Make your own homemade vegan milk chocolate with this delicious snappy dairy free chocolate recipe. Made with real cacao butter and just 6 ingredients, it's naturally gluten-free with a refined sugar free option.
Lay the silicone molds out on trays that you will easily be able to transfer to the fridge later. Cut the vanilla pod in half and scrape out the seeds with the back of a knife, and set the seeds aside for later. Discard the pod or use it to flavor other recipes.
Add the cacao liquor and cacao butter to a large heat-resistant bowl and place on top of a saucepan with simmering water (known as a bain-marie or water bath). Make sure the water does not touch the bowl but allow the steam to rise up and gently melt the ingredients. Be careful that absolutely no water splashes into the bowl as water will cause the chocolate to seize.
Remove the bowl from the water bath and add the icing sugar. Whisk well until the sugar has been incorporated into the chocolate mixture. Then add the coconut milk powder, salt, and vanilla and whisk again until the ingredients are evenly mixed.
Place the bowl back on the water bath and place a thermostat into the bowl of chocolate to measure the temperature. Bring the temperature up to 50°C (122°F). Remove the bowl from the heat and pass the chocolate through a sieve into a clean bowl. Make sure you dry the bottom of the bowl so that no water/steam gets into the chocolate while transferring it to a new medium-sized bowl.
Set the bowl of chocolate on top of an ice water bath, making sure no water can splash into the chocolate. Gently stir the mixture with a spatula until the chocolate temperature reaches 28°C (82.4°F). Then, place the bowl back on the water bath and bring the temperature back up to 30°C (86°F).
Divide the chocolate into the silicone molds and place it in the fridge to chill for at least 20 minutes. Once set, remove the bars from the molds and wrap them in baking paper, and place them in an airtight container. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Method 2: Using Cacao Nibs
Preheat your oven to 120℃ (248°F). Line a baking tray with a silicone sheet or parchment paper and spread the cacao nibs out on top of it. Roast the cacao nibs in the oven for 10-12 minutes until they start to brown.
Once ready, remove the cacao nibs from the oven and place them in your high-speed blender along with the cacao butter (you can add the solid buttons, or finely chopped if using block cacao butter). Blend, blend, blend! You want the cacao nibs to turn into cacao paste/cacao liquor. This should take approximately 5 minutes or so., depending on the quality of your blender. Once runny, pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve to make sure there is no remaining grit.
Repeat all of the steps shown in method 1 at the beginning of the recipe instructions.
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Notes
Powdered Coconut Sugar: Add coconut sugar to a high-speed blender and blend until ground into a powder, starting at low speed and increasing the speed. Scrape down the sides of the blender as needed. This can take 5-10 minutes depending on your blender, the consistency should resemble icing sugar.
Soy Milk Powder: I personally haven't been able to test this one yet as it's pretty difficult to find here in Ireland but I imagine you could use it in place of coconut milk powder.
You can get as creative as you'd like with these chocolate bars. Why not try adding nuts such as roasted hazelnuts, chopped almonds, or go for a fruit and nut bar by adding cranberries and/or raisins.
Add some shredded toasted coconut to the chocolate before setting for a delicious coconut milk chocolate bar.
Flavorings: Add a couple of drops of oil-based flavoring such as mint, orange, lemon, or rose.