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, then 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 (definitely no icing sugar)!
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, I have a recipe for that too!
Cacao vs Cocoa
Within this recipe, I’ve given the choice to use cacao or cocoa butter and powder within the recipe. I have used cacao though for a number of reasons.
I talk about the process of gathering the various individual ingredients from the cocoa pod in my White Chocolate post. 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.
How To Make Milk Chocolate
This homemade milk chocolate is made up of just 4 ingredients (plus salt) and a few simple steps. The ingredients include:
- Cacao Butter (or cocoa butter)
- Cacao Powder (or cocoa powder)
- Dry Milk Powder (or Coconut Milk Powder for a dairy-free version)
- Maple Syrup (or your favorite natural sweetener of choice)
- Pinch of salt
You would also need a chocolate mold and a double boiler.
The method:
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 risk of scorching.
Once completely melted then sift in the cacao powder and milk powder and stir to thoroughly combine.
Add the maple syrup, or 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.
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).
I do prefer to set it in the fridge for about 2 hours.
Recipe Notes:
*Add any additional flavorings at this point, once it has been removed from the heat. I.e. vanilla powder or vanilla extract, other natural flavor oils, coffee, spices, freeze-dried fruit, etc.
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- although they’ve never lasted longer than a couple of weeks before I’ve eaten them all.
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.
- 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.
- If you want to make topped chocolate bars then sprinkle your toppings of choice into the silicone molds before pouring over the milk chocolate.
- I never temper chocolate I’ve made just for snacking at home. However, feel free to do this step if you’d prefer as untempered chocolate is more prone to melting easily at room temperature.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments. I also love seeing your recreations on Instagram, so tag @Alphafoodie.
How To Make Milk Chocolate
Equipment
- Double boiler
Ingredients
- 1.4 ounces cacao butter
- 0.52 ounces raw cacao powder
- 2 Tbsp 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 tsp sea salt or less- just a small pinch is needed
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 maple syrup, or 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. OR(Optional) Step 3: 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 will help for the smoothest of textures.
- Pour the mixture into the candy mold/s of your choice and leave in the fridge or freezer to set. You can then transfer the chocolate to an airtight container in the fridge (or keep it in 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 (1tsp 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.
Nutrition
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?
Make your own chocolate at your home.Great idea!
Thank you! glad you liked it!
Hi Samira.. How many grams of milk chocolate does the recipe above yield? Thx
Hello Diana,
The recipe yields about 110 grams of milk chocolate. I hope this helps.
Hello Samira,
I’m going to try to make this for my boyfriend for our 6 year anniversary, but since he’s not a big fan of maple syrup I was wondering if I can substitute it for powdered sugar and if so how much should I put? Thanks!
Hi Carmen, I am so sorry if this is a late reply :-(. Of course you can do that, normally for every ¾ cup of maple syrup, the replacement is one cup of sugar. I hope this helps,
I don’t exactly have the access to powdered milk and i think it would be too hard to make powdered milk from start. Do you think it is ok to use just normal milk for this recepie?
Hi Siddhi,
You can try making the powdered milk yourself – the milk just needs to be dehydrated, there is a recipe for that here on the blog.
Alternatively, you can replace the powdered milk with coconut milk powder or almond milk powder. It’s best not to add watery ingredients (like normal milk) when making white chocolate that’s why milk powder is normally used! I hope this helps.
Hello, we’ve made this using coconut butter and it’s really tasty… But not necessarily set. It holds its form but its more the texture of the inside of a lindt truffle, if that makes sense? A harder version of a gen ache. Where did we go wrong? I was hoping to make a batch and snap it up to give as Christmas presents but as it is we wouldn’t be able to do this as it would be mush!
Thanks!
How would you temper this? I’ve never made chocolate before, but want to try for a gift for someone, but would rather the chocolate be tempered. Do I need to let it solidify first and then go through the tempering process? Thanks!
Hi Nina,
Thank you for your comment. To temper chocolate, it’s very convenient to have a thermometer. The process involves heating up ⅔ of the chocolate to about 100ºF, then adding the rest to melt and letting everything cool down to about 80ºF, then heating it again to about 85ºF. I am working on a blog post describing the process in detail as well as adding a lot of tips and best practices.
Would the tempering be done before adding the cacao powder into the butter, etc? Or should I temper after completing the entire process of making milk chocolate?
Hi Geodino,
I never temper chocolate I’ve made just for snacking. If needed, I’d recommend tempering it after the chocolate bar is ready and you’ve completed the entire process.
In your further notes you say
If, at any point, your chocolate seizes then slowly adding a little additional water help bring it back together.
Did you mean more cacao butter? I have never made chocolate but I have melted it to pour in molds and if water gets inthe melted chocolate it changes the texture to unusable.
Hi Cindy,
Apologies for this, it’s meant to be cacao butter, not water. You are right that water should not be mixed in the chocolate. The cacao butter will help when the chocolate seized. Will update to correct this.