenic or heating diet like the GAPS protocol, you will find scrumptious, unprocessed recipes. Enjoy... and be careful, death by chocolate is always one bake away!


    Most Popular

    • No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
    • Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies
    • Ultimate Whoopie Pies

    Baking with Chocolate

    For the most part, baking with chocolate - either using cocoa powder or solid chocolate - is pretty straightforward. As long as you measure correctly, you pretty much can't go wrong. But since you're here, I'd love to share my professional tips for getting more chocolate into your life in the best ways possible.

    How to Melt

    Melting chocolate is perhaps its most temperamental process. Whether you're melting with other ingredients or alone for chocolate bark, low heat is best.

    Measuring Tips

    As a culinary student and private chef, my inexpensive kitchen scale is often the workhorse of my tools. Since baking is often a do-si-do of science and technique, I include both volume and weight measurements in most of my recipes. If you don't own a scale and have no interest in one, try to always measure your cocoa powder in a measuring cup meant for dry ingredients.

    Cocoa powder in a measuring cup on counter.


    Natural vs Dutch-process Cocoa Powder

    One of the most asked about questions when it comes to baking with chocolate!

    The "Dutch" Process

    Simply explained, the raw chocolate that becomes dutch-process cocoa powder is treated with an alkalizing chemical, potassium carbonate. Since cocoa beans are naturally acidic, this neutralizes their acidic nature. In the 1800s, a Dutch inventor developed this process to allow the powder to dissolve more easily in liquid. And also to give it a darker color.

    Chef's Tips

    I personally don't like Dutch-process cocoa. I find it to be well, processed. Potassium carbonate is an irritant, and used as a flame retardant and fertilizer. I personally don't want any chemicals like that near my food. Most importantly, the process also removes much of the flavor compounds we chocoholics love. Not edible times. I stock unsweetened cocoa powder in my home and professional pantry.

    Occasionally, desserts will demand the cocoa powder play it neutral acid-wise in a recipe. Of course, then, you want to adhere to the recipe. But as with all of life, moderation is the key to longevity. With chocolate, too.


     

    • Silky Nutella Mousse
    • My Foolproof Recipe for No-Bake Cookies
    • Chocolate Macarons Recipe & Two Tempting Fillings
    • Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats for All, Chocolate Optional
    • How to Frost a Cake & Easy Decorating Ideas
    • Dark Chocolate Bark & An Easy Tempering Method
    • Cadbury Creme Egg French Macarons
    • Coconut Macaroons Without Sweetened Condensed Milk
    • Chocolate Keto Coconut Clusters Recipe & Variations
    • Tips on how to bake paleo + paleo chocolate chip cookies recipe
    • How to make homemade 'Milano' cookies without all the processed junk
    • Scrumptious Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

    Primary Sidebar

    Welcome to
    Edible Times!

    Chef Christina Bailey, Boise Private Chef, Creator of Edible Times

    I'm Christina, a classically trained, Michelin-star restaurant alum and private chef. And more importantly, Chef Mom to two little boys.
    I'm here to empower you in the kitchen. I share way more than delicious, chef-tested recipes. I explain the professional formulas, ratios, and techniques, too. To read about me and my food philosophy, follow this.



    In Season for Spring

    • Orange-Balsamic Marinated, Grilled Asparagus Recipe
    • How to mix up a classic pico de gallo recipe with whatever's in your kitchen
    • The Beauty of Air Fryer Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus
    • The Original Mint Julep Recipe
    • Cadbury Creme Egg French Macarons
    • How to Cook Sockeye Salmon to Perfect Doneness
    • How to Cook Asparagus
    • The best method for macarons bursting with lemon flavor

    Most Popular

    • Strawberry French Macarons Recipe & Two Fillings
    • Classic, Tender Beef Top Round Roast
    • Spiced Apple Cider from Apple Juice
    • Chef Thomas Keller's Roast Chicken of Bouchon Fame
    • Coconut Macaroons Without Sweetened Condensed Milk
    • How to Cook Sockeye Salmon to Perfect Doneness

    my foodgawker gallery

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • About Christina
    • Private Chef Services
    • Privacy & Disclosure
    • Nutrition Notice

    Subscribe

    Looking for free cooking, baking and macaron tips?

    Sign up!

    Recipes

    All Recipes
    Breakfast
    Dinner
    Dessert
    Macarons

    By Diet

    GAPS Diet
    Gluten-Free
    Keto
    Paleo
    Vegan

    Copyright © 2009-2023 Edible Times