If you are tired of store-bought chocolates that are full of preservatives, artificial flavors, high fructose corn syrup, it’s time you made your own chocolate. This not only holds good for the regular milk chocolate; dark chocolate also contains quite a bit of sugar and fructose corn syrup.
The main difference between milk and dark chocolate is the concentration of chocolate.
High quality dark chocolate is at least 70% cocoa and goes up depending on how intense you want the flavor to go. But, rememberthat higher the cocoa percentage, bitter the taste. While preparing this dark chocolate recipe at home, just add some more honey if you find that the recipe gives out bitterness that is not to your liking.
Making homemade dark chocolate is quite easy and takes only a few ingredients to give you the rich and perfect dark chocolate.
Health benefits
Dark chocolate is the healthiest type of chocolate you can have since it is most cocoa. Other varieties of chocolate such as milk or white (which is not even chocolate by the way) are loaded with sugars, high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavorings. Cocoa contains antioxidants and is a mood enhancer. It can be easily incorporated in any diet if one is trying to lose weight.
Experiment
Who says your dark chocolate has to be plain and boring? You can add in different flavors such as orange zest, red chili flakes, or even ginger to give it a zing of flavor.
Ingredients
Cocoa powder: 1 cup
coconut oil: 1/2 cup
Honey: 4 tbsp
Vanilla extract: 1 tsp
Sea salt: 1/2 tsp or just a pinch
How To Make Homemade Dark Chocolate
- Start by melting coconut oil in a heat proof bowl using the double boiler method.
- Once the coconut oil is melted, remove from the stove and let it stand for a minute or so.
- Add the cocoa powder, honey, vanilla extract and seasalt to it and stir gently. Add in any other flavors you might want to add.
- Mix until there is a smooth and silky consistency to the chocolate.
- Pour the chocolate mixture in silicone molds (ice cube trays, if you don’t have molds) and refrigerate for 2 hours or until completely set.
- Pop chocolate off the molds and enjoy!
Tip:
If you want your dark chocolate to be of creamier consistency, you can substitute cocoa butter in place of coconut oil. If you want to make mint dark chocolate, simply replace vanilla with mint extract.
Trivia
- Althoughcocoa was first used in South America, more than 75% of the world’s chocolate is grown in Africa.
- Chocolate was a huge part of the ancient Mayans. They used it in different ceremonies in place of blood and their kings were even buried with chocolate in their graves as a sign of blessing.