So glad we have ready-made chocolate chips in this modern time--chopping all that chocolate (especially for restaurant-size batches) is WAY too much work!! I wonder if freezing the chocolate and THEN whacking it might shatter the chocolate more easily.... Julia, I tried freezing; it actually was a bit harder, as I had to whack harder, and the result wasn't any better. I think cooks back then were just used to dong a lot more work; plus, that's why they had "kitchen maids..." :) PJH The trick I learned when tasked with chopping large slabs of chocolate: use a large serrated knife! It cuts into the chocolate without slipping like regular straight-edges knives. The drawback? You create more shards and flakes of chocolate than nice, square pieces. For candy-making, you can't beat it. For cookies, best to go with either ready-made chunks or whack a thin bar of chocolate as PJ did! Best, Kim@KAF

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