“Guittard Chocolate Cookbook”

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• New Cookbook Details Chocolate Company's Recipes, History

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  For 147 years, the Guittard Chocolate Co. has been crafted chocolate for the whole country to enjoy. The company has released a new cookbook boasting more than 60 recipes with the intention of appealing to the chocolate lover in all of us.

  Amy Guittard, author of “Guittard Chocolate Cookbook: Decadent Recipes from San Francisco’s Premium Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Company,” said she is a fifth-generation chocolate maker and marketing director for the company and the book shares chocolate traditions and stories from the company’s beginning to its recent legacy. The company was founded in 1868 by Guittard’s great-great grandfather, Etienne, when he came to the U.S. from France in search of gold. Instead of trading his chocolate from his uncle’s factory for the gold of California, Guittard decided he had better luck in selling chocolate and opened a shop in San Francisco.

  Today, Amy Guittard said the company is still a family affair. She works alongside her cousin and her father is the current CEO and president.

  “We’ve been in business for a 140-something years and we are the last … family-owned company still in existence,” she said.

  As a baker and longtime lover of chocolate, Amy Guittard started the cookbook when she was searching around old formula books from her ancestors, which sparked her curiosity and inspiration.

  “One thing that is so beautiful about food is that however you make it, there is always a story behind it,” Guittard said. “Whether it’s where it came from or how it celebrated.”

  One of Guittard’s favorite recipes in the cookbook is the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. She said that is one of the first recipes she discovered and have been preparing since high school. It is mixed with all-purpose and whole-wheat flour, which adds a texture and is paired nicely with the pumpkin, Guittard said.

  When it comes to preparing a recipe, Guittard suggests unsalted butter because it is easier to manage the salt content in each recipe. She said it allows flexibility when adding the necessary amount of salt needed for the end product. In addition, she said the freshest eggs can provide the best structure and density for the finished treat.

  “The quality of the ingredients that go into what you are making is so important in yielding a great result,” Guittard said. “We take on that belief when we make chocolate. Your end product is only as good as the ingredients that go into it.”

  For more information about the book and its recipes, visit the cookbook’s site.