The Cook’s Country Team’s Favorite Chocolate Recipes

(Want to learn more about chocolate? This roundup of our favorite brands of chocolate products, and some tips on storage, tempering, and the best ways to use them in your cooking, should help.)

Here's how some of our Cook's Country coworkers like their chocolate.

"It's all about cookies for me. Triple chocolate or chocolate chip. I don't have a preference between crisp or chewy; I like them both!"

Ice cream for sure. And brownies. In fact, I freeze brownie batter in small portions, and then each night I bake myself a teeny little brownie and have it with a scoop of ice cream. It's a ritual that I love.

I really love chocolate in Mexican mole, a complex and primarily savory dish where chocolate reveals a completely different side of itself. But I eat most of my chocolate in trail mix and granola, like chunks mixed in with nuts and oats and stuff.

Chocolate chip pancakes. Chocolate chips are so great. Sometimes I put them in my mother's pumpkin bread recipe. And I love chocolate milk. Love it.

Hot fudge over ice cream. Or chocolate-covered blueberries, which we used to make when I worked at a chocolate factory.

I love a really sloppy, messy molten chocolate cake or pudding cake. Or, I love a soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie. I like them super soft, so I always underbake by a few minutes.

My favorite chocolate is a small bite of bittersweet chocolate after dinner. But I also love a rich, luxurious flourless chocolate cake. A small amount of espresso powder really amplifies the chocolate flavor.

My go-to chocolate delivery system is hot chocolate, but I’m completely crazy about our Milk Chocolate Cheesecake. It’s creamy, sweet, and tangy, a showstopper that’s much easier than you’d think.