We love chocolates here. A few years ago I started experimenting with making our own chocolate chips. Jesse became so enthralled with the idea that he soon took over. This is his recipe for mint chocolates, one of our favorites.
These chocolates are not overly sweet tasting. Since sweetness preference varies from person to person, I highly suggest that you taste your chocolate mixture before pouring it into your molds. You can easily add additional sweetener if you prefer a sweeter tasting chocolate.
Homemade Mint Chocolates
Ingredients:
2 cups virgin coconut oil
1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
1 3/4 teaspoons peppermint extract
2 tablespoons honey
10 drops SweetLeaf clear liquid stevia
Method:
1. Put half of the coconut oil and all of the honey into a pan and gently heat on the stovetop until melted.
2. Put the other half of the coconut oil into a blender. Add the melted coconut oil and honey. Blend until the mixture is emulsified, roughly a minute on high. (This step ensures that the honey will not settle at the bottom of your chocolates.)
3. Add cocoa powder, peppermint extract and stevia to your blender and blend to combine.
4. Pour the mixture back into your pot. (The pot is easier to scoop from than the blender.)
5. Spoon the melted chocolate into molds. We use these Silikomart silicone molds. Alternatively, you can pour the melted chocolate into a parchment paper-lined container such as a glass baking dish.
6. Place your mold or container in the freezer. (The fridge will also work, if you are short on freezer space, although the chocolates will naturally take longer to harden.)
7. Once the chocolates have hardened, pop them out of the molds and transfer to a lidded container. If you are using the parchment paper-lined container, remove the chocolate to a cutting board by lifting the parchment paper out of the container. Cut the chocolate into bite-sized pieces, working as quickly as possible as the chocolate will soon begin to melt.
8. Store your chocolates in the fridge or freezer. Since they are mostly made of coconut oil, they will melt if left at room temperature. Enjoy your chocolates! We love eating them on their own but also recently discovered that they are delicious chopped up and added to chocolate mint ice cream.
A note on molds:
Purchasing the silicone molds has made making these chocolates so much easier. While using the parchment paper-lined container method certainly works, it’s tricky to cut a sheet of chocolate into small pieces and the heat from your hands makes the chocolate start to melt very quickly. If you are interested in making chocolates on a routine basis, I highly recommend purchasing some sort of molds.
Do you love chocolate? How do you get your chocolate fix?
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I mold these in baby muffin tins. The candies aren’t as beautiful, but works and it’s easy!
Thanks for linking your great post to FAT TUESDAY. This was very interesting! Hope to see you next week!
Be sure to visit RealFoodForager.com on Sunday for Sunday Snippets – your post from Fat Tuesday may be featured there!
http://realfoodforager.com/2011/12/fat-tuesday-december-6-2011/
I am new to this…on Day 3, but looking forward to the day when I can eat this. Question, I thought stevia was not allowed on GAPS. Feel like I read that on the GAPS Yahoo group. Is it ok to use Stevia??
Thanks for stopping by, Tara! As I mention above, stevia is not technically allowed on GAPS. Personally I’m comfortable using it because it doesn’t contain any polysaccharides. I know that many other people on GAPS also use it without issues. If you want to try it, my advice would be to try eating a little bit and see if you get any reaction. Good luck on GAPS!
Hey! I just made these (well a much smaller batch) and I added a pinch of salt. OMG- they are so good now. I mean, they were good before- but now they are amazing. Try it. Although sweet/salty is my downfall.
I’m so glad you liked them! You’re right – sweet/salty is awesome. I used to add a bit of salt when I used to make these but at some point Jesse took over the process and I forgot about it. I will have to remind him for the next batch! Thanks. 🙂
Any suggestions to coconut oil alternative? High allergen so out of the question. How do you think that quality cold pressed olive oil would work with this type of recipe? Prefer that coconut taste, but out of the question;)
Hmm…I don’t think olive oil would give the right consistency or flavor. Can you do butter? I think that would be good, although you might have to play around with the amounts of other ingredients. Palm shortening (refined) would also probably work. I order palm shortening from Tropical Traditions.
What about using Agave? What is the difference with this sweetner? I know to use carefully when using as a baking alternative (can burn granola quicker than maple syrup!) as for sweetness & health concerns what is the difference compared to stevia?
Cassandra, I like stevia because it is sugar-free. I try to keep our intake of added sugar low because I’ve read that eating too much sugar (even natural sugars like honey) contributes to all sorts of health issues. I don’t use agave because I’ve read that it’s highly processed. There’s a lot of info on it out there if you want to do more research.
Thanks I will do that thanks Meghan! These look great, making them today! I’ve never bought stevia & I’ve never heard of the GAPS diet. Research day! 🙂 I’m enjoying pinning your recipes & look forward to trying some others soon. Thanks again, great website!
Thanks, Cassandra! I hope the chocolates turn out well for you!
I use Kal brand pure Stevia and there is never an aftertaste. (It’s the best one I’ve ever found without an aftertaste) When I make coconut bark it’s the only sweetner I use and very satisfying in taste.
Thanks for sharing, Jenna! I’ll have to check out Kal the next time I run out of stevia.
Dark chocolates and milk chocolates are the best. ..
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Hi there,
I just made these and never could get the oil to emulsify in the food processor. I hope they turn out. What could I have done wrong?
Betsy, I’m not entirely sure what you mean. Do you just mean that the ingredients never evenly mixed together? That’s all I meant when I said that the mixture needs to emulsify. If that is in fact what you mean, I’m not sure what could’ve happened. I’ve never had that problem before–although I usually make this recipe in a blender rather than a food processor. Perhaps there was not enough volume in the food processor for the blade to do its job?
Is it possible to make these w/o the honey? I do use stevia but not any other natural sugars/sweetners.
Yes–just substitute honey for stevia and keep tasting until you think it’s sweet enough.