Best Chocolate Recipes and Tips

Satisfy your cravings with sweet recipes and ideas for cakes, brownies, cookies, and much more.

Melting Advice

How to Melt Chocolate
Chocolate-covered strawberries, chocolate-dipped cookies―perfectly melted chocolate can take a simple dessert from delicious to divine. Low heat is the key; excessive heat can easily burn it or make it grainy. This video demonstrates some quick steps to melt chocolate to the proper consistency.

Easy Ways to Melt Chocolate
Here, two easy methods for getting chocolate recipe ready.

Best Picks

The Best Chocolate Bars
Willy Wonka, eat your heart out: Real Simple staffers selflessly tasted more than 180 luxe bars to determine which ones deserve a golden ticket.

Standout Hot Chocolate
Out of more than 40 contenders, these 6 winners warmed up Real Simple's testers.

Chocolate-Buying Checklist

Use these smart suggestions from Michelle Tampakis, resident chocolate expert at New York’s Institute of Culinary Education, to choose premium chocolate.

• Cocoa as the first ingredient. High-quality chocolate should list cocoa, or some derivative of it—such as cocoa butter—as the first ingredient. If cocoa is not the primary ingredient, the chocolate is likely high in sugar.
• Cocoa percentage of at least 60 percent. The higher the percentage of cocoa, the darker and less sweet the chocolate. A chocolate of about 60 percent cocoa is suitable for snacking, while a chocolate with at least 80 percent cocoa will have a strong, bitter flavor better suited for baking.
• A dark, well-sealed wrapper. The more chocolate is protected from light and moisture, the longer its shelf life will be. While clear packages can be pretty, chocolate well wrapped in foil and an over-wrapper is more likely to stay fresh.

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