Many people prefer white chocolate over classic milk or dark. It contains less caffeine, and its creamy and smooth taste goes well with many different flavors. This article uncovers what ingredients it contains, how to use it for cooking, and a few mouthwatering recipes.
What Is White Chocolate Made Of?
The main ingredients of white chocolate are cocoa butter, milk solids, sugar, vanilla, and lecithin (fatty food additive). It doesn’t contain cocoa solids, which is typical for milk and dark chocolate. The taste is less intense and has hints of vanilla. It may not have the rich cocoa taste, but it’s sweet and smooth.
How to Use it in Cooking
Using quality white chocolate with a high cocoa butter content is the trick for reaching that creaminess and texture. Chocolatier Austin Gappelberg, co-owner of the Hampton Chocolate Factory, suggests looking for products with at least 20% cocoa butter. The chocolate will be richer if the cocoa butter percentage is higher.
How to Use White Chocolate
White chocolate goes well with many flavors due to its mild taste. It can be paired with fruit or nutty desserts, making its unique flavor stand out. If you’re substituting milk chocolate, remember to adjust the sugar levels accordingly, as the white one is sweeter. Now, here are a few recipes that everyone can enjoy!
Layered Berry Mousse Cakes
Ingredients:
1½ cups chopped white chocolate, about 9 oz. 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, at room temp. 2 cups heavy cream 2 tbs. sugar 1½ tsp. vanilla extract ¼ cup seedless raspberry jam 6 tbs. blackberry jam 8 soft raspberry-filled cookies, like Archway ½ pint fresh raspberries ½ pint fresh blackberries
Directions:
Melt some white chocolate along with cream cheese and let it cool. Beat together the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla. Fold whipped cream into the chocolate mixture and divide it into thirds. Stir raspberry and blackberry jam into two portions. Crumble the cookies in a processor and place the mixture on a baking sheet or in a muffin pan. Once you’ve done that, layer the mixture with blackberry, vanilla, and raspberry mousse. Cover and leave them in the refrigerator for about 2 hours. Voilá!
Tickled Pink White Chocolate-Raspberry Meringues
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar 2 tsp. cornstarch 4 large egg whites, at room temp. 1 tsp. vanilla extract ½ tsp. white vinegar 2-3 drops of red food coloring 1 (1 oz.) pkg. instant reduced-calorie white chocolate pudding mix ½ pint fresh raspberries 1¼ cups whipped topping or whipped cream
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 225 ºF. Line the baking sheet with foil and draw six 2½” circles. Whisk together sugar and cornstarch and beat the egg whites, vanilla, and vinegar until you achieve a soft texture. Gradually beat in the sugar mixture until firm peaks form. Tint with a color of choice and pipe a circle over each mark. Pipe the center with meringue and put three outer layers over the base. Bake for just over an hour and leave in the oven for another hour to cool down.
In the meantime, you can prepare the pudding mix. Place two raspberries on the bottoms of pavlovas and fill in with pudding. Top with cream and some more raspberries.
Creamy Lemon Chiffon Cheesecake
Ingredients:
24 golden sandwich cookies ¾ cup chopped white chocolate, melted 3 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese 1 (10 oz.) jar lemon curd 2 cups mixed fresh fruit, like sliced strawberries, orange slices, and blueberries
Directions: Crumble the cookies and add the white chocolate. Mix together, press into a greased pie plate, and let chill for 15 minutes. Process the cream cheese and lemon curd until smooth. Add it to the pie plate and let it cool for four hours. Serve with some fruit on top.