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:
That is really interesting. I never knew there wasn’t any chocolate in white chocolate. That explains so much.
We have soy milk powder and coconut milk powder here in Australia so I might give both of them a whiz and see how they go. Cheers for another wonderful recipe Katie 🙂
We do? Where can you find soy milk powder?
“We” do, here in Australia. You should try Asian shops as they usually sell it and if you have no luck, you can get it here in bulk
http://www.myshopping.com.au/ZM–457394326_Food
It’s not often that we Aussies have something that you Americans/Canadians don’t! 😉
Yes, I’m Australian. I’ll have to have a look for this; thanks for the link.
Ok first the MOST important reason to happily visit this blog as much as possible (GOOD DESSERTS)! I’m actually quite excited about an awesome version of white chocolate chips to try.
Next I’m sorry so many people get upset over this voting thing. I think this year seems a bit more nerve racking than most years (at least that I’ve personally noticed in my years of voting which has only been about 12). None the less I’m used to people telling me my VOTE doesn’t even count b/c I vote 3rd party, but you know what – It counts for me.
You ROCK girl and thanks for sharing fun comments and other tid bits about YOU – I know its hard to put yourself out there with so many readers that it may put your writing to the test of walking on egg shells.
I ask your readers to kindly give you a break, its hard to always have the most perfect thing to say and type out. Sometimes its hard to get the feeling of what anyone is trying to say by reading text. So I’m asking the readers to kindly watch the things they say to you when they type comments, because some of them sound a bit harsh to me.
Aw thanks, Ekko 🙂
I have been looking for a vegan white chocolate chip for a recipe for a while now!! So far the best one I’ve found that isn’t crazy with it’s ingredients says that it tastes a little grainy (I haven’t actually tried it yet). Hopefully yours isn’t. I mostly just want it for Raspberry White Chocolate Chip (and sometimes Macadamia nut) cookies 🙂 So thanks for coming up with this!!
Thank you for this! I go CRAZY trying to find white chips that have real cocoa butter in them…. not an easy task.
I will be whipping up a batch to add to my chocolate oatmeal cookies!
Wow that is super simple! I never thought of making those myself..great recipe!
Oh these look awesome. I’ve never used cocoa butter, I think I may need to buy some! Perfect for the holidays!
2 tbsp of melted cocoa butter yields 4 servings? I’m confused!
But it looks like an excellent recipe. Much more economical than organic vegan white chocolate, too. 🙂
It might seem strange, but it really does make a lot of chips.
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!