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Chocolate chips (sometimes also referred to as chocolate chunks) are a food; they are small pieces of chocolate. They are used in baking, cooking, and hot beverage making.
Chocolate chips are very commonly used in cookies (in their most basic form, these are called chocolate chip cookies). Chocolate chips are also used as an ingredient in many desserts and sweets, as well as some sauces.
In their mini form, chocolate chips are often also used as a topping, garnish, or decorative touch (for example, at either end of a cannoli, or sprinkled on hot cocoa with whipped cream).
Chocolate chips (or chunks) are available in a few basic shapes (the most common shapes are chunks and morsels (shaped like a droplet) and sizes (the most common sizes are "regular" sized and "mini" sized, though some companies make larger-sized chocolate chips, as well).
In some countries, such as the United States, chocolate chips are available in a wide variety of cocoa contents (this is graded by cacao percentages), with semi-sweet chocolate (only somewhat sweet, usually with a 60-69% cacao ratio), milk chocolate (more sweet, usually 40-59% cacao ratio; some companies' semi-sweet chips fall into this range, also), and dark chocolate (anywhere from 69% to 92% cacao ratio; least sweet) being most common.
Dark chocolate chips are sometimes also available in "darker" and "less dark" varieties; (for example, regular dark usually has around 70-75% cacao), and the far less sweet "extra dark", which is usually anything more than 75% cacao).
"White chocolate chips" are also available, although these do not contain any actual chocolate (usually what would be the "chocolate part" ingredient of the chip is instead a mix of cocoa butter and sugar, or only sugar).
The most common type of chocolate chips to make cookies at home with are semi-sweet (sometimes called bittersweet) morsels.
Chocolate chips can be melted down to make sauces (such as dessert toppings and molé sauces), beverages (such as cocoas and mochas), dips (for instance, to dip fruits in), and "homemade" shaped chocolates formed in molds.
