What to use instead of chocolate
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Melted and set again as a coating or shell
Cocoa butter sets hard and snaps when its crystals line up, which is what tempering is for, and the sugar and cocoa solids set inside that fat.
Compound coating or candy meltsRan out
1:1 by weight
Sets hard with no tempering because the fat is palm or coconut. Waxier on the tongue and considerably sweeter.
Dark chocolate in place of milkRan out
1:1 by weight
Sets firmer and snaps cleaner, tastes less sweet, and it takes a couple of degrees more heat to melt.
Chocolate loosened with coconut oilRan out
4 oz chocolate + 1 tsp refined coconut oil
A thinner coat that sets soft, so it fingerprints and never snaps. It does forgive sloppy tempering.
Dairy-free dark chocolate, 55 to 70%Dairy-free
1:1 by weight
Handles identically. Check the label for milk fat, which softens the set even in bars that read as dark.
What doesn't work: Chocolate chips melted straight. They carry extra stabilisers so they hold their shape in a cookie, and that same thickness means the coating stays dull and heavy and never gives a clean snap.
Melted into a batter for fat, flavour and structure
About half a bar of dark chocolate is cocoa butter, so it counts as fat in the recipe, and the cocoa solids bring starch that helps set the crumb.
Cocoa powder with butter or oilRan out
3 tbsp cocoa + 1 tbsp fat per 1 oz unsweetened chocolate
A drier, cakier crumb with a stronger and more bitter chocolate flavour.
Semi-sweet in place of unsweetenedRan out
1 1/2 oz semi-sweet per 1 oz unsweetened, minus 1 tbsp sugar
Milder and sweeter, and brownies set softer in the middle because of the extra sugar.
Chocolate chips with extra oilRan out
1:1 by weight plus 1 tsp oil per 4 oz
The stabilisers keep the melted mass thick and stiff, so without the extra fat it will not fold into the batter.
What doesn't work: Chocolate syrup. It is sugar, water and a little cocoa, so it puts liquid where the recipe wanted fat and the brownies bake cakey, sticky and barely chocolate.
Pieces that stay in pieces through a bake
Chips are made with less cocoa butter and added stabilisers so they soften without spreading, which is why they are still dots when the cookie comes out.
Chopped bar chocolateRan out
1:1 by weight
Melts into pools and streaks through the dough rather than staying as dots, and the flavour is stronger.
Chocolate feves or wafersRan out
1:1 by weight
Flat discs melt into thin sheets, so you get layers of chocolate through the cookie instead of pockets.
Cacao nibsRan out
1/2 cup nibs per 1 cup chips
They never melt, so you get crunch and bitterness and no sweetness at all from them.
Dairy-free chipsDairy-free
1:1 by weight
Hold their shape the same. Some brands are drier and can go chalky once the cookie has cooled.
What doesn't work: White chocolate at the same quantity as dark. It has no cocoa solids and much more sugar and milk in it, so it melts to a runny caramel and burns onto the tray.