Holiday Baking : Chocolate: The Dark Fantastic : 365 GREAT CHOCOLATE DESSERTS, <i> By Natalie Haughton (HarperCollins: $16.95; 275 pp.)</i> : THE INTERNATIONAL CHOCOLATE COOKBOOK, <i> By Nancy Baggett (Stewart, Tabori & Chang Inc.: $35; 288 pp.)</i>

Two cookbooks featuring chocolate take very different approaches to this delicious subject; one book is down-to-earth, the other more sophisticated. The authors present similar basic information on working with chocolate, but they have divergent ideas on the type of chocolate that should be used for their recipes.

“365 Great Chocolate Desserts” is homespun, filled with recipes for a family to use on an everyday basis. Haughton takes an easy, practical approach--no esoteric or hard-to-find ingredients are required. Taste and ease of preparation are her main concerns.

“While testing the recipes for this book, I found that semisweet chocolate chips, which are often more economical than blocks of semisweet chocolate, can be used successfully in most recipes,” states Haughton in the introduction. “They melt easily in the microwave and require no cutting or chopping. Very delicate recipes, such as mousses and truffles, which showcase the chocolate and call for only a couple of other ingredients, may require an exceptionally high-quality imported variety, but I found that the semisweet chips work well in most baking recipes and in recipes that use chocolate in combination with a number of other ingredients.”

Her recipes, many of which can be partially or totally prepared in advance, range from quick desserts to elaborately garnished grand finales. There are variations of old favorites, such as the red devil’s food cake that contains tomato sauce and red wine vinegar, and novel ideas such as chocolate-cinnamon dessert nachos and won-ton beignets with chocolate sauce.

Haughton has limited the recipes that call for raw eggs “because they can harbor salmonella. While I did include some traditional mousses and chiffons that use raw or lightly cooked eggs or egg whites, all such recipes are flagged with a warning.” The introduction includes a glossary of types of chocolate and tips on melting and storing each variety.

This no-frills book-- sans illustrations--is spiral-bound so that it lies flat and is easy to use. The simplicity, moreover, keeps it from being a disaster if you accidentally smudge a page with chocolate while preparing one of the recipes.

In contrast, Baggett’s “The International Chocolate Cookbook” focuses on the world’s most famous chocolate desserts and includes beautifully styled, color photographs of 50 of her 125 recipes. This is a volume that would fit as comfortably on the coffee table as in the kitchen.

Although there are some easy recipes, many are quite sophisticated. Directions for these more elaborate desserts are well detailed, and many of them can be prepared partially or totally in advance. Some, however, would be a challenge to even experienced cooks.

Baggett gives a good explanation of tempering, the “process of cooling and mixing melted chocolate to ensure it will set up shiny and hard,” and explains it is necessary for dipped and molded candies, pure chocolate glazes and decorative items--whenever the chocolate will be stored at room temperature.

Her quick-tempering method is far easier than the classic technique used by professionals. “The only difficult aspects of this quick-tempering method are determining when the chocolate has neared the setting point and not letting it cool and stiffen too much to dip, pour or spread,” writes Baggett.

She may be a bit optimistic, but if you run into problems, Baggett advises, “An alternative way to avoid tempering real melted chocolate without sacrificing flavor is to chill it as soon as it is used and to keep it chilled until serving time.” Tempering is also not required when chocolate is mixed with a liquid.

In the section on selecting and storing chocolate, the author describes the types of chocolate and warns, “They are unique and cannot be substituted for one another unless indicated in a recipe.” Regarding morsels or chips, Baggett says, “These products are specifically designed to hold their shape when heated, so are not as fluid as most chocolates and do not melt as well. Don’t substitute them for other chocolates or melt them unless instructed to do so in a recipe.”

Even the traditional recipes in this book have been modified so eggs are cooked to at least 160 degrees (the temperature at which salmonella bacteria are killed). The chapter on chocolate artistry takes this ingredient to the ultimate, with instructions for constructing edible gift boxes, baskets and bird’s nests, as well as crafting leaves, roses and pine cones.