A Tesla designer recreated the humble chocolate chip to be perfect to use for baking cookies

• Dandelion Chocolate in San Francisco makes single-origin chocolate chips.
• Its new large chip was created by a Tesla designer to be ideal for baking.
• The new large chip design was released in June.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Tesla senior industrial designer Remy Labesque used his spare time to recreate the chocolate chip, a baking staple.

Dandelion Chocolate was founded in 2010 by Todd Masonis after selling his Comcast stock for a rumored $150 to $170 million in 2008. True to his tech roots, he said the company was started in a garage, and it now lives in San Francisco’s Mission District.

Labesque first connected with Dandelion in 2013, in a Chocolate 101 class taught by Masonis. Since then, he has worked on other designs with the chocolatiers, including a to-go hot chocolate cup, a to-go tray, and most recently the new large chocolate chip.

Here’s how the Tesla designer reimagined the decades-old baking staple.

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At Tesla, Labesque works on solar roofs and vehicle charging, according to Bloomberg.

Source: Bloomberg

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Labesque designed the House Hot Chocolate to-go coffee cup with a cookie holder.

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He was also behind the European Hot Chocolate to-go tray, with a cookie and marshmallow.

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Chocolate is a key ingredient in executive pastry chef Lisa Vega's chocolate chip cookies, the company's best selling product.

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Previously, Vega had one person focused on hand-piping 50 lbs of tempered chocolate discs per week, a major time investment.

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Dandelion brought in Labesque to rethink the typical chocolate chip, which has an 80-year-old dewdrop shape, kept around out of industrial convenience.

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Labesque proposed that a thin piece of chocolate would melt more quickly.

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So, he designed a squared shaped piece of chocolate with thin, tapered edges.

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The dark chocolate, made of only cacao and sugar, is placed in molds to harden.

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They're extracted from the molds with a smooth finish.

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They are solid at room temperature and melt evenly in baking.

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In a statement, Vega said: "I'm happy/thrilled/impressed with the elegance of the chip, they melt consistently in baking, and the form interacts with all five taste receptors in the mouth, showcasing the single-origin chocolate flavors beautifully."

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The chips come in 17.6 oz bags for $30, or 5.5 lb bags for $100.

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Each chip weighs 3.5 grams and is one square inch.