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Old Sun, Dec-27-15, 18:58
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Nicekitty Nicekitty is offline
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Posts: 469
 
Plan: Banting
Stats: 150/132/132 Female 5'7"
BF:
Progress: 100%
Location: PNW
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I made the homemade chocolate bars, and they were a big hit! My family loves all that homemade stuff....Not terribly difficult either. Unfortunately, I ran out of cocoa butter, and didn't have enough to make a low-carb batch for myself. I didn't realize how much cocoa butter it takes (a lot).

Here's what I learned:
Cocoa butter is hard to find! The stuff that is already chipped up is a lot easier to work with.

A silicone candy mold is the ticket. I found one to make bars, with a Christmas pattern on them. Lay it on a firm tray. No need to grease.

I used pyrex glass measuring cups to melt the cocoa butter and baking chocolate in, worked very well. Set them in a large skillet of hot, not boiling water.

I couldn't find a recipe that I was thrilled with, so I kind of made up my own (I tend to do that). For the dark chocolate batch, I used equal parts (4 oz each) of cocoa butter and baking chocolate (from Trader Joe's), added 3 oz. of coconut creme for flavor and sweetness, then just added sweetener to taste (for my family, it was honey). A pinch of salt. Mix well and pour it into the mold and top with whatever nuts, dried fruits, coconut shavings, etc...that you want. That's where the fun is!

For a less dark chocolate, you can cut the baking chocolate ratio down to 1:4. For a milk chocolate taste, add powdered milk (it actually disolves quite well. Never add any water (or water based liquid) or allow any to drip into the chocolate.

Tray goes into the fridge and is solid in a few hours. Just peel off the mold, score and pack away (not in mouth, hopefully). Because this chocolate is not "tempered", it should be stored in the fridge.

As soon as I can get my hands on some more cocoa butter, I'll do up a batch with stevia. Did a tiny test batch so I know it will work fine. I'm pretty happy to see how easy and yummy these bars came out!
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