Need help with chocolate

(Bob M) #1

Since reading about allulose, I decided I’d make some chocolate that I could give my kids (and myself). I used a recipe from a fat bomb book:

https://a.co/d/0f1u4Czq

The recipe is basically 1 part 100% chocolate to 1 part cacao butter, melt over double boiler. Add allulose + some vanilla. That’s about it.

My issues:

  1. I think I overcooked the chocolate/cacao butter, as it became liquid. Oddly, it STILL had some chunks in it, which I didn’t realize there until later. Is there a temperature over which I shouldn’t go? (I have multiple thermometers, including an infrared one.)

  2. The end result was gritty. In her other recipes, she puts the liquid into a food processor. Maybe I use that? Or a stick blender? (The allulose was powdered, though I could powder it more I guess.) Or put it in while the chocolate is still over the double boiler?

  3. I added some liquid Stevia glycerate. I made it too sweet…yet too dark at the same time. My kids will never eat it. I can fix this next time.

  4. How can I make it lighter and creamier? Add more cacao butter? Can I add something like cream? Anything else?

  5. Anyone suggest a good 100% chocolate? Or should I use something lighter, like 80% (but this will be higher carb)?

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #2

Stir constantly, that should help.

You probably need to powderise the allulose. Or buy it powdered to the point that confectioner’s sugar is.

Heavy cream should do fine. I’d try adding it to the chocolate in the double boiler, stirring all the while.

I use Baker’s brand unsweetened chocolate from the supermarket. Just melt it well and stir constantly.

I used to make microwave fudge years ago, mixing a couple of blocks of unsweetened chocolate with some stevia/erythritol and some heavy cream. It came out well, and the texture wasn’t too bad, despite the lack of real stirring. I made it in a smallish ramekin that I had bought as a rat food bowl. It was the largest of the series of bowls, but it made for a small ramekin, just the right size.

#3

Absolute best of the best 100% chocolate for when you want the finest delicacy is this:

Valrhona Pure Cocoa Powder
https://a.co/d/0bguZM8c

But I also buy this one sometimes:

E Guittard Cocoa Powder, Unsweetened Rouge Red Dutch Process Cocoa
https://a.co/d/01Hn3ENK

If you overcooked it at all, that can create grittiness. Even with a double broiler you don’t want the boiling water beneath to be too hot or it will transfer too much heat too fast to the chocolate above. Bring just to a low boil then reduce to lowest flame/heat setting to simmer. Low and slow is best.

Here’s another recipe for you to try too. I saved it a while ago and haven’t had a chance to try it yet but I bought the cacao butter and the molds. Now I want to try this week but I need more cocoa powder first. Lol Video is helpful.

#4

I order great cocoa powder from a webshop for confectioners (and home bakers too). It’s just amazing.
My SO complains when we run out powdered xylitol, we just can’t ground the crystals well enough.

Cream changes the chocolate into something else. It’s good but I really love my chocolate becoming super crunchy and whipped cream just keep it airy and a bit soft even in the freezer. So I use it when I want that kind of thing but a proper chocolate must be hard and crunchy :D. I don’t even eat it soft (summer room temperature) while my SO likes that. Our chocolates are different anyway, his is sweetened and has more cocoa and less instant coffee (very vital ingredient for us especially me). Not like I often make it for myself, that was mostly before carnivore. But with the new, way better cocoa powder my interest flared up a bit… Good stuff.

We don’t melt anything except the coconut oil we use instead of cocoa butter (once I tried the latter, we didn’t like it any better but I will try out, the webshop run out last time so maybe next time) so it’s a super easy thing. We make 370g chocolate every week, it’s a staple for my SO. It’s in a big jar but I have a bubble mold now too.

I never could make milk chocolate (I used to love only that, later I preferred dark but milk is nostalgic and lovely except the sugar ruins it so I wanted to make my own), no matter what I have tried. Oh well. I can live without that at this point.

:slight_smile: