One of the things I stay away from these days is soy. Seeing as how 90% of soy in the US is genetically modified, I don’t really want to go near it….not to mention all of the other reasons to avoid soy!
Unfortunately, one of my all time favorite foods has soy lecithin as an ingredient: Chocolate Chips. These are my go to quick treat. Need a sweet palate cleanser? Reach for a chip. Satisfy that sweet tooth in a morsel of chocolaty goodness.
Soy Lecithin isn’t the only downfall in chocolate chips. They have that refined sugar junk that I am trying to stay away from.
So what is an alternative?
I decided to try a kitchen experiment….why not make my own?
There are about 3 recipes that I have found for homemade chocolate chips:
Heavenly Homemakers’ Recipe
Whole New Mom’s Recipe
All Day I Dream About Food’s Recipe
I followed bits of each of these and came up with my own adaptations. I call it an experiment because I would change a few things next go around.
Homemade Chocolate Chips
Ingredients
- 4 oz high quality unsweetened chocolate
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup unrefined coconut oil
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
Method
- Line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper.
- Create a double boiler. I use a pot with some water in it topped with a Pyrex bowl.
- Melt chocolate first.
- Once it is completely liquid, add coconut oil. Melt completely.
- Add cocoa powder. Stir until completely mixed in.
- Next stir coconut sugar in. Mix in well (I’ve found that coconut sugar is a bit hard to dissolve…)
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- Pour into parchment lined baking dish (Mixture may be gritty since sugar won’t dissolve)
- Put in refrigerator or freezer for several hours or overnight. Make sure dish is laid flat (otherwise you will end up with pieces that aren’t sweet at all)
- Remove from freezer and chop into chunks. Store in freezer.
A few notes/future changes
- These chips are very “pure” meaning they will melt instantly in your hand.
- I might add more coconut sugar next time to make it a bit sweeter.
- I wonder what would happen if you used honey?
- You can substitute 1 cup carob powder in place of chocolate and cocoa powder for a caffeine free version.
- 2 tsp of vanilla might be more awesome!
- Coconut sugar gives them a bit of a gritty texture when you bite into them. I’m sure this doesn’t matter if you bake with them. It doesn’t really bother me but I would like to find a sweetener that mixes in better.
- Apparently if you heat the oil and chocolate over too high of heat the coconut oil will separate from the cocoa….I didn’t have this problem because I melted them one at a time.
