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I have more than a few things in common with Julia Child. For one, I love food and, more specifically, I have a fondness for French cuisine (don’t we all?). I also shop at the same butcher (Savenor’s Butchery in Cambridge, Massachusetts), am a cookbook author, and have a longtime love of Scharffen Berger chocolate.
The brand debuted in the late ’90s, and it wouldn’t be long before I’d discover it in a tiny, specialty market in Maine. I remember the muted tones of the paper wrappings — the bars stood out from the pack. There was something that to my 14-year-old self seemed very classy about the packaging.
I judged this book chocolate by its cover and, much to my delight, was right in my judgment — the chocolate was complex, rich, decadent: all the things good chocolate should be. I remember my shock when I checked the back of the label; surely this is European chocolate, I thought. And it wasn’t! It was made right here in the U.S.
The story goes that the company debuted at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen in 1996. Julia was reportedly there and, upon trying this new brand, declared it was the best U.S.-made chocolate she’d ever had. I was, of course, oblivious to this at the time, but had the same reaction when I tried it years after it gained national distribution. It was not the chocolate bar I’d grown up with. In fact, it was quite unlike any American chocolate I’d had up to that point.
What’s So Great About Scharffen Berger Chocolate?
While researching Scharffen Berger’s history, I learned it was apparently the first U.S. brand to prominently display cacao percentages on its packaging. This is something we’ve come to expect from most brands of chocolate (snacking, baking, or otherwise), but it’s interesting to note that things have only been this way (in the U.S., anyway) for a few decades.
When I first discovered Scharffen Berger, there were only a couple of bars sold in stores near me: a semisweet bar and a bittersweet bar. I’ve since found the brand makes all sorts of products, including baking chocolate in a variety of cacao percentages, which you can get in bar form, or chunks. The snacking bars have expanded to include a bunch of mix-ins, which I can appreciate. Two standouts are the milk chocolate bars with toasted coconut and coffee and the dark chocolate bars with cherries, almonds, and sea salt.
There are also tons of products I had no idea Scharffen Berger made: all kinds of tasty filled chocolates (think salted pistachio praline, dulce de leche, and almond toffee, to name a few), and chocolate covered treats, like graham crackers, pretzels, pecans, pistachios, etc. And here’s the thing — all of it is great, but I especially love the chocolate-covered graham crackers; they’re really a thick slab of milk chocolate with a thin sheet of extra crispy graham cracker, a ratio I can really get behind.
The packaged cookies were also a surprise hit; nary a preservative to be found in the ingredients list, and they’re soft, chewy, almost fudgy, with big chunks of chocolate in them. Of course, my first loves will always be those plain bars, which really show off the chocolate, but who am I to turn away a dark chocolate bar with cherries, almonds, and sea salt (turns out I can’t).
What’s the Best Way to Enjoy Scharffen Berger Chocolate?
Look, the best way to enjoy any finely made chocolate is simply to take a moment with one of those plain bars. Sit someplace comfortable, unwrap the bar, and break off a small piece. Pop that little piece into your mouth and sit with it! Let it melt, let those flavors wash over your palate, and really enjoy all those complexities.
And then, once you’ve taken a little moment for yourself (self-care is important), fire up your stand mixer.
I’ve used Scharffen Berger’s unsweetened cocoa powder and bittersweet chocolate to make brownies that really satisfied a crowd (shameless plug, I used the chocolate in a live cooking demo for one of my cookbooks, My Pokémon Baking Book and I was thrilled with how they came out).
Their chocolate chunks make for really top-notch cookies. I used all four types (Oat Milk Chocolate Chunks with Coconut Sugar, Dark Milk Chocolate Chunks with Maple Sugar, Semi Sweet Dark Chocolate Chunks, and Bittersweet Chocolate Chunks) for some hyper-indulgent, complex chocolate chunk cookies with pecans.
Use this chocolate in any recipe where chocolate is the star and the other ingredients are minimal, like a flourless chocolate cake or a chocolate souffle. Or, again, just eat it plain! Something I really enjoy doing is setting up a little chocolaterie board — break up some bars and arrange them on a pretty board with a mix of fresh and dried fruit and roasted, salted nuts.
Buy: Scharffen Berger Chocolate Bars, $39.99 for 6 bars at Harry & David
What’s your favorite baking chocolate brand? Tell us about it in the comments below.
