Making homemade milk chocolate doesn’t need to be scary or difficult. This homemade chocolate recipe uses just 4 ingredients and a few simple steps for a creamy, rich, naturally sweetened, raw milk chocolate.
For those deciding to make a homemade chocolate recipe for the first time, dark chocolate is usually the go-to. However, it’s just as simple to make this delicious homemade milk chocolate recipe with just four ingredients and no refined sugars!
This homemade chocolate recipe enables you to be 100% in control of the amount of sweetener included, is easily customized and flavored, and healthier than traditional chocolate due to the use of raw, unprocessed cacao butter and powder.
Learning how to make chocolate at home is also great for those who love white, milk, and dark chocolate, as the process is almost identical – and incredibly simple to flavor too. In fact, if you’re interested in making white chocolate and sweetened or unsweetened dark chocolate, I have a recipe for that too!
In fact, I even have the full method for how to make chocolate from bean to bar; made 100% at home using cocoa beans.
Cacao vs. Cocoa
Within this recipe, you can use cacao or cocoa butter and powder within the recipe. I have used cacao, though, for several reasons.
I talk about the process of gathering the various individual ingredients from the cocoa pod in my white chocolate post and go through the entire chocolate-making process here. Ultimately cacao refers to products taken from the un-roasted beans – thus the least (minimally) processed option as well as being ‘raw’ compliant for those eating a raw diet. Due to the lack of processing, this is also meant to be the healthiest option (it is more natural).
Cacao is actually one of the highest sources of antioxidants in foods, containing protein, fiber, iron, magnesium, as well as a high amount of flavonoids.
In comparison, cocoa powder has been heat-treated, which will have reduced some of the nutrition. However, it is still fairly good nutritionally and the more cost-effective option of the two.
In terms of flavor, cacao powder is more bitter in flavor but also is a richer ‘chocolate’ flavor. Meanwhile, cocoa powder is slightly more mellow. You can actually make your own cacao powder too!
How To Make Milk Chocolate
This homemade milk chocolate comprises just 4 ingredients (plus salt) and a few simple steps. The ingredients include:
- Cacao Butter (or cocoa butter) – Make sure to use food-grade.
- Dry Milk Powder – or Coconut Milk Powder/soy milk powder for a dairy-free version.
- Cacao Powder (or cocoa powder) – This is usually very easy to source in stores or online. You can even make it at home!
- Salt – Just a pinch of salt really enhances the cacao flavor and adds depth to it.
- (Optional) Sweetener – Use your favorite powdered sugar/sugar-free sweetener: coconut sugar, cane sugar, monk fruit powder, erythritol, etc. AVOID liquid sweetener, though, like maple, as they can cause the chocolate to seize. If you only have granulated sugar, you can make your own powdered sugar.
Also Needed
- Chocolate mold – I use a 100g silicone chocolate mold. If you want to use a non-flexible mold, then you’ll need to temper the chocolate. You can even get a chocolate chip mold for homemade milk chocolate chips.
- Double Boiler – You’ll need a small pan with a heat-proof bowl to fit over it.
- Silicone spatula – Avoid using porous materials like wood which could accidentally get water into the homemade milk chocolate and cause it to seize.
The Method
Step 1: Melt the cacao butter
Begin by setting up your double boiler by adding a few inches of water to a medium saucepan and topping with a heat-proof bowl that is slightly larger than the circumference of the pan. Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the water.
Bring the water to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Meanwhile, if you have a large piece of cacao butter, chop it into small, even pieces. This will help it to melt quickly and evenly without scorching.
Add the cacao butter to the bowl and whisk or stir gently but often, to reduce the scorching risk.
Step 2: Add the remaining ingredients
Once completely melted, then sift in the cacao powder and milk powder and stir to combine thoroughly.
Add the powdered sweetener of your choice (sifting it in to avoid grittiness), and mix once more until smooth and combined. Turn off the heat and remove the bowl from the pan.
Add any additional flavorings at this point once it has been removed from the heat. I.e., vanilla powder, other natural flavor oils, coffee, spices, freeze-dried fruit, etc.
Leave to cool for a few minutes, not too much, or else the chocolate will begin to solidify – just enough to cool down slightly. Give one final stir.
