White chocolate is not really chocolate.
- Just like tomatoes aren’t really vegetables.
- Lentils aren’t really beans.
- Koalas aren’t really bears…
Life’s confusing, isn’t it?
Sometimes people are surprised to find not a single white chocolate recipe on this entire chocolate-covered blog. White chocolate has just never been my favorite thing… because I want it to taste like chocolate and am mad when it doesn’t!
Plus, most white chocolate chips aren’t vegan, and they are full of unhealthy trans fats (partially-hydrogenated oils) and artificial ingredients.
Many of you have asked if I could come up with recipes that include chocolate’s paler cousin. But to do that, I first had to figure out how to make my own healthy white chocolate.
Thankfully, it turned out to be really, really easy!
I read up about white chocolate on Wikipedia and checked out the candy bars at the grocery store. Research! (To make research fun, all you have to do is get out of the library and head to the chocolate aisle. Who knew?)
They all consist of the same basic ingredients: cacao butter, milk solids (dry milk), sugar, and salt… Pretty much, as long as you have the one magic ingredient, the white chocolate is so easy to make it can hardly even be called a recipe.
White Chocolate Chips
(can be sugar-free)
- 2-inch cube cacao butter (30 grams, or 2 tbsp after melting)
- scant 1/8 tsp pure vanilla extract
- stevia or powdered sugar to taste (2 tbsp if powdered sugar)
- 1 tbsp raw cashew or macadamia butter (can omit; it’ll just be less creamy) (15g)
- very tiny pinch salt
- optional: If you can find it, I highly recommend adding 1/2 tsp dry milk powder—such as soy or ricemilk powder—to the ingredients for optimum creamy texture, as this is one of the basic ingredients in every white chocolate bar I looked at during my aforementioned research. However, knowing that a lot of people would have trouble finding the powder, I also tried omitting it. And then I tried adding protein powder instead (increasing to 1 tsp). Omitting or adding the protein powder instead will yield a texture that’s a little different than store-bought white chocolate, but both ways still work! (Just please don’t add liquid milk. I tried that too, and it doesn’t work.)
Melt the cacao butter (either in the microwave or on the stove). Turn off heat, then stir in all other ingredients. Pour into candy molds or a plastic container, and freeze until it hardens. Healthier and vegan white chocolate chips. Yay!
Question of the Day:
Are you going to vote tonight?
I never got around to early voting, so I will be going tonight. Unfortunately, my roommate’s and my opposite votes are going to cancel each other out… we jokingly thought about just staying home!
Link of the Day:
would you consider adding photographs showing the steps you take to reach the final product of your recipes? it would be great to see what things should look like along the way
I asked in a post awhile back, but people voted the idea down.
That’s too bad…those pics are so helpful!
I don’t get why you always say this. I asked you awhile back too and lots of people found the idea helpful. Actually, I can’t even recall people voting this idea down (minus probably 1,2 Debbie Downers). I mean it’s okay if you can’t/don’t want to do it because of your dark kitchen (which you’ve mentioned before) but don’t say the readers dismissed the idea because that’s just not true. Lots of blogs have step-by-step photos which are in general really helpful.
Actually, it is. Not sure why you’d think I was making it up 😕 https://lett-trim.today/2012/03/31/behind-the-scenes/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I don’t even know why I’m arguing here right now, but: I’ve read the comments, the first bunch was all YES DO IT, then there were people saying your easier recipes don’t need these instruction because duh, they’re easy! Then, at the end, there were people saying they hate longass step-by-steps. But they were in no way the majority, sorry. However, you’ll never please everyone. I for one would find it very useful to see the texture of the dough in many of your recipes because I’ve had some failures which I can’t explain to myself (other than vegan baking IS different than regular baking). But of course no one needs photos of you pouring the dough in muffin tins or whatever or whisking the ingredients together.
Thats is asked with so much respect I’m sure she’ll comply.
haha, yah clearly the majority said “YES” to process photos. If you don’t want to/can’t do it, just own up to it. Don’t blame your readers.
Katie, you’re awesome-possum. I’m not sure why there are so many haters commenting today. Keep up the great work, chica!
Does ANYONE think this would be good on dried fruit (blueberries, raisins, cherries…) My BF loves yogurt covered whatever, but they are so bad for you.
