To be considered authentic white chocolate, it should be contain no fats other than a minimum of 20% cocoa butters and slightly less than 4 % of butterfat, along with milk solids. White chocolate is sweet and buttery compared with dark chocolate is less sweet and more bitter.
The cocoa butter gives the white chocolate its richness.
It is very important to check the label because the inferior brands of white chocolate substitute vegetable shortening for the cocoa butter. A good sign is a creamy color rather than a stark white color.
White chocolate is a misnomer, but it is popular as both a cooking ingredient and a sweet. Bakers like to use it because it sets faster than dark chocolate, yet remains soft at room temperature.
It comes in bar and chip form. For melting, its better white chocolate in bar, because the chips are not designed to melt. It also behaves differently than dark chocolate when cooking or baking because white chocolate core ingredients are different. It should not be substituted for baking chocolate in recipes.
A feature of white chocolate, which also applies to coatings without added cocoa, is its susceptibility to oxidative rancidity of expose to light and it readily picks up foreign flavors. White chocolate is usually labeled as a white baking bar. It can’t be labeled chocolate, if without cocoa solids.
White chocolate for baking
