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Sign me up for Ghirardelli's bittersweet. I've also used Guittard with great results. Nestle's Toll House are not wretched, considering they're milk "chocolate." They have a pleasant aroma, texture and taste - but I wouldn't use any other milk chips. I haven't found any that taste like chocolate.

What about those huge "chocolate chunks" sold? If they tasted better, I'd use them instead of cutting chunks when I need chunks.

As for white chocolate - bleah. It tastes and feels like pure sweet fat in the mouth and bears no resemblance to chocolate.

This post inspired me to pick up a bag of Ghiradelli 60% semi-sweets. Now it's a toss up... choco chip cookies or chocolate chip buttermilk pancakes :-)

I also have a plethora of basil, and I tried the cookie recipe today. Very good! Only thing is, "golf ball" size is too big and made only 11 cookies. Try "walnut size" for a 24 count. Maybe the writer doesn't play golf! Any way, try it, it's unusual and tasty.

A crusty country bread, white cheddar, and diced jalapeno sprinkled on the cheese. And don't you dare seed that jalapeno!

Lp101 Cut a good length off the bottom so you've cut past the point where it's dry, so the stem will take up water (just as you would do with roses). Keep on the windowsill in a glass of water. I do this with basil from my garden, so I can have a leaf or two when I want it. But my basil is fresh, and takes up water just fine - whether this works for you will depend on how fresh the herb is. Basil put in the fridge may turn brown.

How do you all keep your basil fresh? I can't grow my own basil in my current apartment, so I buy it in bunches from the grocery store (often Whole Foods). The basil is beautiful and fragrant at the store, but they often wilt (or at least begin to) within a couple days once I take them home. I've tried everything: refrigeration, room temperature storage, and both of the previous options in a small glass of water (with freshly trimmed stems, no less). I can't imagine WF is able to sell all that basil every day, but I would be surprised to learn that they just trashed it every night and started over. Does anyone know their secret?

BASIL COOKIES! A little savory/sweet surprise: http://gastronomyblog.com/2009/07/02/basil-cookies/

Don't fully make pesto and freeze it. What you want to make is... the beginnings of pesto, what we call "basil brickle" at my house. Take your basil, food-process or stone-grind it, and mix it with JUST ENOUGH olive oil to make a smooth paste. Put that in small freezer bags, spread it out flat so no air is touching most of it, and freeze.

Then, when you want to make pesto, you break off some of the basil brickle and thaw it. Only NOW do you add most of your oil, garlic, salt, pine nuts, and cheese, because that way they come to the party with their full fresh flavor, not with 6 months in the freezer behind them. (Frozen cheese is an abomination anyway.) The results, assuming you started with good basil to begin with, are much more flavorful than if you freeze finished pesto.

I have a basil plant this year, but I've never known this...
From where do I pluck the leaves to encourage new growth? Do I just take the little bunches from the tops of the stems?

My favorite is cheddar, sauteed onions, and tomato between sourdough or white bread. mmmm!

One of my favorite basil recipes is a basil broccoli soup:
Boil lots of basil leaves with some cut up broccoli until tender. Puree in a blender. Add some butter. Salt to taste.

So simple, so tasty!

I don't seem to have a problem with too much basil--I can't seem to grow enough! Until the end of the summer. I make pesto, substituting some veggie broth for the olive oil. And I freeze it in ice cube trays, then pull out the cubes and freeze them in freezer bags for easy storage. An ice cube is 2 Tbsp, perfect for a personal pizza. Adding olive oil makes a great pesto salad dressing. There's peso butter, pesto mayonnaise, pesto cream cheese, pesto rice. Too much basil? Does not compute!