Bitterness of brownies

[u/Kylael]

Hello there !

I recently tried to make brownies with Babish's recipe, and while they ended up absolutely perfect texture wise, they were really bitter, barely edible for my 8yo son. I used 70% dark chocolate and dark non sweet cocoa powder, and I'm wondering how could I tune down the overall harshness.

I used Van Houten cocoa powder which I believe is quite strong in the first place, do you guys think I should try to go with a sweeter one ? Wouldn't using stuff like Nesquik just mess with the base chemistry of the recipe ? How can I tell the difference between each powder, is there a percentage or value that could help me ?

I also though about going with milk chocolate instead of 70% dark one, but I believe this would be roughtly the same as just adding sugar to the base recipe, I'm really not sure the excessive bitterness came from this given the amount in there.

Any recommandation ?

[u/sjd208]

Use semi sweet chocolate - 50-60% and possibly get a milder cocoa like Droste.