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Dairy-Free Chocolate

Dairy Free Chocolate, Quirky Cooking

You may have noticed I’m a bit of a chocolate addict – good chocolate, that is, not the cheap ‘chocolate-flavoured’ stuff – I love REAL chocolate, with cacao butter and 70% organic cocoa and natural sweeteners.  As I mentioned in my first post about making my own chocolate, I really try and avoid refined sugar, dairy and soy, and they are in most chocolates, even a lot of the ‘healthy’ ones.  So I started making my own.  They were okay, but not quite the right texture.

Then I found this gluten-free, dairy-free recipe for Raw Chocolate made with cacao butter and raw cacao. I played around with the recipe, and this is what I came up with. It’s very simple, and you can add in whatever additions you like to make all sorts of delicious variations! You can use more or less sweetener and cacao to taste. I like mine really dark, so just reduce the cacao if you don’t want quite so much of a dark taste. 

  If you’re making chocolate in your Thermomix, make sure your bowl, blades, lid and lid seal are REALLY dry before you begin – water and chocolate don’t mix!  

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Dairy-Free Chocolate

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5 from 3 reviews

  • Author: Quirky Cooking

Ingredients

Instructions

Thermomix Method

Place cacao butter into the mixing bowl and mill 20 sec/speed 8. Melt for 10 mins/37°/speed 2.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula and add remaining ingredients. Continue cooking 10 mins/37°/speed 1. Mix 10 sec/speed 3 so that it is well combined. The chocolate will be a runny texture.

Optional step to make a more ‘tempered’ chocolate: Stir without heat for another 10 mins/speed 2. The chocolate will still look runny before setting, but will be firmer when set.

Pour the chocolate into a lined dish or chocolate moulds, or onto a lined tray for a thin chocolate bark.

Place in the freezer (on a flat surface) to set. It will take a long time to set at room temp and may separate.

Conventional Method:

Place cacao butter into a heavy-based saucepan and melt over very low heat, stirring.

Add remaining ingredients, turn off heat and continue stirring, until ingredients are melted and combined. Allow chocolate to cool to 32C and continue to stir for another few minutes at least, as this helps to Temper the chocolate slightly.

Pour into a lined dish or chocolate moulds, or onto a lined tray for a thin chocolate bark.

Place in the freezer (on a flat surface) to set. It will take a long time to set at room temp and may separate.

Notes

  • You can use other sweeteners, but be aware that if you use a granulated sugar you may find that it has a grainy texture. Mill the sugar very fine before adding. The mixture may also separate with other sweeteners – if this happens, stir in 30g coconut cream until the chocolate comes together again.

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Dairy Free Chocolate, Quirky Cooking

Additions

If you’d like nuts or fruit in your chocolate, sprinkle them over the lined tray or in the chocolate molds, then pour chocolate over the top.  Place in the freezer to set. 

Here’s some ideas for additions:

– activated nuts (soaked then dehydrated), or roasted nuts: hazelnuts, almonds, cashews, macadamia nuts

freeze-dried fruit

– raw cacao nibs 

– sprouted, dehydrated buckwheat, made into little chocolate buckwheat ‘cakes’

– dried fruit: cherries, blueberries, apricots, ginger, cranberries

– pretzels (chocolate drizzled over salty gf pretzels is delish!)

– a mixture of above fillings!

You can also stir into the chocolate:

– shredded coconut

– spices: cinnamon, chilli, cardamom, ginger…

– edible essential oils: peppermint, orange, lemon, cinnamon… just a few drops

Swirl through the chocolate:

nut butter (or pour a little chocolate into a mold, let it set, add a dab of nut butter, then pour chocolate over to fill molds; or fill with chocolate hazelnut spread 

– sunflower seed butter

dulce de leche

Homemade "Ice Magic", Quirky Cooking

Ice Magic

Here’s one more thing you can make with your fresh batch of chocolate!

Mix 100g of the chocolate with 50g of coconut oil, add a little more honey or maple syrup if you think it needs it, and melt 2 mins/37C/speed 2, or melt in a saucepan over low heat. Pour into a jar and keep it in the pantry, and you have instant ‘Ice Magic’ for whenever you want it!

It hardens immediately when you pour it over ice cream or sorbet, and the kids love it. Ok, so do the adults.

(If it’s cold weather and it hardens in the pantry, just set the jar into a bowl of boiling water to melt it before using.)

