How To Make Milk Chocolate

How To Make Milk Chocolate

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.

Course Dessert, DIYs, Snack

Cuisine European

Diet Gluten Free

Freezer friendly 4 Months

Shelf life 2 Weeks

Prep Time 10

Total Time 10

Servings

Calories 87kcal

Author Samira

Equipment

Double boiler
Chocolate bar mold

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

US Customary - Metric

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 Chocolate
If 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

*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. 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.

Nutrition