At first I was all excited as usual reading about how to make white chocolate chips and then I started reading some of the responses about the voting comment and now I feel like exploding in anger! I am so sick of people always making something out of NOTHING! I read idiot comments on Facebook and now I have to be subjected to them on your superb blog! OH, but WAIT!! Maybe people will be smart enough to say ‘Well, you don’t have to read the comments.’ Hey, guess what!? That’s MY POINT!!! Let Katie write what she wants and how she wants and click off the page rather than junking up her comments page with your stupid criticisms.
And by the way, I did not vote today. Being from Texas, it would be a complete and utter waste of time to go and vote for Obama. It. will. not. matter.
In the 2 years I’ve been following CCK, this is the first day I’ve been incredibly pissed off to read yet more ignorant comments about politics……on a chocolate blog for crying out loud.
Thanks, Cindy! I’m in TX too… I think it is ridiculous that people in certain parts of this country have more say in the election than people in others. Aren’t we all supposed to be equal? The electoral college is antiquated, and I’d love to see it replaced. But since it doesn’t look like that’ll happen any time soon, I might just have to move to Florida ;).
Hi Katie! This looks super yummy! (and creative!) this is kinda random/not relevant to this post, but I had a quick question: how do you usually freeze “bulk” meals like soups/meals? I’ve been a vegan for only about a year (I’m 15) and my family all eats meat, so usually I’m on my own for cooking, and it would be really helpful to know the easiest ways to freeze meals to eat later! Thank you so much, I love your blog!
I just freeze in pyrex containers, in individual servings. Take a serving out and microwave or re-heat on the stove. 🙂
Thank You! 🙂
Thanks for posting this recipe! I’ve been disappointed in the vegan white chocolate chips that you can mail-order, so I will definitely be trying these!
I voted by mail last week – fun election in Washington state, got to vote yes on marriage equality and I’m pretty sure it is going to pass!!
Yay for referendum 74! 🙂
I’m also not much of a white “chocolate” girl. Heck, I’m not even a milk chocolate kind of girl anymore. I’m all about the super dark chocolate. These look great, though! Perfect for when a recipe calls for white chocolate chips. Thanks! 😀
you have just made my day! you dont no howwwww many recipes i have seen that call for some white chocolate and i am just to lazy to order it online and wait for it lol im soooo making a big batch of these to have around for the holidays im so excited! dumb ? though where do i get cocoa butter is it like in whole foods probably? lol
Yeah, or order online.
Great work Katie! I always have trouble finding these veganized, and my traditional Christmas cookie recipe uses white chocolate, which I always want to make vegan, and now I can more consistently!
Thanks Katie for this recipe 🙂 btw, only Americans call koalas “bears” Aussie take great offense at this.
Katie – when you make a batch with powdered sugar, how much do you use, personally?
It really is a matter of taste on this one. I had a few different people try each experiment, and some would say one batch was too sweet, while others liked it that way. So you really just have to try it to know how much you prefer. I’d recommend using just a little to begin with, as you can add more easily than you can take away.
Cool! I would never have thought of making my own white chocolate. Looks good 🙂
I had to laugh at this because I always argue that white chocolate isn’t real chocolate. I’m sure you’ve made a lot of people really happy today, I should make some of this for my brother who loves the unhealthy version. Thank you for a lovely post as always.
I left my comment before reading through all the others today. Wow you guys do take voting very seriously. Its great to see people so passionate about the future of their country. In Australia we vote for a prime minister and they just randomly get kicked out, now thats a joke. I saw the funny side of it though Katie, my parents have been saying the same thing for years about cancelling each other out.
Fun Fact: for something to be legally labeled as “white chocolate” for sale in the US it has to be made with cocoa butter. I always hated “white chocolate” because I associated it with the icky fake stuff (see: Nestle’s “White Morsels.” So clever! It never occurred to me that they weren’t chocolate!). Now that I eat the real deal, I love it! Thanks so much for reminding me that I wanted to make it, and where to find cocoa butter!
I just fell in love with you. I have a whole bag full of raw cacao butter that I bought to make one single recipe and havent known what to do with it since then. Thank you for posting this recipe!