136 thoughts on “Dairy-Free Chocolate

  1. Anonymous says:

    Hi Jo,
    I have tried this twice now, following all steps as said.
    Still have the problem that when pouring the rapadura seems to be at the bottom.
    Despite grinding fine etc…will now use honey instead, would it be the 100g honey for 100g rapadura roughly?
    Thank you, Insa

    • Jo says:

      Yes Insa, I use honey now as I find it mixes in better. It’s really to taste – 100g is fine, I actually use about 50g myself.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Yum yum!! For those of us who don’t have a super fab thermie, is there anotjer way to make this?

  3. Rashini H says:

    I tried the tip of melting the rapadura at the start and ended up with a caramel sludge that almost broke the blades. Ended up putting the whole recipe in the bin 🙁 I’ll be sticking to grainy chocolate next time.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Haven’t read all of the posted comments, but my first batch, made with rapadura, is grainy, despite having milled it til it was quite smooth. Any ideas? Barbara

  5. Anonymous says:

    Jo, am trying to stay off fructose at the moment – could you sweeten this with rice malt syrup?

  6. Anonymous says:

    Hi Jo the Rapadura didn’t melt. I’ve just put the heat up to 50, not sure what else to do?
    if this doesnt’ work what can I do with the mix, can I add coconut flour and make a cake? whaa I have no idea what I can do.
    I ordered everything online from loving earth but brought the Rapadura from town yesterday from the health food shop. I have never brought this before it seems damp like brown sugar is that right?

    thanks

    Cathy

  7. Jo Whitton says:

    If it has split, try adding 30g coconut cream and gently mixing until it comes together again. It will be a slightly softer chocolate, but it tastes great! Just store it in the freezer to keep it ‘crisp’. If its already set, pop it back in and blend up, add cream and remelt and mix. Pour it over nuts or dried berries or coconut and any splitting or graininess won’t be noticed. 🙂

  8. Katie says:

    Hi Jo. I don’t have a Thermonix so if I wanted to make this recipe, do you have any ideas how I would go about it? Thanks.

  9. Petra says:

    Hi Jo. Is it possible to try this chocolate recipe without Thermomix? I don’t have one and would love to make the chocolate for my Christmas gifts.
    Thank in advance

  10. Peaceful Parenting says:

    Hi Jo, we made your chocolate recipe yesterday and it went well except I had to up the temp a bit to melt the Swerve (replacement for hi carb sugar/sweetener). It tastes just like Lindt only totally natural. Awesome!!

  11. Simone says:

    Hi Jo,
    Thank you for all your amazing work. I have changing habits cacao wafers & am just wondering if I can use these instead of cacao powder?
    Thanks so much

  12. Anonymous says:

    Hi Jo,
    I don’t have a Thermomix but tried the basic recipe with honey but found that the honey separated out of the chocolate. Any suggestions?
    Thanks,
    Dave

  13. Anonymous says:

    This is definetly the best clean chocolate reciepe I’ve made to date!!! It set beautifully and didn’t melt as soon as I got it out of the fridge! I did a double batch and made coconut roughs with some of it by roasting the coconut first and mixing it with this chocolate, then I made ferrero rockers with some of the other chocolate by roasting then chopping some hazelnuts and mixing it through- amazing!!!

  14. Anonymous says:

    Hello

    I made this chocolate using maple syrup as the sweetener

    and chai seeds. Just beautiful : melts in your mouth. I will try to temper it next time. I also made it without a termie : easy.

    Thank you for this recipe
    Irena

  15. Anonymous says:

    Oh my goodness. Just made this… It’s in the freezer now. Rocky road awaits my df kids and unsuspecting relies… All the signs are GOOD. Baby wearing got the home made chocolate done in no time… Thank you so much for this and all your recipes!!

  16. Anonymous says:

    I would love to use stevia in the recipe but am new to using it. Any ideas on how much would work? Thank you!

    • Jae says:

      Did you ever end up trying to use stevia? Am thinking there’s be a loss of flowy liquid and wonder if it would still work… please let me know if you had success!

  17. Breanna says:

    Too much honey for me, but otherwise delicious! I’ll try rice malt syrup next time and maybe use a bit less. By far the best homemade chocolate I’ve come across. Thanks!

    I sprinkled some River Murray salt flakes first before I poured over the mix because I love Lindt’s salted dark choc.

    • Jo Whitton says:

      Funny, my tastes have totally changed since I first wrote this recipe, and now I find even 30g of honey in this a bit much!! Just adjust to taste 🙂

      • Bec Rowland says:

        Hi Jo- have you tried with no honey at all or would this be too full on?? I make my bark with it’s of roasted almonds (amazing!!) but my dr wants me to go without even a little bit of raw honey for awhile. I just can’t go cold turkey on this amazing chocolate! Thank you for much for such a fabulous recipe x






  18. Chenoa says:

    Hi is there a way to do this without a thermomix,I would love to try it but don’t own a thermomix.