(Optional) Step 3: Grind The Chocolate
If you have a chocolate grinder (chocolate melanger), you can let it run for several hours or even overnight, to grind the chocolate. This will grind the particles within the chocolate into tiny tiny microparticles until they are no longer discernible by the human tongue – like commercial chocolate, so you never have to worry about gritty homemade chocolate.
You can also do this by hand with a mortar and pestle (just until your arm gets tired) – this won’t work as well as the professional machine, but every little will help for the smoothest of textures.
Step 4: Mold the milk chocolate
Pour the mixture into the candy mold(s) of your choice and leave it in the freezer to set.
This should only take 20-30 minutes and then can be transferred to the fridge (or kept in the freezer).
How to Store
Due to being untempered, this homemade milk chocolate is best stored in the fridge, with a shelf life of two weeks. You can also store the chocolate in the freezer for a few months, likely 3-4 months, although they’ve never lasted longer than a couple of weeks before I’ve eaten it all.
FAQs
You sure can – if you want to make any truffles/ filled chocolates or use non-flexible chocolate molds, then make sure to temper the chocolate first.
If, at any point, your chocolate seizes, then slowly add a little additional cacao butter or vegetable shortening (1 teaspoon at a time), and it should help bring it back together.
Oddly, even though we do everything possible to avoid any water getting into the chocolate, if your chocolate happens to seize, you could add water to fix the chocolate. There seems to be something about the % of water added that will loosen it up again. However, it’s then best used to drizzle rather than to mold into chocolate bars as it won’t mold and set or temper.
Further Notes & Recipe Variations
- You can use coconut oil instead of cocoa butter if preferred. In fact, this can be somewhat easier to work with. However, it won’t be able to be tempered.
- Make sure to use food-grade cacao butter, as some are sold for cosmetic purposes.
- Make sure to use unsweetened cocoa, if using cocoa powder, to control the sugar content.
- Check out my white chocolate post for the best way to flavor homemade chocolate along with several flavor combinations.
- If you want to make topped chocolate bars, then sprinkle your toppings of choice into the silicone molds before pouring over the melted milk chocolate.
- I never temper chocolate I’ve made just for snacking at home. However, feel free to temper the chocolate if you’d prefer, as untempered chocolate is more prone to melting easily at room temperature and needs to be stored in the fridge. It also won’t have the signature ‘snap’ of tempered chocolate.
- Chef’s Note: I originally used maple syrup when sweetening this homemade milk chocolate. However, liquid sweeteners are known for causing the chocolate to seize, so I now don’t recommend this method (it works occasionally but more often than not you’ll end up with a mess!). Stick to dried powdered sugar instead!
Related Recipes & DIYs
- How To Make White Chocolate
- How To Make Healthy Dark Chocolate
- Homemade Filled Chocolates (Vegan Chocolate Candy)
- How To Temper Chocolate (Multiple Methods)
- Simple Hot Cocoa Recipe (+ Hot Chocolate Bar Ideas)
- How to make chocolate: From bean to bar!
If you use this method to make milk chocolate, let me know your thoughts and questions in the comments. I’d also really appreciate a recipe rating and would love to see your recreations – just tag @AlphaFoodie.
How To Make Milk Chocolate
Ingredients
- 1.4 ounces cacao butter
- 0.52 ounces raw cacao powder
- 2 tablespoon Powdered sugar of your choice – coconut sugar, monk fruit powder, cane sugar, etc.
- 0.7 ounces milk powder for vegan milk chocolate use coconut milk powder
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt or less- just a small pinch is needed
Suggested Equipment
- Double boiler
Instructions
- Set up your double boiler by adding a few inches of water to a medium saucepan, and topping with a heat-proof bowl that is slightly larger than the circumference of the pan. Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn't touching the water. Bring the water to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat.
- Meanwhile, if you have a large piece of cacao butter, chop it into small, even pieces. This will help it to melt quickly and evenly, without scorching.
- Add the cacao butter to the bowl and whisk or stir gently but often, to reduce the risk of scorching.
- Once completely melted then sift in the cacao powder and milk powder and stir to thoroughly combine.
