Making Homemade Chocolate Chips…In Detail
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I posted about making homemade chocolate chips a long time ago. Since that time, I’ve received several emails asking for more help and detail about how this works. It seems that many of you who tried the recipe are having trouble getting everything to melt and dissolve and mix like it should.
In light of your chocolate chip frustration…I decided to do a more thorough tutorial about how I make chocolate chips. The words Chocolate and frustration should never be in the same sentence together. Ever.
You can use coconut oil or butter to make your chips. I used butter this time because I’m almost out of coconut oil. Butter doesn’t quite work as well as coconut oil. They tend to be softer with butter…but still oh so good. Especially when you put them in these Chocolate Chip Brownies.
Here again is the recipe:
Homemade Chocolate Chips
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup rapadura or sucanat (you can use white sugar if you want)
1 cup coconut oil or butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (homemade vanilla extract if you have it!)
Begin by placing the cocoa, sucanat and butter (or coconut oil) into a quart sized jar.
Fill a small saucepan with two or three inches of water. Place the jar into the saucepan/water. Turn the heat on medium/high to begin melting the butter.
Stir often. After five minutes, my mixture looked like this:
After ten minutes, my mixture looked like this:
It took a total of thirteen minutes for the butter to completely melt. I then pulled it out of the water, added the vanilla and stirred well.
The mixture in my jar looked and smelled SO GOOD that I wanted to drink it. But I didn’t. That would have made quite a mustache.
Pour the mixture into a 9×13 inch pan covered with parchment paper. Spread it as evenly as you can.
As you can hopefully tell from the following picture, I still have a little sucanat that refused to completely dissove. Can you see the bits of chunkyness? That’s been one of the questions I’ve received from several of you. But…the little bits of chunkyness don’t hurt anything. My chocolate chips tasted just fine!
You like how the ceiling fan is reflecting in the chocolate?
I’m just trying to show off my terrible photography skills.
Place your pan into the refrigerator for 1-2 hours so that the chocolate can harden. Remove it from the parchment paper and break it into chunks. Store in refrigerator in an airtight container (unless you and your family eat them all first).
Just a note: These chocolate chips taste wonderful in Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies, but keep in mind that they are very pure and therefore tend to melt and get runny while baking. Chocolate Chip Cookies with homemade chocolate chips taste wonderful, but might look a little bit funny. No matter, ugly cookies taste good too. :) I recommend eating these chocolate chips plain, mixed with peanuts or in trail mix, in Chocolate Chip Brownies or in Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins.
And now, I do believe I need to use my freshly made chocolate chips to bake brownies. After I eat some green beans and broccoli of course…
I’ve been buying these http://www.amazon.com/Paskesz-Baking-Products-Chocolate-10-Ounce/dp/B001FA18FK at my local grocery store. They are Kosher chocolate chips for passover and they are soy free. If I remember right the ingredients were just chocolate, chocolate Liqeuer and vanilla. Pricey, but soy free!
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Thanks so much for detailing how to make these!
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Looks yummy!
Can I make these with cocoa butter instead of butter or coconut oil? I recently bought some for hard lotion bars (another great, great tip from your blog, works magically on hubby’s eczema!).
Greetings, Reini
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Laura Reply:
March 18th, 2011 at 5:17 pm
I’ve never used cocoa butter so I’m not sure. It sounds WONDERFUL though!
So glad the hard lotion bar is working for you so well. I LOVE mine!
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I have been looking for a recipe like this! I am so excited to try it. I am a chocolate chip addict, but our budget is really tight, so having the option to make homemade ones is so great! Thanks for posting this.
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I’m looking to make Sugar Free chocolate chips and am wondering if this recipe would work just as well with Xylitol Sweetener? It’s the same consistency as white sugar, and I believe would still melt just as well. My hubby and I love making homemade SF ice cream, and would love to add these to the ice cream or on top of it! :-)
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Laura Reply:
March 21st, 2011 at 10:33 pm
I don’t have experience using this sweetener, so I’m not sure. I would imagine it would work since it is the same consistency as white sugar. I’ve not researched this to know whether I’d recommend it as a healthy sweetener or not.
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Pamela M Reply:
March 22nd, 2011 at 10:28 am
Thanks Laura. I tried it and unfortunately, the butter separated
and “sat” on top of the chocolate. I don’t currently have Coconut
Oil, but i’ll try that.
