Making Chocolate Bars Using Recipe Substitutes

by Sue

Hi,

I was wondering if you had a home made recipe for making solid chocolate bars using recipe substitutes.

I have a recipe that combines cocoa powder, sugar, milk, vanilla and butter, but I am substituting xylitol instead of sugar, rice milk instead of milk and ghee instead of butter because of my son's dietary restrictions.

I made it reach the "soft ball" stage with a candy thermometer, but it comes out like a gooey fudge instead of a solid block of chocolate.

Can the substitutions be what is causing the problem? Or am I not cooking it enough? Please help.

Thanks,
Sue

Boy, Sue, that is a tough one, but a very good question! To be honest, I haven't attempted making chocolate bars using recipe substitutes myself.

My first gut feeling on this is that it probably is the substitutions that are causing the problem. Perhaps you can play with it a bit and maybe reduce the amount of ghee and/or milk to see if that makes a difference.

Also, I would try cooking it a bit longer. Trial and error may be the only way you'll find exactly what you want. If it's just the consistency that is the problem, I'm sure your son won't mind eating your practice runs! :-)

Hopefully another visitor will see this who has had experience substituting ingredients when making chocolate will be able to comment with some better and more helpful advice.

There are so many people with dietary allergies these days, that I know this would be of interest to a lot of folks.

If you do run across a solution that works, please do come back and tell us the secret! It will be a big help to others in a similar situation.

Blessings,
Angie

Comments for Making Chocolate Bars Using Recipe Substitutes

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Oct 05, 2013

memories NEW
by: Bonnie

When I was growing up we used nothing b ut cocoa powder to make fudge. We would add the coca powder, milk and sugar and boil to hard ball stage. When it reached the proper stage we would then add a tablespoon of butter and a cap full of vanilla. I still use that recipe at times, it makes a good fudge.To make it less grainy we put in a tsp of cream of tarter into the cocoa and sugar and milk.
We also made a peanut butter candy boiling canned milk, sugar butter and cream of tarter, then adding the peanut butter after it reached hard ball stage. It is still real popular with my grandchildren though now I add marshmallow cream as well. It makes it softer.
I believe the substitutes will work if you boil it long enough, it takes quite a long boil to reach hard ball stage, depending what elevation you are at.

May 10, 2012

making chocolate bars NEW
by: Anonymous

making chocolate bars is not easy , indeed it is very difficult at home , here i will give some hints that may help
1 no water or any substance that contain water should be used (rice milk) , try rice powder instead
2 cacao butter or (cacao butter substitutes) is very essential and i don,t no any replacement for this
3 conching ( mixing with pressure and heat ) this can be made in factories using ( conch ) , at home this can be made manually and it will take a very long time to reach the required result . thank you

Jun 18, 2010

Chocolate Made With Substitutes
by: Anonymous

Hi Sue,
I've tried this recipe and I to found the consistancy to be a problem. The taste was great though. I tried vegetable shortening and achieved the right consistancy but the taste was sickening, although the kids loved it.

I found a solution in another recipe on YouTube. Raw Chocolate, well I guess it's not entirely raw in a sence because it uses cocoa which I'm sure is not raw.

Recipe to follow:
1 cup of cocoa butter (grated)
1 cup of coconut oil
4 Tbspn Cacao Powder
Agave to taste
Garnish with almonds or goji berries (optional)
Melt cacao butter & coconut oil using a double boiler. You do not need to let the water come to a rapid boil, just let the water reach 100 degrees. Once melted pour into a bowl & add cocoa powder. Stir until dissolved, add agave to taste. Once all ingredients are mixed pour into candy molds or ice trays. Garnish with almonds or goji berries. Place molds in freezer once chocolate has hardened - Enjoy!

I tried the recipe exact and found that the agave is quite heavy and drops to the bottom. I need to work at this. I've tried using xylitol and that was unsuccessful. But I'm gonna keep trying. I like this recipe because I'm intolerant to sugar & lactose.

Nov 23, 2008

Homemade Chocolate Bar Dilemma
by: Angie

Hi Sue,

Ah ha! I didn't realize you were using that basic chocolate candy recipe from here at Chocolate Candy Mall.

I don't really think that particular recipe is going to give you a 'candy bar' result, even in it's original condition without the substitutions. It certainly makes a nice tasting chocolate candy, but not quite the same as a normal chocolate candy bar.

I hope you figure something out, or perhaps someone else will come along with a brilliant solution! :-)

Nov 23, 2008

Chocolate Candy From Cocoa Powder
by: Sue

Angie,

I used the chocolate candy recipe from your website! It's the one for basic chocolate candy.

These are the ingredients and substitutions I tried:

3 cups sugar (xylitol)
3 cups milk (rice milk or any other gluten free milk)
5 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp butter (ghee)
1 tsp vanilla

and then I followed the directions.

If you can solve this I would love to know!

Thanks,
Sue

Nov 01, 2008

Chocolate Made With Cocoa Powder
by: Angie

Sue,

How did the chocolate making go? Did you ever accomplish what you had hoped?

You mentioned that you had a recipe using cocoa powder that you were trying to use with substitutions. Can you add the original recipe here?

Another visitor is looking for a recipe for making chocolate candy using cocoa powder. I thought of you and wondered if your recipe would work for him.

Thanks heaps!
Angie

Jun 25, 2008

Chocolate Bar Substitues Recipe
by: Sue

Thanks for everyone's input. I appreciate it.
I'll go back to the drawing board and experiment a little.

Jun 23, 2008

chocolate bar
by: Anonymous

I did not know you could get a solid bar of chocolate without using cocoa butter or a solid type fat. Cooking to a certain heat makes fudge,taffy or lollipops not a candy bar.I am very interested if we can use cocoa and a soft fat to make a solid candy bar.Maybe I am reading solid chocolate bar into this when you mean chocolate candy bar like taffy.

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