Sugar-free Homemade Chocolates
Are you a chocolate lover? But have you heard all those bad comments about chocolates; that they will make you gain weight, that will cause you acne and raise you blood sugar?
I have good news for you: Not all chocolates are created equal! Dark chocolate with at least 70% cacao has been found actually beneficial as it contains polyphenols – antioxidants found in plant foods that can neutralize free radicals that would damage your cells, increasing your risk for conditions like cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Dark chocolate actually can help you lose weight! The darker chocolate, the better as there content of polyphenols will be higher.
The problem with commercial chocolate is that they have very little content of cacao, a high content of milk and sugar. The sugar in chocolates and many candies is the culprit of many diseases due to its inflammatory properties causing from diabetes, heart disease and even mental diseases. So highly recommended that you buy good quality chocolates with high content of cacao, but still most of them have high content of sugar as dark chocolate may be bitter.
So that is why we have included today, this simple recipe to make chocolates in the way you like and not only become a chocolate lover but a chocolate artist.
The chocolates in this recipe are pure cacao with minimal ingredients. They are a great sugar free option for diabetics; they are also keto, vegan and of course celiac friendly.
As mentioned in the notes at the recipe card below, please feel free to play with the ratios between cacao paste and butter. This recipe makes pretty dark chocolates, so if you want more like “milk chocolate” add more cacao butter.
You can also add the amount and type of sweetener of your preference. Most of our recipes are sugar-free because we use either Stevia or Monk fruit. Please use liquid sweeteners and not any type of granulated sugar or Stevia. I tried it once with granulated Stevia and for some reason it did not dissolve well and left my chocolate gritty.
If you want to have artistic chocolates of different colors, you can use only cacao butter and add natural coloring with spirulina, pitaya, turmeric or acai powders. These natural colors are not only free of toxic dyes but also will bring more antioxidants, making them even more nutritious. Please make sure they are very well incorporated into the butter as they tend to split. You may even try to whisk it or blend it, and immediately pour into mold directly to the freezer; otherwise it will split and some parts will remain liquid.
There are many beautiful molds in the Internet. I recommend the silicone ones that once the chocolates are solid you can easily peel them of. To make multilayer chocolates, just apply the first layer with a clean syringe and have it 5-10 minutes in the freezer. Take them out to add the second layer and add them back to freezer and so on.
Sugar-free Homemade Chocolates
Ingredients:
Instructions:
- Prepare two pots to be used as double boilers with boiling water. In a glass bowl add the cacao paste and in another glass bowl cacao butter.
- Once the cacao paste and cacao butter are fully melted, tip the melted cacao butter into the cacao paste bowl and add the sugar-free maple syrup, vanilla extract and pinch salt. Mix very well until everything looks pretty well incorporated. You can add any flavoring option or separate in multiple batches if you want different flavors.
- Pour into silicone chocolate molds or ice cube tray and place into freezer until they look solid (10 -20 minutes).
- Pop the chocolate from the trays and enjoy!
Notes::
This recipe will make dark chocolates; the ratio you use between cacao paste vs. cacao butter will make the chocolates darker or lighter. Please feel free to modify the ratio at your preference. If you want to have chocolates in different colors, use only cacao butter instead with the same base ingredients: maple syrup, salt, vanilla extract and any essential oil for flavor or just plain.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5465250/
