*NB Hayley has taken her chocolate video on you tube down since I first published this recipe in 2012. But if you keep watching Alternative Chef Kitchen, in season 2 (airing in 2016) we’ve re-filmed Hayley making the chocolate as well as preparing other goodies:-) Also you can get Hayley’s original chocolate recipe here.
Do you know someone with an intolerance to dairy? Well, here is a white chocolate recipe that might make a nice gift.
Earlier in the week my children helped me make some white chocolate for my husband for Father’s Day. Earlier in the year when I came across this video by the lovely Hayley Richards from Raw Karma and Karmic Kulinary I discovered just how easy it was to make dark chocolate and since then, I’ve had some ideas to create various delicious treats, one of which being a dairy-free white chocolate. So Hayley, this recipe dedicated to you, thank you for the many yummy recipes on your website and your generous support when emailed, and inspiring this and many other recipes:-)
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup raw cacao butter (I am currently using the Loving Earth brand)
- 1/8 cup raw unsalted cashews ground into a fine powder
- 1 tbsp (15ml) raw organic agave (I am currently using the Loving Earth brand)
- 1 tbsp (15ml) coconut cream (for ease I have used the Ayam canned coconut cream. If you know how to make your own fresh coconut cream from a drinking coconut (recipe to come) then that would be preferable and fantastic).
- 1 dash organic vanilla extract
Method:
Part 1: Getting things ready
- Grate the cacao butter (it will be solid at room temperature). I grate it with our old cheese grater (as it doesn’t get much use lately).
- Try to keep the can of coconut cream upright after buying and then gently remove the cream using a dessert spoon trying not to get the water with it as it will dilute out the chocolate and make it harder to set. An example of what this looks like can be found here. You can either use the rest of the can for ice-cream or drain off the water and make whipped cream
- Grind the cashews into a fine powder, I did this using a coffee grinder on the coarse setting, if you don’t have a coffee grinder, you may be able to use your blender or food processor. The trick is to avoid turning it into a paste (over grinding) and to avoid “chunky” bits. If there are any larger pieces, please remove them.
Part 2: Making your white chocolate
I recommend you watch Hayley’s video on how to make dark chocolate to see an over-view.
- Pour hot water into a saucepan and then place a bowl with the grated cacao above it. Using a small hand-held whisk, stir the cacao butter as it melts.
- While stirring, add in the following order: the agave syrup (you may like to adjust the amount of agave, I find this a little sweet, but my taste-testers thought it was fine), the cream, the vanilla and lastly the cashew powder.
- The mix will still look pretty yellow at this stage however, the final product will come out closer in colour to the solid room-temperature cacao butter.
- Pour or spoon the chocolate mix into moulds (I prefer the small silicon cup-cake holders the best – as using these sort of cute moulds in the picture above actually resulted in a number of robotic casualties;-).
- To set quickly – transfer the chocolate to the freezer and it will set within the hour (test the centre and the edges by gently pressing with your finger, if there is no “give” then it is ready, if you see a depression, then I’d leave it a bit longer).
This recipe contains no added: dairy, soy, yeast, gluten, wheat, egg and if you use agave, it is suitable for vegans. This recipe contains tree nuts. If you would like more information about allergens and food labels, please check out the articles and corresponding links.
Enjoy! (In moderation;-)
