• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Our Inspired Roots

Inspiring Health by Returning to Our Roots

  • Start Here
  • Homesteading Resources
  • My Account
    • Cart
    • Checkout
  • Shop
  • Home
  • Homesteading
  • Gardening
  • Health and Wellness
  • In the Kitchen

How to Make EASY Real Food Homemade Chocolate

By Mindy 8 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

How to Make EASY Real Food Homemade Chocolate

This homemade chocolate is seriously amazing! It’s dairy free, gluten free, soy free and yum, yum, yummy in my tum, tum, tummy (as OG would say).

Yep, that’s right. None of that soy emulsifier yuckiness. I’ll get to the soy free emulsion stuff a bit later.

It’s also made with healthy fats which you can’t say about most store bought chocolate.

That means that this homemade chocolate is quite healthy, with high-quality, magnesium-rich cocoa powder, healthy fats, and just a little natural sweetener.

Why Make Homemade Chocolate?

At Easter time last spring OG started noticing all of the interesting duck shaped and bunny shaped candy. I couldn’t find any dairy-free chocolate Easter candy (at least not any in my budget) so I decided to make homemade chocolate instead. 

There are many dairy-free chocolate recipes using coconut oil but I wanted to learn how to make homemade chocolate that would stay solid at room temperature.

I checked the back of my favorite DF chocolate and realized (duh!) that I could just use cocoa butter instead of coconut oil!

How to Make Homemade Chocolate

Super simple and delicious homemade chocolate! What could be better?

Supplies:

  • 1 cup plus 1 tbs. high-quality cocoa powder (you’ll know it’s high quality when the fat content is 1 gram per tbs. serving)
  • 1 cup high-quality cocoa butter, food grade *
  • 1-2 tsp real vanilla extract
  • 1/8-1/4 cup maple syrup**
  • Chocolate molds (optional but fun! I used one for a bar and others for fun shapes)

*You can substitute some or all of the cocoa butter with coconut oil, just keep in mind that chocolate made with coconut oil will be softer than chocolate made with cocoa butter.

** I prefer my chocolate on the bitter side so I use closer to 1/8 cup. I suggest starting with 1/8 cup and adding more to taste.

Directions:

In a double boiler (I prefer a metal mixing bowl over a saucepan), add extract and cocoa butter; melt.

When fully melted, turn off heat, whisk in cocoa powder, then whisk in maple syrup.

Now here’s the part about getting the chocolate to emulsify without using an emulsifier. Keep stirring as the chocolate cools. Yep, that’s basically it. Sometimes I’ll stick the bowl in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes at a time to speed up the process.

The more you stir it while it cools the smoother your chocolate will be. It also helps to keep the syrup from sinking to the bottom. This is especially true for chocolate made with coconut oil.

Keep stirring periodically until the chocolate resembles (warm) hot fudge.

Pour into silicone molds or into a greased baking dish. Allow to cool on the counter, in the refrigerator or freezer (if you can get them there without spilling!). If you make a mess, as I did, just use a rubber spatula to clean as much of the spilled chocolate up as possible. A little bit of spilled chocolate will just break off when you remove the chocolate from the molds.

There you have it! Yummy, healthy and adorable homemade chocolate. 

Have you ever made homemade chocolate? How do you do it?

This homemade chocolate is so easy to make. This recipe is dairy free, gluten free, soy free, and is made with real food ingredients. Yummy *and* healthy.

Filed Under: In the Kitchen Tagged With: dessert, fall, fall recipes, homemade candy, recipes, spring, summer, summer recipes, winter, winter recipes

About Mindy

Mindy Wood is the founder of Our Inspired Roots, the place to go for inspiration and instruction on growing food & medicine in a way that is healthy for people and the planet.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gregg The Rural Economist says

    September 16, 2015 at 2:49 am

    This sounds really good a d based on the ingredients I think would fit into the Daniel Plan. Going to sharewith my wife. Your post is being featured on the Homestead Blog Hop, swing by and get your badge.

    Reply
    • Mindy says

      September 16, 2015 at 6:35 pm

      Awesome, thank you :)

      Reply
  2. Veronica says

    January 3, 2017 at 5:28 pm

    YUM~~!!! and so easy without all the additives. Thank you so much.

    Reply
    • Mindy says

      January 7, 2017 at 10:05 am

      You’re welcome!

      Reply
  3. Sofi says

    February 24, 2021 at 6:16 pm

    Can I use vegan butter in place of cocoa butter?

    Reply
    • Mindy says

      March 31, 2021 at 10:03 am

      Cocoa butter should be vegan since it comes from cocoa beans. I would think vegan butter would be too soft but you could try it.

      Reply
  4. Jordan says

    May 5, 2021 at 6:24 pm

    Can you use regular unsalted butter?

    Reply
    • Mindy says

      May 20, 2021 at 9:28 am

      I would think so. Of course, then it wouldn’t be dairy-free. But if you’re not looking for DF, it should be fine :)

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Mindy Wood is the founder of Our Inspired Roots, the place to go for inspiration and instruction on growing food & medicine in a way that is healthy for people and the planet. Read More…

10 Best Vegetables to Grow for Beginner Gardening

Seed Starting Planner (Know Exactly When to Plant!)

12 Best Healing Herbs for the Homestead

Homemade Rosemary Water for Hair and Scalp Health

Before Footer

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Footer

Most Popular

  • Homemade Rosemary Water for Hair and Scalp Health
  • Seed Starting Planner (Know Exactly When to Plant!)
  • 10 Best Vegetables to Grow for Beginner Gardening
  • How to Compost for Beginners: 5 Easy Ways
  • Arguments Against Veganism: 3 Reasons Why I Eat Meat
  • How to Deal With Sour Crop in Chickens Easily
  • About
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Member License Agreement
  • Privacy Agreement
  • Full Disclosure

Copyright © 2023 · Inspired Media · All Rights Reserved

888 shares
888 shares