- Add the powdered sweetener of your choice, and mix once more, until smooth and combined. Turn off the heat and remove the bowl from the pan.*
- Leave to cool for a few minutes, not too much, or else the chocolate will begin to solidify – just enough to slightly cool down. Give one final stir. Optional Step: Grind The ChocolateIf you have a chocolate grinder (chocolate melanger), you can let it run for several hours to grind the chocolate. This will grind the particles within the chocolate into tiny tiny microparticles until they are no longer discernible by the human tongue – like commercial chocolate, so you never have to worry about gritty homemade chocolate. You can also do this by hand with a mortar and pestle (just until your arm gets tired) – this won't work as well as the professional machine, but every little bit will help for the smoothest of textures.
- Pour the mixture into the candy mold/s of your choice and leave it to set (you can place it in the fridge or freezer to set). You can then transfer the chocolate to an airtight container and keep it in the fridge (or the freezer).
Notes
- You can use coconut oil instead of cocoa butter if preferred. In fact, this can be somewhat easier to work with. However, it won’t be able to be tempered.
- Make sure to use food-grade cacao butter as some are sold for cosmetic purposes
- Make sure to use unsweetened cocoa, if using cocoa powder, to be in control of the sugar content.
- Check out my white chocolate post for the best way to flavor homemade chocolate along with several flavor combinations.
- If you want to make topped chocolate bars then sprinkle your toppings of choice into the silicone molds before pouring over the melted milk chocolate.
- I never temper chocolate I’ve made just for snacking at home. However, feel free to temper the chocolate if you’d prefer as untempered chocolate is more prone to melting easily at room temperature.
- Chef’s Note: I originally used maple syrup when sweetening this homemade milk chocolate. However, liquid sweeteners are known for causing the chocolate to seize so I now don’t recommend this method. Stick to dried powdered sugar instead!
- If, at any point, your chocolate seizes then slowly add a little additional cacao butter or vegetable shortening (1 teaspoon at a time) and it should help bring it back together. You could also add water to fix the chocolate – however, it’s then best used to drizzle rather than to mold into chocolate bars.
Janet
Made this several times now and it comes out very gritty now matter how fine the ingredients are ground – but I sweeten with inulin, monk fruit extract, and allulose so don’t know if that’s the problem. Adding some heavy cream gradually seems to correct this, but does cause it to initially break, but re-incorporates with some stirring. Have not tried adding lecithin, but that may help. I have to laugh that other published recipes warn of breaking chocolate (which definitely occurs) if water is added, but also suggest using maple syrup or honey, which is insane – so a plus for this one.
Support @ Alphafoodie
Hi Janet,
Thank you so much for your comment. I haven’t experimented with allulose and inulin for this recipe so I am not sure if they are the problem. But even with white sugar sometimes it becomes gritty for me. I find blending it at the end (right before molding) helps with that.
Nominom
This is epic I love it so much
Support @ Alphafoodie
Thank you so much!
Titi
This is epic I love it so much this is amazing this is like the best chocolate ever:)
Support @ Alphafoodie
Thank you so much, Titi. Glad you liked it 🙂
Trudie
Hi, after you’ve ground the chocolate, what do you do to turn it back into a solid bar?
Support @ Alphafoodie
Hi Trudie,
You can pour the mixture into a candy mold of your choice and leave it in the fridge or freezer to set. Alternatively, you can temper the chocolate to make it less temperature sensitive, I show you how to do this step by step in my blog post “How to Temper Chocolate” https://www.alphafoodie.com/how-to-temper-chocolate/. I hope this helps.
Em
How could I incorporate almond paste/almond flavor into this recipe? Thank you!
Support @ Alphafoodie
Hi there,
You can add some at the end of the process when you are molding/shaping the chocolate. Let me know how it goes if you give it a try.
Jannette Rivero
Very nice and flexible recipe. Thank you
Support @ Alphafoodie
Thank you so much for your comment, Jannette!
Esther
Hi Samira,
If I want to make a large batch of the chocolate to make several bars for gifts, do I just multiply the amount of ingredients, or do the measurements need to change?
Support @ Alphafoodie
Hi Esther,
You can just multiply the amount of the ingredients.
Zachary
Hello,
Thank you very much for this recipe, it is nearly as hard to find a good chocolate recipe as it is to find cocoa butter, which took me several years.
