First of all, I wish you all a fantastic  New Year! Forgive my absence from social media: I went to Brazil for several weeks and did not have access to a good enough internet connection to allow me to publish from there.

To start this new year in beautiful and sweet way, I am sharing with you a recipe my Instagram et Facebook followers liked a lot and which will allow you to make homemade chocolate. It is delicious, simple, and looks beautiful!

I had the idea to create this recipe because I like white chocolate, but the one available on the market is way too sweet for my taste. If you are used to reading food labels, you already know that a standard white chocolate tablet contains more than 50% sugar! No, it’s not a mistake: sugar is the main ingredient of commercialised  white chocolate!

The main ingredient of this recipe is cocoa butter, ie the fat from  cocoa beans. Solid and ivory in color at room temperature, it becomes a transparent, yellowish liquid, similar to a common oil, when heated. Although cocoa butter saturated fatty acids content is 60%, it is mainly stearic acid, which is not harmful and even has cardiovascular beneficial effects.

After having read many recipes and done many tests, I ended up with a chocolate that is melting in the mouth, not too sweet, and suitable for people who do not eat dairy products. Bonus: this chocolate does not contain refined sugar either! For a more fancy result, I have added dried fruit powder and chunks, matcha and cocoa nibs. These coloured chocolates look beautiful and taste great! Read on to learn how to make these little wonders yourself! You will find a few ideas of flavoured variations under the base recipe.

Yield ~ 200gr chocolate

• 100 gr cocoa butter
• 20 gr maple sugar ( ! not maple syrup ! )
• 2 tsp powdered soy milk
• 2 tbsp light coloured nut butter: macadamia, cashew or almond

 

Optional

• 1-2 tsp cocoa beans, cocoa powder, matcha or dried fruit powder
• 1-2 cc dried fruits or flowers

Directions

1. Grind the powdered ingredients in a high speed blender or a spice mill, until texture is as fine as icing sugar. This step is essential to get a smooth chocolate!
2. Melt the cocoa butter over very low heat, stirring constantly.
3. Remove from heat, add powdered ingredients and nut butter. Stir until homogeneous. Do not panic if your chocolate has an ugly yellowish colour at this stage! It will whiten while cooling.
4. Pour into silicone moulds.
5. Sprinkle with dried flowers or fruit (optional)
6. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
7. Remove chocolate from the moulds. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Variation 1 – Semi-bitter Chocolate

Add 2 tbsp cacao powder to the basic recipe preparation.

Variation 2 – White Chocolate with Cocoa Nibs

Add 2 tbsp of cocoa nibs to the basic recipe.

Variation 3 – Raspberry Chocolate

Add 2 tsp of freeze-dried raspberry powder to the basic recipe. Sprinkle with freeze-dried raspberries chunks before refrigerating.

Variation 4 – Matcha & Strawberry Chocolate

Add 2 tsp of matcha to the basic preparation. Sprinkle with freeze-dried strawberry slices before refrigerating.

Variation 5 – Strawberry Chocolate

Add 2 tsp freeze-dried strawberry powder to the basic preparation. Sprinkle with freeze-dried strawberry slices before refrigerating.

Variation 6 – Golden Chocolate

A festive variation! Generously brush your silicone mould with edible golden powder, before pouring the basic preparation into it.

I wish you much great fun transforming your kitchen into a chocolate factory! See you soon!

Eleonora

PS: I dedicate this post to Catherine de l’essen-ciel.com, who had asked me to post  a white treat recipe when I published my purple sweet potato pie recipe 🙂

Sources

passeportsante.net ; guide-des-aliments.com