Xylitol is a product of a few different fruits, as we all from
Birch Trees (I believe) and doesn’t have any actual sugar content,
but is as sweet as it is. I use it cuz I’m following the “Belly Fat
Cure” diet. :-) I could also try the recipe with Maltitol, which
is another natural sweetener, with the consistency and taste of
Corn Syrup. :-) I’ll keep trying my hand at it, though. Your pictures
look delicious!! :-)
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alisa Reply:
October 7th, 2011 at 11:20 am
Be careful with those sweetners, they are powerful laxatives as well!
Chelesy Reply:
May 9th, 2011 at 11:24 am
It depends on the type of sweetener substitute you would like to use because some substitutes break down poorly when heated and others do not behave as regular sugar does when heating it. That is why it is suggested you use certain sweeteners for baking verses adding it to sweeten a drink.
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Kathy Reply:
November 8th, 2011 at 11:27 am
I’ve tried using unsweetened baking chocolate and break them up
into chunks, for chocolate chip cookies and mint-chocolate chip
ice cream. The sweetener (sucanat or dates or honey) make the
item taste plenty sweet enough (and add the chocolate flavor)
without adding the sweetener to the chocolate.
I think I will try melting it down and adding the coconut oil,
then break it into chunks – so the end product is more tender.
Baking chocolate (unsw) is pretty hard.
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I made these yesterday but just changed the ratio of cocoa to sucanat (since I’m a bittersweet chocolate kinda gal!) I used about 3/4 cup cocoa and 1/4 cup sucanat (give or take a little) and they were perfectly suited to my taste! I’m also thinking of trying to add a little rum or bourbon to make the taste a little more complex. I’m thinking these would be delicious in some dried fruit and nut energy bars! Thanks for the inspiration and great tutorital!
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Can you use sugar in the raw with these? I need to get me some coconut oil!
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Laura Reply:
March 21st, 2011 at 10:34 pm
Yep, sugar in the raw would work.
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Would you please tell me what brand of cocoa you use? The chocolate chips look so yummy! Thank you.
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Laura Reply:
March 22nd, 2011 at 3:53 pm
I just use the bulk organic cocoa powder that I buy from my food co-op Azure Standard.
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This looks so good! I can’t wait to try it and also your homemade pop tarts. I love every recipe of yours that I have tried so far. Thank you!
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Well, I tried these and flopped. The sugar won’t dissolve, it’s just sitting in the bottom of the pan, the coconut oil and cocoa in the top liquid. I have no idea why. It tastes horrible because there is no sugar in it since it’s all on the bottom. Don’t know if that makes any sense.
Guess I’ll stick with regular chocolate chips although I do hate the ingredients of the store bought.
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The Bumpy Road Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 8:14 pm
I have made these several times. If you want the sugar to blend smoothly place in a blender after your fat has melted. That will take care of the sweet/grity bottoms and bittersweet tops you may have ended up with. I enjoy them both ways, though. Try it once more and blend. This recipe has many possiblities; bittersweet, semi-sweet, and dark options by playing with the sugar amounts and types of cocoa.
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Jill Reply:
March 31st, 2011 at 12:58 am
I did eventually do that since I was thinking of new ways to not waste it. It worked out a bit better. I was even thinking that maybe I should blend the sucanat first before adding it to the mix.
Thank you for the tip, and even though I was frustrated the first go around, throwing the towel in so to speak, I’ll pick the towel up and try again.
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Marci Reply:
April 20th, 2011 at 12:44 am
You might also try using confectioners sugar (a.k.a powdered sugar). It works well in thermometer-free fudge, and in chocolate butter cream frosting (both easy and homemade)…. Keep in mind I have never tried it myself, it’s just a thought. :)
Yes, it seems there are many options.
Thanks for the ideas.
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If you wait until the mixture is nearly cool you can roll it into small balls to look more like chips if you are so inclined.
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Hi Laura! I attempted this recipe the other day and failed. It wasn’t you, it was ME! But I’m not sure what I did wrong. When I checked on my chocolate while it was hardening in the refrigerator, I realized the butter was just sitting on top of the chocolate. Don’t you worry, I ate it anyway! But hope to figure this out! :) Thanks!
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Bekah Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 2:51 pm
Same thing happened to me! weird . . . wonder why??
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Jennifer May Reply:
September 22nd, 2011 at 4:17 pm
i made two batches of these chips today- my first batch had the same problem- i realized that sugar has a higher melting point than the oil/butter. to get the sugar to dissolve, you have to melt it first and then add the other ingredients, or cook and stir the whole thing fr a long time- which i did with my second batch- 20 minutes total. that worked great!!!
