The Hershey's Bar You Can Use As An Ultra-Sweet Chocolate Chip Substitute

Experienced home bakers know that the devil (and the deliciousness) is in the details. Forgetting a teaspoon of baking powder can ruin a loaf of quick bread – and, on the flip side, swapping out just one regular ingredient can totally transform the flavor of your desserts. Ever made brownies using a banana instead of an egg? Then you know what we're talking about. Today, we're exploring another imaginative substitution: Break up a Hershey's bar and use the crumbles as a flavorful chocolate chip substitute. The key word here is "flavorful," and it doesn't just have to taste like milk chocolate. 

For craveable, creamy sweetness, nothing gets the job done like a Hershey's Cookies 'N' Creme Bar. The crunchy chocolate cookie pieces next to the creamy white chocolate give giant interplay to these bite-sized morsels. Cookies 'N' Creme came in second place in Tasting Table's definitive ranking of every Hershey's bar flavor, and crumbled, it can add a fresh, unexpected taste to your tried-and-true baked goods. 

This tip could also be a thrifty way to use up old Halloween candy or to save yourself a trip to the grocery store when a last-minute dessert craving hits and (gasp) you're all out of chocolate chips. Plus, incorporating these morsels into your desserts is as easy as it is versatile. You can use them anywhere you might normally use regular chocolate chips.

To bust up those candy bars mess-free, simply pop 'em inside a resealable plastic bag, press all the air out, and seal. Then, place the bag on top of a cutting board and firmly grip the thick handle of a large plastic serving spoon or spatula to bang on the chocolate, breaking it into coarse pieces. Soon, you'll have a bag filled with ready-to-use "chocolate chips."

A two-pound bag of individually-wrapped, snack-size Hershey's Cookies 'N' Creme bars costs $19.44 on Amazon. Or, a box of 36 full-sized candy bars runs for $31.95. If you're making a quick, one-off recipe and don't need to buy in bulk, single full-sized candy bars cost just $1.59 at a Target in Chicago; to each their own preferred snacking and baking needs. Either way, both the snack-size and the full-size bars can be broken up into next-level chocolate chips all the same. 

To get your confectionery brainstorm rolling, try baking 'em into any of your classic cookie recipes or a batch of brownies. That creamy cookie taste would lend a soft, sweet note to these dimensional brown butter chocolate chip cookies. Use them as a textural topping for yogurt parfaits or fully-loaded ice cream sundaes. Or, stir them into the batter for a crunchy kick to this plush strawberry vanilla bread or this three-layer banana split dessert bread. These elevated chocolate chips would even take your weekend pancakes and croffles to the next level.