Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Homemade Chocolates


I have a really good friend who can get me large amounts of cacao butter for a reasonable price, so I have been wanting to experiment with making my own naturally sweetened chocolates.  My friends, Anita and Gaby run a "bonbon" making company, called "Any's" and they are the best filled chocolate I've ever tasted!

Since we can also get really good quality cocoa powder and other forms of chocolate locally, this will just be the beginning.  Ecuador's chocolate is rated among the best in the world!

Since I don't have any fancy molds, I just used my silicon loaf and muffin pans, as you can see from the photo.

Homemade Chocolates:

180 g (6 1/3 oz.) cacao butter
150 g (5 1/3 oz.) cocoa powder
45g (1 1/2 oz.) honey
3 packets stevia powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract, or to taste -- I really like almond flavor

1.  Melt the cacao butter in a double-boiler over very low heat.  You may want to chop it up a bit before melting to speed things up and prevent overheating.  Once melted, whisk in the cocoa powder, honey, stevia and vanilla extract until fully combined.

2.  I poured half of the chocolate into the loaf pan as is.  Then I added the almond extract to the rest and divided it among 6 muffin molds.

3.  Place in the refrigerator for 1 hour to firm up.  Then remove gently and store away from heat.

These are silky smooth and a tiny bit softer than I expected once they're stored out of the fridge.  My friend says this is probably because of the honey.  You can even see my finger prints, because of the shiny surface of the molds.  They taste really good, though, and won't last long!


There are lots of health benefits from cacao butter (extracted at a low temperature of only up to 120*F) and cocoa solids.  So, this is actually a health food!  Yay!  Go ahead and google it to find out how it can benefit you.

2 comments:

  1. Yay! Nice job, I have a good piece of chocolate from what you gave me and melted it in my mornings oats! :) came out really nice :) yum!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Gaby! Happy to share my experiments with the experts. :-)

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