Homemade Chocolates

[dani nero]

I just discovered I might be a chocoholic, and the chocolates at the stores are incredibly unhealthy as they contain tons of sugar, unhealthy fats, as well as soy and preservatives. I can't do dairy, soy, or sugar to begin with, so I decided to learn how to make my own chocolate with coconut milk, cocoa powder, and honey... I don't know what sort of fat to use.. maybe coconut oil?

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with making such treats and if you're willing to share any tips :-) Just that the ingredients have to be healthy!

So far I found a few pages that I'm going to use as a starting point.

In case anyone else wants to make chocolate, and here are the links:

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

[genieb]

Interesting links. Thank you. I have a recipe called Better 'N Fudge that I make with cocoa powder, natural peanute butter (could use other nut or seed butters), honey, dates and lots of seeds and nuts. Some of the "healthy candy" recipes I've tried taste pretty nasty, but we love this one. The old recipes weren't like the ones you linked to so I will definitely go back and look at those better when I have time.

[lpellegr]

Just wondering why sugar is no good but honey is okay? Sucrose is glucose + fructose, and honey is full of fructose, which signals your liver to make fat, so you're not gaining any health benefits by substituting honey for normal table sugar.

[GFinDC]

Thanks for the links Dani. I might try this with carob and stevia. I am not sure the coconut oil will work for me though. Got to experiment to find out I guess. I made something similar using beeswax and stevia a while back. You don't need very much beeswax to harden a candy. I am not sure of if there are any health issues with beeswax though.

There are some ideas on safe chocolate in this thread below.

Chocolate What chocolate do super sensitives tolerate best

[dani nero]

Just wondering why sugar is no good but honey is okay? Sucrose is glucose + fructose, and honey is full of fructose, which signals your liver to make fat, so you're not gaining any health benefits by substituting honey for normal table sugar.

I don't measure health by fattening factors. Honey naturally contains some minerals and enzymes, and since it's not processed it is absorbed by the body at a slower rate. In my culture honey is used as a natural remedy. Normal sugar is a processed product and contains nothing. Even if both are fattening the difference between the two to me is like earth and sky :-) Do you have suggestions for something else? I would gladly exchange honey for something else that is natural and healthy with less calories :-D

[JNBunnie1]

I don't measure health by fat. Honey naturally contains some minerals and enzymes, and since it's not processed it is absorbed by the body at a slower rate. In my culture honey is used as a natural remedy. Normal sugar is a processed product and contains nothing. Even if both are fattening the difference between the two to me is like earth and sky :-) Do you have suggestions for something else? I would gladly exchange honey for something else that is natural and healthy with less calories :-D

My understanding is that Stevia makes chocolate 'seize' unless done exactly right, so you might want to avoid that. As far as I know that's the only zero-calorie natural sweetener out there. You are correct about honey, it is one of the best, most healthy options available for sweetener.

I have been buying 'york peppermint patties' from Trader Joe's that are made with honey. I purposefully haven't had one so that I don't get addicted to them, but hubby says they are AMAZING, so adding honey to chocolate makes a good flavor apparently!

[dani nero]

Thanks for the links Dani. I might try this with carob and stevia. I am not sure the coconut oil will work for me though. Got to experiment to find out I guess. I made something similar using beeswax and stevia a while back. You don't need very much beeswax to harden a candy. I am not sure of if there are any health issues with beeswax though.

There are some ideas on safe chocolate in this thread below.

Chocolate What chocolate do super sensitives tolerate best

You're very welcome!

Please add your recipes if you develop a yummy one!

I tried to use stevia and the brands I got tasted repulsive :-O What type do you use? Can I buy it online? And honey wax sounds amazing! Since it's natural I'm positive it's healthy ;-)

[dani nero]

My understanding is that Stevia makes chocolate 'seize' unless done exactly right, so you might want to avoid that. As far as I know that's the only zero-calorie natural sweetener out there. You are correct about honey, it is one of the best, most healthy options available for sweetener.

