I like playing around with chocolate recipes. A few weeks ago I decided I’d try to make a healthy white chocolate recipe. Just cocoa butter, honey, and vanilla.
It tasted great while I was mixing it. But then as soon as it cooled, the honey separated out! I tried melting and blending it again with the same results.
I realized that mixing honey with cocoa butter requires some sort of emulsifier. Not a commercial emulsifier; just some additional substance to bind the honey with the cocoa butter. In my homemade Paleo chocolate recipe, for instance, cocoa powder works as an emulsifier.
I decided to try adding peanut butter to my white chocolate, and it was a success! No more problems with the honey separating out from the cocoa butter.
Now, peanut butter white chocolate wasn’t exactly what I was originally going for, but it was so good that I’ve made it a number of times since. The peanut butter and cocoa butter play off each other to create a delicious combo.
This recipe is simple and easy–I hope you give it a try!
What is Cocoa Butter?
Cocoa butter is the fat found in cocoa beans. It’s used in most commercial chocolate and has a delicious flavor and texture.
Like coconut oil, cocoa butter is also a very healthy fat. When it comes to making chocolates, cocoa butter has one distinct advantage–cocoa butter chocolates will not melt at room temperature! I love coconut oil chocolates as much as the next person (and have developed quite a few of my own coconut oil chocolate recipes), but I also really like having a homemade chocolate recipe that can be stored on the counter, given away as gifts without having to worry about refrigeration, or thrown in my purse when I’m in need of a chocolate pick me up when out and about.
The raw version of cocoa butter is called cacao butter. I personally use cacao butter in my recipes, because it’s supposed to contain more nutrients, but you can use whatever you prefer.
Where to Buy Cocoa/Cacao Butter
Cocoa/cacao butter may not be an ingredient that you normally keep in your pantry, but it’s really easy to find when you know where to look.
Health food stores like Whole Foods will likely carry cacao butter, but I always buy my cacao butter online because it’s MUCH cheaper online.
My current favorite is this cacao butter, but that’s mostly because it’s the best price I’ve seen. I’ve tried a number of other brands and they’ve all been delicious!
Preventing Your Chocolate from Seizing
I’ve never actually had my chocolate seize while making this recipe, but I know it’s a possibility. (If you haven’t worked with chocolate much before,”seizing” is when your chocolate becomes a grainy, paste-like consistency instead of remaining smooth and fluid.)
To prevent your chocolate from seizing, make sure that all the equipment and tools you use are completely dry. Exposing your chocolate to small amounts of water can cause it to seize.
I also recommend melting your cocoa butter in a double boiler, instead of directly in a saucepan. Letting your chocolate get too hot while melting can also cause it to seize.
When you remove the double boiler from the saucepan, place it on a towel on your counter and dry the outside of a double boiler before you pour your chocolate into your baking dish to cool. This will eliminate the possibility of dripping water into your cooling chocolate.
Notes on the Recipe:
This makes mildly sweet peanut butter chocolates. If you prefer your treats sweeter, you can add more honey to taste.
I’m listing cocoa butter in this recipe, but I actually use raw cacao butter myself. Either can be used interchangeably here.
I list cocoa butter in grams here, because most cocoa butter comes in big chunks and it’s impossible to get an accurate volume measurement. I use my kitchen scale to weigh my cocoa butter. If you don’t have one already, I have this one ; it’s inexpensive and has worked well for me for the past several years.
Recommended Products:
Immersion blender: I highly recommend using an immersion blender to mix your peanut butter white chocolates. While you probably can do this by hand with a whisk, I find that the immersion blender does an excellent job of quickly and thoroughly mixing your honey in with the rest of the ingredients.
I have this immersion blender.
If you don’t have an immersion blender, a regular blender or food processor would probably work, too. I like the immersion blender because it saves me from having a wash a few extra dishes. 🙂
Silicone chocolate molds: For optimal aesthetics, I recommend using silicone chocolate molds. I used this set of molds, which are very economical but still high-quality, as far as I can tell.
If you really get into making your own chocolates, I highly recommend owning a small collection of silicone molds–they make the process very easy, plus they’re cute!
Candy Molds & Ice Cube Trays – Hearts, Stars & Shells – Silicone Chocolate
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(If you don’t care what the finished product looks like, you can also just use an 8 x 8 baking dish lined with parchment paper.)
Double boiler and a pan that fits underneath the double boiler
Ingredients
- 180 grams cocoa butter
- 1/4 cup natural peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons raw honey
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt, or more to taste
Instructions
- Melt your cocoa butter in your double boiler. Once it's completely melted, turn off the heat.
- Add your peanut butter, honey, vanilla, and salt. Use an immersion blender to thoroughly mix all ingredients. While you can do this by hand with a whisk, I highly recommend using an immersion blender, as it does a superior job of blending the honey in with the rest of the ingredients.
- Taste the mixture to make sure it's to your liking. I think the recipe is delicious as written, but you can add more salt and/or honey if desired.Â
- If using silicone molds, ladle peanut butter white chocolate mixture into your molds.
- If not using molds, line an 8x8 glass baking dish with parchment paper. Pour the peanut butter white chocolate mixture into the dish.
- Cool chocolate in the fridge. Once hardened, pop out of molds, or cut into chunks if you used a baking dish.Â
- Store finished peanut butter white chocolates in the fridge or freezer. You can also store them at room temperature, but I find that they taste best when they're cold!