This 4-ingredient chocolate is what dreams are made of. It’s packed with antioxidants, is easy to make, and is refined sugar-free. What more could your taste buds ask for on Valentine’s day? Give me my man and this chocolate and I’m a happy lady.
When I spotted this bag of cacao butter at Organic Garage I knew I had to pick some up. Cacao butter (or cocoa butter) is the pale yellow vegetable fat extracted from cocoa beans. You can find it at most health food stores, specialty grocery stores (like Organic Garage), and of course, online (for my online vegan shopping guide, see this post).
This recipe I’m sharing today does not result in a traditional hard/waxy chocolate like the bars that you’d buy at a store. Instead, it produces a fudge-like texture that melts in your mouth sending a wave of pure bliss throughout your body. It sounds dramatic because it is!
Update: My original recipe resulted in a softer fudge-like chocolate, however I tried a batch the next day without using the blender (I mixed by hand) and this resulted in a much firmer chocolate. I’ve since updated the recipe to reflect this method as I enjoyed it even more.
I strongly suggest using these silicone baking cups if you can get your hands on some. The chocolate will easily pop right out. If you don’t have the silicone baking cups, you can simply line a baking sheet with parchment paper and then drop spoonful’s of chocolate all over the paper or you can even use paper liners. The chocolate will stick a bit to paper liners, but they will still come out.
Freeze for about 30 minutes.
“Clean” every nook and cranny of the blender.
And experience love at first bite.
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Easy Homemade Vegan Chocolate
Yield
12 servings
Prep time
Cook time
Chill time
30
Total time
Ingredients
- 120 grams cacao/cocoa butter (about 1 cup of cacao butter chunks)
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup room-temperature pure maple syrup (or liquid sweetener of choice)
- pinch of fine grain sea salt
- Flaked sea salt, for finishing
Directions
- Gently melt the cacao butter in a pot over the lowest heat setting. Or you can use a double boiler.
- Whisk all other ingredients (except flaked sea salt) into the pot.
- Pour into 12 silicone cups and sprinkle with flaked sea salt (optional). Alternatively, you can use paper liners (they will stick a tiny bit but will still peel off) or line a baking sheet with parchment paper and drop spoonfuls all over the paper. Plastic chocolate molds may stick.
- Freeze for 30 minutes or until firm. Pop chocolate out of the cups and enjoy immediately. Store in the fridge or freezer until ready to use.
Tip:
Note: I’ve changed the directions to omit the blending process. The blender seems to yield a softer, thicker mixture while simply mixing by hand resulted in a firmer chocolate that poured easily. I much preferred the chocolate when mixing by hand.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)Instant Hot Chocolate
Simply drop a disc of vegan chocolate into a mug of steamed almond milk and stir until combined. This makes the creamiest, most delightful hot chocolate! It just might be my favourite hot drink yet.
Thank you so much for supporting Oh She Glows in The Kitchn’s blog nomination for Healthy Cooking Blog! I’m currently in second place and would appreciate any extra support you can lend today during this last day of voting.
I hope you have a lovely Valentine’s Day tomorrow no matter what you are up to. xo
Hi,
I was wondering if you use sweetened or unsweetened almond milk?
Unsweetened, but you can use any kind you like!
This is so good! I only used 1/8 cup of maple syrup (I was aiming for 1/4, but I only had 1/8 left), and next time I will use a full cup of cacao powder, since they aren’t quite dark enough for my taste (I love 80%+ chocolate). Thank you, Angela!
Hey! This recipe sounds AMAZING and to die for, but sadly, I dont think my local store carries cocoa butter and I was hoping to sub it with coconut oil. Of I do that, will it still make hot chocolate? Thx!!!
Jeez, never mind the frother!!! Those chocolates look DELICIOUS! I’m going to try making them very soon and then build on the recipe by adding different ingredients.
Made them! Really, really good. I’ve been looking for an easy way to use a bunch of cocoa butter that I bought so this was perfect. Plus I’ve been craving hot chocolate so much lately. When I was done portioning the chocolate into molds, I just poured some almond milk into the pot and made hot chocolate with the remaining chocolate “residue”. It worked perfectly and I didn’t waste any chocolate!
Wow, these look delish… especially on a cold, blustery day like today! As soon as I get silicone cups and cacao butter I’m going to try this!
Some questions: Can raw cacao powder be used instead of the cocoa powder? I looked up your cocoa powder brand and read that it is Dutch processed and not raw cacao powder. I never use Dutch processed cocoa powder, so don’t know how different it would taste.. Can you please clarify for this recipe as well as all the other chocolate recipes? Do you use Dutch processed cocoa powder whenever cocoa powder is used in your recipes? Can raw cacao be substituted? Thanks!
Hi Angela,
Thank you for this recipe – I have been making it for years now!
Today I swapped the maple syrup for coconut nectar (I used a little less, a 1/3 cup), and whisked it together for a couple of minutes (coconut nectar is more dense than maple syrup, and I didn’t want it to settle on the bottom while freezing). Oh. My. Goodness. It is so delicious! A little coconuty, a little caramely, and completely more-ish! Yum!
Hi,
Do you think it’s strictly necessary to refrigerate? I’d like to make these and mail as Christmas gifts. It’s winter so I’m not really worried about them melting in transit but are they ‘perishable’? It doesn’t really seem like it based on the ingredients but it’s hard to know since I haven’t seen/made them yet.
Thanks!!
How can I make chocolate chips w this? I tried with my little chocolate mold filling syringe? But it either is too shapeless it gets stuck in the hole when it cools a bit. Any suggestions? Thanks. I make this all the time :)
My wife can’t eat cocoa powder so I am trying to find her a carob powder replacement. If I wanted to swap in carob powder, do you think it would take as much, or should I decrease the amount slightly. Thanks