I have been buying 'york peppermint patties' from Trader Joe's that are made with honey. I purposefully haven't had one so that I don't get addicted to them, but hubby says they are AMAZING, so adding honey to chocolate makes a good flavor apparently!

It might be worth the effort to get it right with stevia but the problem is that I wasn't able to find a brand that doesn't taste like burnt chemicals ;-( Which ones do you use?

[dani nero]

Here's yet another recipe

Open Original Shared Link

[dani nero]

Just a little update, I tried making the coconut oil and cocoa powder recipe and it did not meet with my liking. It wasn't creamy at all, and swallowing it made my throat feel like it was coated with oil. I'm never making that one again.

[GFinDC]

You're very welcome!

Please add your recipes if you develop a yummy one!

I tried to use stevia and the brands I got tasted repulsive :-O What type do you use? Can I buy it online? And honey wax sounds amazing! Since it's natural I'm positive it's healthy ;-)

Will do on the recipes Dani. May take me a while though. The brand I use is called Stevia in the Raw. I know some people don't like the taste of stevia,. It seems fine to me but my cousin thinks it is yucky.. Another sweetner people say is healthy is agave syrup. It is made from the cactus.

The beeswax can help to harden the chocolate or any candy for that matter. You have to be careful not to add much of it though or it kills the flavor.

[JNBunnie1]

It might be worth the effort to get it right with stevia but the problem is that I wasn't able to find a brand that doesn't taste like burnt chemicals ;-( Which ones do you use?

I have the same reaction to stevia, have not yet found one to my liking. I have been thinking about learning how to bake with it. Thus far, I have been baking with honey and maple syrup and occasionally agave nectar.

[dani nero]

This one isn't really candy chocolate recipe but I thought it was very interesting since it's made creamy using avocados :-)

Open Original Shared Link

[dani nero]

I have the same reaction to stevia, have not yet found one to my liking. I have been thinking about learning how to bake with it. Thus far, I have been baking with honey and maple syrup and occasionally agave nectar.

I've read in one of the recipes that NuNaturals's vanilla stevia Open Original Shared Link is good. I can't get some though because shipping costs a ton :-)

[freeatlast]

Here are some more recipes for homemade chocolate:

Open Original Shared Link

[dani nero]

New update, I made the above recipes again but replaced the coconut oil with coconut butter, and the results were very promising! It's almost like normal chocolate now and even tempering the chocolate that is made with coconut butter is creamy and shiny :-)

It is however still not quite the same as regular chocolate, so I decided to move on to cocoa butter!

Coconut cream is am amazing substitute for dairy too by the way. It hardens when it's cold and is quite yummy.

As for sweetening I'm using semi-hard honey. I think I'm going to try harder varieties next to see if they work better.

Today I made chocolate truffles with hazelnut-chocolate ganache, and middle layer of caramelized honey covered hazelnut crumbs and covered with dark chocolate from the outside :-) I hope they'll be as yummy as they are healthy!

[freeatlast]

Here are some more recipes for homemade chocolate:

Open Original Shared Link

My bad! These are gluten-free candy bars that you can purchase from GO MAX GO at Open Original Shared Link They do contain soy lecithin and unrefined cane sugar but no dairy.

[dani nero]

Will do on the recipes Dani. May take me a while though. The brand I use is called Stevia in the Raw. I know some people don't like the taste of stevia,. It seems fine to me but my cousin thinks it is yucky.. Another sweetner people say is healthy is agave syrup. It is made from the cactus.

The beeswax can help to harden the chocolate or any candy for that matter. You have to be careful not to add much of it though or it kills the flavor.

Thanks GFinDC.. I sadly couldn't find any bee wax.. and from what I read milk powder can be used to make hard milk chocolate, but I couldn't find a coconut milk powder or any substitute in powder form without additives that I don't want.

I have some coconut cream in a piece of cloth to drain the water out of it overnight but don't know how that will work.

I'm thinking of experimenting with hardened caramelized honey next. I'm thinking of grinding it after it hardens which will help produce a more firm dark chocolate.