    • QuirkyJo says:

      Hi Chenoa, You would need to gently melt the cacao butter in a double boiler, stirring most of the time! Once the Cacao butter is melted then you could add the other ingredients that it lists. Make sure you use a liquid sweetener though – honey works well too. Make sure you stir/whisk well while it is in the double boiler once you have added the other ingredients.

  19. Alex says:

    Hey Jo!
    Thanx for this and much more great recipes. They all look fantastic and I can’t wait to try them.
    Today I started with your raw chocolate with my Thermomix. I used maple sirup. It all mixed up very well. I took it in the freezer and now I’m wondering, how long I have to leave it there? And how (long) can I storage the chocolate?
    Thanx for your help!

    • QuirkyJo says:

      Sounds good, Alex! The chocolate should only take about 30 minutes to set when first made. Once cut up and storing in the freezer it would last months- unfortunately I don’t know the exact time as we usually gobble ours up in the first week! 🙂

  20. Peita says:

    Hi Jo,
    Just found your raw chocholate recipie. Not sure about the mixing method or whether your just melting the cocoa butter or are you actually simmering it in a pot. .Are you beating it with electric beaters while its cooking in a pot?
    Thanks
    Peita

    • QuirkyJo says:

      Hi there – if you don’t have a thermomix then use a double boiler and stir slowly while the cacao butter is melting. And yes- If you don’t have a thermomix, you will have to use electric beaters for the mixing part.

      • rachael says:

        hey Jo could you use an electric mixer aka a mix master for the mixing part and like a blender or food processor like a nutribullet for the milling part ? i don’t have a thermo mix

  21. Anne says:

    My absolute favourite:). Made it a few times:). I thrown in all sorts of roasted nuts and gojiberroes… Yum, yet today I sprinkled it with Popped amaranth:). Yum… I also drizzled a little amount over some ricethins and put them in the fridge… Wow… They are delicious:-)
    Thanks for your amazing recipes:)

  22. Naomi says:

    Thanks for the chocolate recipe, Jo. Just a question – what roughly do you think the saturated fat content would be in your recipe?

  23. Megan says:

    Hi Jo,
    I made this last night and it is delicious with some mixed nuts!
    Just wondering if it would be ok to use as a melted chocolate substitute in recipes after already cooking a plain batch? I.e in cakes or to coat Bliss Balls in 🙂

    • QuirkyJo says:

      Hi, you can although it’s thinner than bought chocolate when melted, so maybe wait til it cools a little then dip. 🙂

  24. Alison says:

    Hi there just wondering how long you can store it for before having to eat it.? Is there am expiration time?
    Thanka

  25. Lia says:

    Hi Jo, I made one batch of this and was perfect and delicious! …but my second batch is stuck in the molds 🙁 any tips to get them out?! X x

  26. Bianca says:

    Hi Jo, I made this the other day and OMG it was amazing!! The only thing was I couldn’t find Raw Cacao Butter anywhere. I ended up buying Raw organic coconut chocolate butter (loving earth) instead and I used that but I just wonder if that is actually the correct ingredient?

  27. Kristina says:

    Hi Jo,
    When you say add all other ingredients does this include the honey? It’s just in the next point you say speed 5 to mix in honey?
    Thanks,
    Kristina

    • QuirkyJo says:

      You add all the ingredients including honey – in the next step you just make sure the honey has blended in as sometimes it sinks to the bottom! Mix it up a bit on speed 4 if needed.

  28. Sian says:

    Hi Jo how do u keep these? I followed the recipe can they be kept on the bench or wud u recommend in the fridge? Thanks

  29. Jules says:

    Hello Jo, how did these go when you travelled to the UK. Did they melt too quickly? I am travelling soon and looking for snacks to take.

  30. Georgina Crowe says:

    Hi Jo,
    Just made a (yet another ) yummy batch of your chocolate.
    Would it be possible to make coconut cream/milk in thermie in order to use up all that delicious chocolate? I hate watching it go down the sink lol.
    I have shredded coconut – what quantities would I use?
    Georgie

    • QuirkyJo says:

      Yes! I add some cashew milk at the end (about a cup) then mix and warm 3 mins/80C/speed 4; then whiz it up at speed 7 a few seconds to make hot chocolate!
      Just a handful or two of shredded coconut is fine – whatever you like!

