How you make your chocolate will depend on two things: how creative you want to go and how health conscious you are.
Before you get started though, here are a few notes:
- Optional ingredients can include anything from nuts and dried berries to chili powder and vanilla extract. When you add these depends on the texture of the optional ingredient - "dry powders and extracts" would be chili powder, vanilla extract, green tea extract, etc; "optional flavours" would be fruit, nuts and anything chunky.
- Should you use optional flavours, set some aside to decorate the chocolate before it goes into the freezer to harden.
- Always test your chocolate while you're making it. You want to make sure it's sweet enough!
Easy DIY Chocolate
This is for the beginner, the one who's just starting out or maybe doesn’t know where to buy “virgin coconut oil”. This chocolate is similar to milk chocolate found in the store, just more delicious because you made it yourself!
1 cup water
2 cups cocoa powder
3/4 cups butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup icing sugar
2/3 cup milk, room temperature
Optional ingredients
In a shallow pan, heat water to just below boiling. Let sit.
In a mixing bowl, combine cocoa powder and butter until as smooth as possible. Pour mixture into the warm water. Mix, allowing the temperature to rise to hot, but not boiling. When smooth, transfer the mixture to a bowl.
In a separate bowl, sift together sugar and icing sugar, removing clumps (add any dry powders or extracts here). Add sugar to the hot cocoa mix. Add milk and blend until smooth (add any other optional flavours here).
Pour chocolate onto a tray, into moulds or into a rectangular casserole dish. Smooth with a spatula and decorate with any of the optional ingredients you used. Place in the freezer or refrigerator to harden overnight.
Remove and bring to your next dinner party!
For the more visual person, here's an easy to follow YouTube tutorial by Cookingwithkarma:
Advanced DIY Chocolate
This is for the chocolate lover who’s looking for a challenge and wants to experiment with flavour. Most of the ingredients are only available at natural food stores. This chocolate is similar to dark chocolate or 85% cocoa chocolate. You control the sweetness by the simple act of adding more of your sweetener of choice!
1 cup water
1/2 cup cocoa butter, grated
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil cup sugar
1/2 cup raw cocoa powder
1/4 to 1/2 cup sweetener (agave syrup, honey, stevia or raw sugar cane), if desired
Optional ingredients
In a shallow pan, heat the water to just below boiling. Let sit.
In a mixing bowl with a little bit of water, combine cocoa butter and coconut oil until smooth. Place the mixing bowl in the pan, so that it is sitting in the water (without letting the water into the bowl). Stir.
In a separate bowl, mix cocoa powder with any dry extracts or powders. Add dry ingredients to the cocoa butter mixture. Stir until smooth. Add sweetener of choice and any optional flavours to the mixture. Mix until smooth.
Pour chocolate onto a tray, into moulds or into a rectangular casserole dish. Smooth with a spatula and decorate with any of the optional ingredients you used. Place in the freezer or refrigerator to harden overnight.
Remove and enjoy with friends!
Now that you know how to make your own chocolate, use it in your next hot chocolate or chocolate cake
Mexican Hot Chocolate
2 cups milk
126 g chocolate, chopped
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
Small pinch cayenne pepper
1 tsp sugar, brown or white (if you want something sweeter)
1/4 tsp chipotle or chili powder (for something spicier)
Mix all ingredients in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat until simmering, stirring frequently. Remove from heat, pour into bowl and whisk or blend to make light and foamy. (Classic Mexican chocolate was whisked with a special wooden tool called a 'molinillo'.) Serve with your choice of toppings.
This recipe originally appeared in the November 2014 issue of Quench Magazine.
Molten Chocolate Cake
200 g bittersweet chocolate (or semi-sweet, if preferred)
1 stick melted butter + 2 tbsp extra
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup fine sugar + 2 tbsp extra
Pinch of Salt
2 tbsp all-purpose flour (extra if necessary)
2 tbsp icing sugar (optional)
Preheat oven to 450°F. Melt chocolate and 1 stick butter together (double boiler recommended). In a large bowl, beat together eggs, yolks ¼ cup sugar and salt until the mixture becomes a pale yellow colour and slightly thick. Fold together chocolate-butter mixture, egg mixture and flour.
Grease 4 ramekins with extra butter. Sprinkle extra sugar into each ramekin, moving it around to all sides. Remove extra sugar from each ramekin. Pour cake mix evenly into ramekins, leaving ¼ inch of room for the cake to rise. Place in heated oven for 12 minutes.
Remove from heat, let cool for 1 minute, and tip upside down onto a plate. Sprinkle with icing sugar. Serve and enjoy.
These cakes can be made up to 24 hours in advance, and they store well in the fridge. Simply remove an hour before cooking to allow the cake to come to room temperature before baking.
This recipe originally appeared in Tom de Larzac's article "Good Planning is Good Fun" in the December 2014/January 2015 issue of Quench Magazine.
Caramelized banana chocolate, truffles with a chewy spiced-pumpkin centre and flower-salted dark chocolate — the sweet confections from chocolatiers nationwide exceed the commercial variety in flavour, quality, presentation and sustainability, with many working together with cocoa growers to put forth the best chocolate there is, directly from the bean.
Chocolats Geneviève Grandbois
Chocolatier Geneviève Grandbois took to chocolate making at the ripe old age of 20. The rich and flavourful fine chocolates on offer at any of the three eponymous shops she since opened in Montreal — including one at Atwater Market — are proof that she’s mastered the art. From gianduja (caramel hazelnut butter and chocolate) to chocolate with maple butter and pecans caramelized in maple sugar, every single confection is made using some of the finest European chocolates as well as cocoa harvested from Grandbois’ own plantation in Costa Rica.
Beta5
The purple-peach warehouse building where this Vancouver chocolate-cum-pastry shop is located may be ordinary, but the artsy chocolate on hand is anything but. Its moniker is a nod to the Form V beta crystal polymorph — the most sought-after cocoa butter crystallization obtained through “tempering,” or the melting and cooling of liquid chocolate, which results in a firm, crispy and shiny bar. Indeed, the folks at BETA5 are all about the scientific approach, and their small batches of ethically grown, artisanal chocolates pack some serious appeal. Case in point: the candied olive Polygon Bar — a hilly confection melding candied Taggiasca olives and creamy white chocolate.
Choklat
This Albertan chocolate purveyor’s specialty is truffles — fresh, made-to-order truffles. Hand-rolled centres — think Bailey’s Irish Cream, Amaretto Disaronno and crème caramel — are then dipped in dark or milk chocolate before they are hand-rolled in a coating of your choice. But custom-made truffles isn’t chocolate maker Brad Churchill’s sole distinctive offering. The self-made chocolatier goes the extra mile — producing the main ingredient in house, rather than buying in bulk, all the while ensuring the cocoa beans he imports from growers of various South American plantations are harvested sustainably.
More Delicious Places to Visit
This article originally appeared in the October 2014 issue of Quench Magazine.
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Photography and media provided by:
- Easy DIY Chocolate Recipe sourced from wikiHow
- Advanced DIY Chocolate Recipe sourced from Precision Nutrition
- Homemade Chocolate video sourced from CookingwithKarma on Youtube.