Sunday, August 24, 2008

How to make chocolate from cocoa powder at home.

I always buy cooking chocolate from shops, and I have noticed that all of them have "hydrogenated vegetable oil" or their equivalents mentioned in the ingredient list. Now, I'm not a big fan of using products that contain fully/partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, so I've long been on the look out for chocolates that do not contain these ingredients. However, on searching, I haven't been able to find any with just a few basic ingredients. The ones that don't contain hydrogenated oils are too expensive because of the high cost of cocoa butter. Also, being in India, where the climate is generally about 33°C - 36°C, manufacturers use Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils to keep the chocolate from melting at room temperature(which is why "foreign" chocolates are generally deformed when we buy them in India).

I have been experimenting, and have found that the following procedure produces good quality bitter chocolate, which I enjoy eating.

Ingredients:

  • 1 unit Melted Unsalted Butter

  • 1 unit powdered/pulverised sugar(not Icing sugar), or to taste

  • 3 units good quality cocoa powder(I use Cadbury or Hershey's), or to taste



Procedure:

  1. Melt the Butter, and add all the sugar to it.

  2. Simmer the butter with the sugar for some time so that sugar is completely melted in the butter and some of the water has vaporised. Keep stirring with a thin wire whisk.

  3. Remove from the heat.

  4. Add the cocoa powder a little at a time(preferably in 4~5 batches), stirring all the time with a thin wire whisk, to ensure that no lumps form.

  5. Add as much cocoa powder as is required(to taste) or to adjust the consistency of the mixture to be like a thick syrup, which can be poured into molds when it is hot/warm.

  6. You may optionally add vanilla extract for extra flavor. Add only about 1/4tsp for every 100g of butter(or 500g chocolate) or to taste.

  7. Pour into molds and chill in a refrigerator for about 2 hrs. or till completely solidified.

  8. Eat directly or use as cooking chocolate or make a hot cup of hot chocolate. Enjoy!



Note: If you want to add more cocoa powder or you find that you are not getting a shiny pourable liquid, you may want to try adding an emulsifier such as "soya lecithin" or "egg yolk" in a proportionate amount, a little at a time, stirring constantly till you get a liquid with a smooth consistency.

51 comments:

Anupum Pant said...

Thank you I'll try this today....

MPK said...

i will definitely try this.. thank u..

Anonymous said...

Hi

I've been googling homemade chocolate recipes for a few days, and your is the only decent, convincing recipe that has come up.

Thats quite a cool contribution to make to the web.

When you say 1 unit, 1 unit, 3 units... is that a ratio? In terms of weight or volume?

How many grams/ cups do you usually use?

Thanks!
K

Anonymous said...

With your permission I'd like to use this recipe as a money saver on my site. DefyPoverty.com

Anonymous said...

Your words about the hydrogenated oil were exactly my thoughts. Your recipe seems to be just what I was looking for, thanks.

Dhruv Matani said...

Glad I could be of help!
And don't give in to Hydrogenated Fats. Try to spread the word. Not many people know about it.

Dhruv Matani said...

Sorry for the ambiguity. I meant units by "weight" and not "volume". Generally, weight units can be reproduced more faithfully as opposed to volumetric units.

albalcombe said...

Very interested in your suggestion of Soya Lecithin - thank you - you said to use it "in proportion" but could you give more detail on what proportion please.

Dhruv Matani said...

@albalcombe I meant till you get the consistency that you desire. Some people like smooty runny chocolate and others like a more stiff variant that they like consuming when it is cold and hard so that they can let it melt in their mouth. So you should add as much soya lecithin to achieve the level of runniness or viscosity as desired.

Anonymous said...

What does unit mean I know you said that it is weight but can I know how much of each ingredients I need in grams ?

Dhruv Matani said...

@Anonymous It can be any unit of weight. If you want a small serving, try 50g == 1 unit and 150g == 3 units

Anonymous said...

Hello,

Thanks for giving this recipe. I have following questions...
Do you have any specific hyderogeneted...,because I really donot know what it is. Is it margerine?please explain in easy way.

2.We get chocolate bars and some make chocolates out of it,,, by scarpping and boiling the chocolate. Can I directly pour this recipe into moulds??

3Where do we get his soya lecithin?
Is there any special name of company ? Kindly tell how much to use for 50 gms or 100 gms...
thanks.. awaiting your quick, easy reply and then to make home made chocolates!!! Usha.

Dhruv Matani said...

@Usha

1. Try to avoid (or stay away from) hydrogenated fats. They are not good for you. Use pure butter instead.

2. You can use chocolate bars - in which case the above recipe doesn't apply. Try to get bars that don't use hydrogenated vegetable oil. These days they are disguised as "vegetable fat" on many labels.

3. No idea about soya lecithin. If you are in Mumbai, try Crawford Market.

50g or 100g depends on your requirements. Experiment with 50g, and when you are confident, go for 100 or even 500g.

Anonymous said...

so what is a unit is it like a cup or what i am kinda confuzed so i anyone could help me out i would really apreciate it. thanx =}

Dhruv Matani said...

@Anonymous: A "unit" is any unit of weight such as gram, kiligramme, pound, etc... So, you can start off with 100g (i.e. 100 units) of cocoa and scale the other values accordingly.

Anonymous said...

hi
this is a recipe for dark chocolate
i perfer milk chocolate what proportion of milk powder can be used for the same recipe

Anonymous said...

your recipe is very convincing . i hope the chocolate will come out solid and wont melt at room temperature and instead of using a thin wire whisk can i use a blender ?