  31. Jo Warr says:

    Hi Jo, I made this today and end result could not be ‘poured’ into molds as it was really glug-ey. Is this how it’s meant to be or should it be runny and smooth? Just wondering what may have happened, I have a thermie and followed the directions above. Thanks!

    • QuirkyJo says:

      It may have separated, was the bowl super dry? To get it back together heat and mix on 37 degrees/speed 3 while drizzling in a couple of tbsp coconut cream.
      It works best with a liquid sweetener like maple syrup or honey 🙂

  32. Claire says:

    I LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe. Perfect every time! I add almonds to my moulds.
    My only issue is I can’t eat just one piece, I keep going back for more. 🙂

  33. Melissa says:

    My bowl was totally dry etc when I started and I followed all of the steps but it is not mixing together at all =/ I have gloopy chocolatey stuff in melted cacao butter. Currently an expensive mess ='(

    I saw advice above about adding coconut cream – but I loathe coconut. Any other advice please?

    • QuirkyJo says:

      Hi Melissa, so sorry I missed your comment! You can use a Tbsp or so of regular dairy cream or cashew cream – if it doesn’t come back together, tip into a tray and set in the freezer until firm, then chop it up and reblend. It sometimes separates if it’s too hot.

  34. candice says:

    Hi Jo, Thank you for this beautiful recipe,
    Just a quick question! how long will its last out of the fridge if I parcel them up for gifts ?
    Thanks again

  35. Emme says:

    Hi Jo!
    Loved your presentation in Perth last week – and the chocolate was amazing!
    I’m keen to make it now, but I eat keto and don’t want to add any sweetener. Would deleting the sweetener affect the consistency too much? If I added about 50g coconut cream instead would that work or would it make it melt too easily?
    Thanks!

  36. Kate McLean says:

    Just attempted this with RMS instead of honey and the RMS Just sunk to the bottom of the mix on the tray and hasn’t mixed in….tips please?

  37. Jen says:

    Hi Jo … i have made your chic a few times … I saw that you can buy the cocoa butter with the cocoa already in it from the Source .. so i decided to try this …. hmmmm bit of a disaster … it just would not melt ??? Any feedback would be great as its just the cocoa butter with the cocoa in it already is half the price and u don’t have to add Cocoa ??? so seems to make more sense but somehow just have to figure out how to get it to melt ?? Many thanks .. and hope to get to one of your courses ..

  38. Lee says:

    Hi Jo, I’ve been making this recipe of yours for a few years now, I love it! I’d really like to make it as gifts for friends and visitors and would like to temper it so that it has the shine and holds its shape (When out of the fridge), have you tried tempering it? And if so, at what stage do you temper it? Any advise you could give me would be much appreciated.

    • Quirky Cooking Team says:

      Hi Lee. What a brilliant idea but nope…never attempted tempering my homemade chocolate I’m afraid;-/. good luck x

  39. Bernadette says:

    Hi Jo,
    I’m planning on using this recipe to make Easter chocolate for my kids. Is there a way to make it closer to milk chocolate? Would adding in something like cashew butter or coconut milk powder work? I’ve been looking online for a vegan milk choc recipe but none of them use cacao/cocoa butter and so I don’t think they’ll be chocolatey enough..

    • QuirkyJo says:

      Hi Bernadette, adding nut butter to raw chocolate makes it a lot creamier and more like a milk chocolate. The recipe for Nutty Chocolate in our Life Changing Food book and app is really delicious and turns out very like milk chocolate – have you tried that recipe?

      • Bernadette says:

        Thanks for your reply! No, I haven’t tried that recipe. Does it set like regular chocolate?

        • Quirky Cooking Team says:

          Hi Bernadette. Yes, this chocolate does set like regular chocolate but keep it in a fridge or freezer because it melts more easily that the regular chocolate:-). Enjoy:-)

  40. Sam says:

    How much do you add when adding spices like ground chilli or cardamom. And how much coffee grind would you add if using it to flavour (when combining with spices and on its own)?
    Thanks

    • Quirky Cooking Team says:

      Hi Sam, I have not experimented with coffee so not sure about the quantities there but with any other spices, I would suggest starting off with a pinch and add more if needed… Salt is also a must as it balances it all out. Good luck:-).

  41. Jenny M says:

    Fabulous recipe. I have made it so many times. I like to roast a tray of mixed nuts and dried fruit for about 7 minutes then pour the chocolate over the top. Delicious ❤️.






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