TCHOPro Baking Drops 68%

Look fast! No, it's not August Derleth...but TCHO in the singular! This stands for "technology meeting chocolate," but could also be a clever nod at the founder, Timothy Child's, short-lived career as a motivational children's rap artist and DJ, T-Cho. Because that's not true, please stick to the former.Along with a few other reviewable goodies, TCHO sent over these baking drops in a space-age bag and I immediately went to work on a batch of cookies. What else to test the chocolate professionals use than a good batch of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies? My first brush with these cookies was a few years ago on etsy when I started up this blog. I was so smitten with these and meant to get the recipe or order a few hundred, but then the woman who sold them to me left the internet forever, taking her recipe with her. Asshole. All I had going for me was the name and a pocket full of dreams. And butter. Because of my annoying persistent habits, I've been trying any gluten-free cookie recipe I can find, and that's where I got the idea to use these in cookies.A swirling vortex of peanut butter.

When I received these baking drops, I noticed that they were flat, much like Wilton's chocolate flavored candy melts, but were instead 68% dark chocolate. Dark like my soul. The tasting notes on the back were actually quite accurate, with a rich intensity throughout the drop and red berry notes in the midnote. My only disagreement was in the ending note, as I tasted a distinctly strong, bitter coffee. Not necessarily bad, quite tasty in fact, but also not the caramelly ending I was promised. Such is life. Texturally, they were everything a good couverture baking chocolate ought to be- snappy and happy without a hint of graininess.
When they cooked up, I completely forgot that they were couverture and left a slight waxiness to the overall cookie mouthfeel. The chocolate only improved in melting, though, and released a decadent and distinct fruitiness similar to that in some single origin bars I've tasted. I(n retrospect, cookies probably weren't the most professional nor sophisticated application for these drops, as they are a couverture chocolate best used for dipping or molding, and I was a little worried that the high cocoa butter content in the blend would work against me, but the cookies turned out decently. (Alas, still not identical to my lost loves!) Obviously, I wouldn't use them again in cookies but may try to make pots de cremes for Keepitcoming tomorrow. But the drops were delicious.
So thank God for sex, suspenders, and TCHO. It's worth your alliance.