Dhruv Matani said...

@Anonymous If you are using an electric blender, take care that there is no lump formation. Adding the cocoa powder gradually should do the trick.

Anonymous said...

Can I know whether Chocolate made from this recipe melts easily ?

Dhruv Matani said...

@Anonymous Depends on the surrounding temperature.

Anonymous said...

Assuming the room temperature is around 26 degrees?

Dhruv Matani said...

@Anonymous It would tend to melt (or at least become soft) if kept outside.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for replying :) but is there any other substitute that can sustain it from melting ?

Shirley said...

Hi dhruv, I can't find powered sugar. Can I use icing sugar instead?

Dhruv Matani said...

@Anonymous Use a fat with a higher melting point - but it probably won't taste as good :-(

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoa_butter
The wiki entries mention that both of them have a melting point in the low 30 degree Centigrade. However, I have notices that they start softening a bit earlier. Plus, you need to account for impurities in the products, which affect the melting point.

@Shirley I don't think that would be a good idea since icing sugar tends to have corn flour as an anti-caking agent. This would add an unpleasant taste to your chocolate.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powdered_sugar for more details.

Shirley said...

Thank you so much dear. I''m sorry to trouble you but it's the first time for me. So do you know what can I use? Is normal sugar alright? I can't find powdered sugar

Dhruv Matani said...

@Shirley By normal sugar if you mean normal grain-sugar, then you can just run it in the blender and powder it. However, ideally, you want dehydrated or amorphous sugar, which is sugar with most of the water content removed. It is highly hygroscopic in nature (absorbs moisture from the atmosphere), so keep it sealed.

Rima Luhar said...

Thanks dhruv for your easy and friendly recipe, though it was my first attempt i have made delicious... hope get more recipes from you...I Like...

Rima Luhar

Anonymous said...

Hi, pls can you guide me on how to make milk chocolate with Cocoa powder?.

Can't seem to get it right using the method you described above.

Thank U

dragonlaurel said...

Thank you for this recipe. I have allergies that make it very hard to find chocolate I can safely enjoy.

Now I can make my own. Thanks!

R00dris said...

What do you think of making this with only BUTTER AND COCOA POWDER?

I'm on a low carb diet and I've tried 85% cocoa chocolate before and didn't find it bitter at all.

Dhruv Matani said...

@R00dris That's always an option if you want to go low-carb.

I added sugar when I made it cause I have a bit of a sweet tooth ;)

Anonymous said...

I'm in the us and wld like to use this recipe but I have no clue how much a unit is!?!?!

Dhruv Matani said...

@Anonymous A unit is any unit of weight such as an ounce or a pound, etc...

samalert said...

I tried your recipe with unit considered as one spoon.

but what i get is chocolate which is very dark and very strong in flavours + it doesnt look anything close to cadburys bars.

Also one thing i noticed is its very low melting point even on room temperature it melts what am i missing.

i tried 3 variants to give it a shot one with your recipe
(found very strong and bitter)
second batch with more sugar but still bitter
third batch with more sugar + butter (tastes good smewhat atleast better than previous but still not great and more the butter lesser will be my melting point )

Dhruv Matani said...

@samalert: You're right - it won't look anywhere close to it - which is the whole point of making it this way since it has a much higher % of cocoa.
It will melt at room temp. since that is the property of the fat(butter in this case or cocoa butter in case of regular chocolate).

Anonymous said...

This is the easiest chocolate recipe i have ever seen!

It's awesome!!!

Thanks so much!

Anonymous said...

Choclate :-
Ingredients:
2 cups cocoa powder,¾ cup butter, ½ cup sugar, 2/3 cup milk, ¼ tsp plain flour, ¼ cup powdered sugar and 1 cup water

Method:
Place cocoa and butter in processor and mix until they form a paste. Fill the pan about ¼ full with water. Then place the bowl on top of the water. Put the chocolate paste in the bowl and then heat until hot. Put the mixture back in the processor and mix till smooth. Then warm the milk to room temperature. Add sugar, flour and milk to the paste and mix well. Pour the mixture into molds and place it in the fridge till they become hard. Take the pieces out and much away!

Anonymous said...

I am new to making chocolate and I am trying to make milk chocolate from cocoa powder and cocoa butter then add powdered sugar and powdered milk. Each time I mix sugare with the cocoa butter and powder mix it becomes grainy and would not be smooth. What am I doing wrong?
Please advice...

Dhruv Matani said...

@Anonymous, make sure your sugar isn't too grainy and there are no lumps in your cocoa powder when you start. Pass it through a sieve before mixing.

McRae Family said...

Thanks for the recipe! I am in the states and find the confusion over units funny. I guess all my fellow countrymen don't read through all the comments before submitting the same question that is being asked over and over!!!! Can't wait to try this

Anonymous said...

Thank u so much.. but i tried it several times.. but didnt get fruitful result :(

Anonymous said...

can this be used to make smores or will it melt faster than store bought and become runny

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much! GOing to try it today! People, please read all the comments! :)
L

Anonymous said...

Hiya again, just wondering, when you say units, are you meaning by volume or by weight?
Thanks!
Lizzi

FDET said...

i was wondering if this chocolate would be sweet or btter??
because i planin to use this for making a easter egg

Dhruv Matani said...

@FDET This will not be sweet, but it won't be very bitter too (because of the sugar added). If you want it sweeter, add a bit more (1.5x) sugar.

Karthick Raj said...

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Karthick Raj said...

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Karthick Raj said...

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