White chocolate is controversial to say the least – most people don’t seem to like it. But until you’ve tried a quality white chocolate, hold judgement. White chocolate (which is made from at least 20% cocoa butter – no cocoa solids) shouldn’t contain any extra ingredients like palm or coconut oils – just the cocoa butter, sugar, milk solids, vanilla, and lecithin. Some brands, like Green & Black’s, will also contain vanilla (not a bad thing for baking). I use El Rey and Valrhona a lot (in bulk bags of discs, no chopping). Amano makes a great white chocolate, but it’s hard to get and is very finicky to melt. Speaking of melting – don’t use the microwave to try to melt white chocolate. I get lazy and use all sorts of methods to melt chocolate, but for white I always use a double boiler and keep the heat low so it doesn’t seize up.

I particularly like white chocolate in cake batters and buttercream. It adds a unique flavor that’s not easy to place. I like it in cookies and bars, mixed in with chunks of dark chocolate. And it makes a great ice cream. But I didn’t like it in this recipe. These are similar to blondies, except there’s no brown sugar to be found and the batter contains some melted white chocolate. The texture was odd and cakey. They’re extremely sweet – too sweet.

• White Chocolate Brownies (Rosie’s Bakery All-Butter, Fresh Cream, Sugar-Packed, No-Holds-Barred Baking Book)