Today I’m sharing how easy it is to make homemade dairy free low sugar chocolate. We’re naturally sweetening our vegan chocolate with maple syrup. You control the amount of sweetener that’s added in which means you can reduce the sweetener even more, or add more to your liking! No matter what, you’ll love this simple 3 ingredient chocolate when a chocolate craving hits!
Homemade chocolate. Real deal homemade chocolate from scratch! Feels like I’m sharing something really magical today. It’s naturally sweetened and lower in sugar. Friends, it’s legit and I can’t wait for you to try it!
A bite of dark chocolate is one of my favorite afternoon pick me ups. It makes me happy. What else makes me happy? When my treats are low sugar and made without white sugar! This chocolate hits all the marks.
It took me some time experimenting with this recipe. I wanted it to be perfect for you before I shared! Lucky for me, I don’t mind experimenting with delicious chocolate treats.
The first try was with coconut oil, but it melted too much in my hand.
The second try was with coconut butter, and while it was not melty, it didn’t have the smooth texture you want in chocolate.
The third try was with cacoa butter and it was juuuuuuust right.
Ingredients in homemade chocolate
The 3 main ingredients in homemade chocolate are cacao butter, cocoa powder and maple syrup. I highly suggest adding a pinch of sea salt and vanilla extra if you’ve got those as well because they add a touch of flavor to take it over the top.
Cacoa butter – this gives the chocolate smoothness, helps to form our chocolate and gives it bite (if you see cocoa butter it’s the same thing, so feel free to use that!)
Cocoa powder – gives it the chocolate flavor!
Maple syrup – the touch of sweetness
Sea salt – just a pinch makes the flavors pop
Vanilla extract – subtle sweetness and flavor
How to make homemade vegan chocolate
- The first step is to melt the cacao butter fully, either in the microwave or over a double boiler.
- Next whisk in the maple syrup, cocoa powder, vanilla and sea salt.
- Pour into your mini cupcake paper liners and chill in the fridge until set!
Recipes for low sugar chocolate
Of course you can straight up eat it, but if you’re looking for recipes to use it in, give these a try! Simply chop your chocolate into chunks to replace recipes that call for chocolate chips.
- Chocolate covered strawberry protein balls
- Dark chocolate trail mix bark
- Peanut butter chocolate chip cookie bites (AKA chickpea cookies!)
- Chocolate brownie muffins
- Chocolate covered figs
What can I substitute for the cacao butter?
I couldn’t find cacao butter at my local grocery store, so I bought it online. You can use cocoa butter interchangeably with cacao butter. If you don’t have either of those you could try a mix of coconut butter and coconut oil – the combination will give you smoothness but it won’t be as melty as just coconut oil. Whatever substitute you try, leave a comment below and let us know how it goes!
What can I substitute for the cocoa powder?
A great substitute would be cacao powder. If you are going chocolate free, try carob powder!
What can I substitute for the maple syrup?
You could try honey, brown rice syrup or agave nectar. I’m a fan of maple syrup as my natural sweetener, but any liquid sweetener should work just fine. The flavor would subtly change if you swap in a different liquid sweetener.
Dairy Free Low Sugar Chocolate Recipe
I can’t wait for you to see how easy this is to make, and how tasty it turns out!
Homemade Low Sugar Chocolate (Dairy Free!)
Ingredients
- 1 cup cacoa butter
- 2-4 tbsp maple syrup
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ⅛ tsp sea salt
Instructions
- You'll begin making your chocolate by melting the cacao butter fully. You can either do this over a double boiler on the stove top, or by heating in the microwave in a heat safe bowl for 30 second increments until the cacao butter is melted.
- Once the cacao butter is fully melted, whisk in the maple syrup, cocoa powder, vanilla extract and sea salt.
- Carefully pour the melted chocolate in mini cupcake paper liners, about half way full. You will end up with around 24 mini chocolate cups. The number may vary depending on how full you fill them or if you use a different size.
- Chill in the fridge until set.
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to tag me @fitmamarealfood and use the hashtag #fitmamarealfood on Instagram so I can see what you’re making!
If you try this recipe, leave a rating and comment below and let me know how it turned out!
XO
Heather
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