Dairy-Free Chocolate

Step 1

Add the coconut milk powder and coconut sugar to a blender or food processor and blitz until a fine powder.

Step 2

Pass the powder through a sieve.

Step 3

Place the powder in a bowl and set aside for later.

Step 4

Preheat your oven to 100℃ (212°F).

Step 5

Line a baking tray with a silicone sheet or parchment paper and spread the cacao nibs out on top of it.

Step 6

Roast the cacao nibs in the oven for 10 minutes.

Step 7

Once ready, remove the cacao nibs from the oven and place them in your high speed blender

Step 8

Blend, blend, blend! You want the cacao nibs to turn into cacao paste, otherwise known as cacao liquor. This should take approximately 5 minutes or so.

Step 9

Meanwhile place ½ of the cacao butter in a bowl and melt by sitting on a saucepan of simmering water (known as a bain-marie). Ensure that the bowl is larger than the circumference of the pot and that NO WATER accidentally slashes into the cacao butter.

Step 10

Once melted, remove from the bowl from the heat.

Step 11

Slowly add the cacao butter (little by little) to the blender with the cacao paste, blending to incorporate the mixture in between adding more. Continue until you have added the entire ½ cup to the mixture. Again be very careful that no water accidentally makes its way into the mixture throughout the entire process or it will cause the chocolate to seize.

Step 12

Continue blending the chocolate for 2-3 minutes.

Step 13

Add ½ cup of the coconut sugar/coconut milk mixture to the blender and blitz for 30 seconds.

Step 14

Continue adding the coconut mixture in ½ cup increments until the entire quantity has been used, blending for 30 seconds at a time to slowly incorporate the mixture.

Step 15

Taste test the consistency of the chocolate, if it is too gritty for your liking, continue to blend until it is smooth. This can take another 5 minutes or so.

Step 16

Place the chocolate mixture into a large bowl and sit it on top of an ice water bath and add the remaining cacao butter. Continue to stir until the cacao butter has melted into the chocolate. This additional cacao butter acts as a “seed” and will help to ‘temper’ the chocolate by bringing the temperature down quickly.

Step 17

Bring the temperature of the chocolate down to about 113° F (40 – 45° C) . If you don’t have a thermometer, spoon out a little chocolate, it should be Luke warm to the touch.

Step 18

Pour it into the desired moulds (I use silicone ones).

Step 19

Place the chocolate in the fridge to set until hard (1-2 hours)

Step 20

Remove the chocolate from the silicone moulds and store in an airtight container at room temperature.