I have prepared this recipe twice, once I made double what your recipe requires & the second time I made quadruple portions. Both times they worked very well. I find that grinding the chocolate for two hours in a mortar & pestle provides a smooth texture. Grinding for longer would probably be even better but the chocolate starts to set after two hours of grinding & would need to be reheated for any further grinding.
I would recommend a mortar & pestle over a chocolate melanger, because it is more fun & because I think that the random actions that you can make with a pestle better grind the chocolate than the continuous motion of a melanger.
I used erythritol to sweeten the first batch & a combination of erythritol with xylitol the second time. I would recommend against adding xylitol in retrospect, as it made the chocolate even grittier & it took longer to grind (I also had to add extra cocoa butter as it became too thick). Although if you do not mind the extra grinding, adding xylitol can be a fun way to make chocolate that is actually good for your teeth (as long as you do not add sugar).
By the way, as it is so hard to find a good chocolate recipe, do you mind if I share this recipe? I will give you full credit, obviously.
Support @ Alphafoodie
Hi Zachary,
Thank you for your comment and all your tips. Glad you like this recipe. Please feel free to share my recipe. I’d appreciate a backlink to the blog!
Naina
Very Nice Recipe. You explained it so well. I tried this and it came out so well. I found this chocolate mold that’s super awesome to use.
Support @ Alphafoodie
Thank you for your comment, Naina. Glad you are enjoying the recipe.
Tilde
When are you supposed to temper the chocolate if you choose to do so? Do you do it after freezing it or can you do it before putting it in the mold/freezer?
Support @ Alphafoodie
Hi Tilde,
If wanted, you can temper the chocolate before you pour it into the mold for hardening. Check out my tempering post for more tips:
https://www.alphafoodie.com/how-to-temper-chocolate/
Adoena
Alpha foodie is the best
Support @ Alphafoodie
Thank you for your comment, Adoena 🙂
Agent Choc
Thanks for sharing receipt. Home made chocolate is best choice for followers of healthy eating.
Support @ Alphafoodie
Thank you so much for your comment.
David
Awesome recipe! I love the idea of melting the cocoa butter ! why actually make anything from scratch when you can just convert it and call it your own recipe! Thank you for sharing this. I’ll use this idea on other recipes to save time.
Support @ Alphafoodie
Thank you for your comment, David 🙂
Chloe
This is such a great recipe! Although it had a slightly different texture than store-bought chocolate, it tasted great and I was able to temper it immediately!
Support @ Alphafoodie
Thank you for your comment, Chloe. Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Fran
Can you put this recipe into amounts instead of weights ( for each ingredient)?
Support @ Alphafoodie
Hi Fran,
It’s best to use a measuring scale as it is more precise. For example, different sizes of cocoa butter pieces will take up more/less space so you can’t accurately use cup measurements and you need to measure the weight.
sharon waceke
Nice recipe
Support @ Alphafoodie
Thanks so much, Sharon.
Paul
Great Post. Any issues with using maple syrup and the chocolate seizing up on you. I worry about the moisture content in maple syrup. Also with your recipe do you know the percentage of chocolate bar this produces. Like is it a 60% dark milk chocolate bar. Thanks
Support @ Alphafoodie
Hi Paul,
Indeed, when using maple syrup, there’s a risk of the chocolate seizing. I’ve updated the post with more information about this.
If you use the exact ingredients I have, then it’s about 55% dark milk chocolate bar. I hope this helps.
Nihan
Hi Samira! I just made a chocolate bar this morning, and the amount of the liquid chocolate was exactly enough for my mould thank you 🙂 But the base was extremely grainy even after I used a blender. Is it normal?
Kristy
Hey Nihan! I’ve noticed that it gets like that depending on which type of sweetener you’ve used. Some of them don’t really melt or disintegrate but it always turns out just as good (:
Support @ Alphafoodie
Thank you for your comment, Kristy! 🙂
Anne
I found that as well. Made this morning. I did sift all ingredients. Kind of disappointed. Double sift?
Support @ Alphafoodie
Hi Anne,
Perhaps try to grind it for longer and you can also try grinding the milk powder very fine in advance. I hope you give it another try!
chocolate melangeur
Make your own chocolate at your home.Great idea!
Samira @ Alphafoodie
Thank you! glad you liked it!