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Thanks for the great recipe!!! One of my kids recently developed a milk allergy, and I was really upset at the thought of making her give up chocolate completely. I’m going to try to make these with a pastry bag and piping tip to make them look like standard chocolate chips. I’ll let ya know how it turns out.
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I tried these today, as my own milk allergy is worsening to the point that I can’t tolerate milk with chocolate in it, either. I had the same problem with the sugar separating to the bottom and being gritty. My thought for next time is to melt the sugar first, THEN add the coconut oil and cocoa powder.
Also, I just melted it all in a heavy pot, stirring constantly. I didn’t use the “jar in boiling water” method. Is there any particular reason that you should, or is it just personal preference?
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Can we sub anything for cocoa powder?
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Laura Reply:
May 25th, 2011 at 8:45 pm
I’ve never tried anything but cocoa powder, so I’m not sure. :)
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Jes Reply:
September 25th, 2011 at 7:21 pm
Yes! These turned out great with carob powder.
You will need less sucanat though since carob is naturally sweet.
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I am going to try these for my son who cannot have many foods. We will have to use the coconut oil (which I haven’t used before, but that is safe for him) Are there any different instructions if we use it instead of the butter? Also I know you told someone they could use sugar in the raw. I am going to use pure organic cane sugar, will that change anything? My Mom, sister and I all swear it completely changes our family recipes when we use it. I have to use it because of my son.
It would also be nice to hear from SuperMom as to how it went using the pastry bag with these. Trying to get foods to look like everyone else’s is a huge thing at my house. It’s hard to be different all the time. :)
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Laura Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 7:12 pm
These actually turn out better with coconut oil instead of butter. You might want to try mixing everything in a blender before heating on the stove to see if the sugar dissolves better and makes everything mix well!
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Thank you so much for the great recipe. I’m defffintily going to try and Prob strat doing all the time after all I always have all these ingerdents in my house but not alys store bought chips and they can cost a pretty penny for one small bag I use for one recipe, not to mention some of the weird things in some of those store bought brand.
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Hi…..I have just been told I have to go gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar free……am wondering if stevia in the raw would work in this recipes? Thanks.
Becky Evans
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Laura Reply:
June 25th, 2011 at 3:59 pm
I’m not sure – I think it would change the consistency a little bit. You could try though – maybe cut the recipe in half so that if it doesn’t work, you don’t waste as many ingredients!
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This might seem like a silly question, but I don’t have parchment paper on hand. Could I use wax paper instead? I would think so but then maybe the wax would melt?
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Laura Reply:
July 8th, 2011 at 6:43 am
Yes, wax paper should work just fine!
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For all of those trying to make these without sugar…has anyone tried agave or liquid stevia? Being liquid, they should blend more easily. I am slowly switching from using sucanat to agave, stevia, and other natural blends (swerve, zsweet, etc.). I am going to try this over the weekend with agave and coconut oil and will post how it turns out, but was curious if anyone else had tried before I possibly “ruin” some chocolate. (Can chocolate actually be ruined? Surely there is always an excuse to use it!)
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Hey there! I’ve been wanting to make my son his own chocolate chips for a while now. He’s allergic to Casein and with Casein Free Margarine, this recipe seems quick and easy! Headed to the kitchen now, Thanks!
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if it tastes bitter before you put it in the fridge ad some coffee mate creamer and it’ll take away the bitterness
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Is there anyway to make these taste more like milk chocolate chips? I have made them twice and really like them but I am just more of milk chocolate kind of girl. Thanks!
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Laura Reply:
September 19th, 2011 at 3:24 pm
If you use butter instead of coconut oil, they taste more like milk chocolate!
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WOW! My kids love them. I am going to make granola bars and see if these work well in the recipe. I have a “picky” eater and I’m hoping the chocolate will melt well over the rolled oats.I made half a batch to start in a pint mason jar. I used the liquid mixer attachment on my handheld blender before pouring into the pan. I had no separation of butter and sugar in the fridge (we can’t use coconut oil here). Fantastic results on the first shot, I think the mason jar is key. THANK YOU!!
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Just found this and I am pumped about it! I am a chocoholic and just gave birth to a little girl and my hormones are yelling at me to eat chocolate :D BUT she has a milk allergy… so I switched up the recipe a bit…
First I used our magic bullet to turn my white sugar into a powdered sugar… figured it would mix better if it was lighter.
Then I used soy margarine (willow run. I let it set out on the table for about 10-15 minutes to let it soften a bit.
I put my powdered sugar and softened butter in a bowl and mixed them until light and creamed.
Then I put the butter/sugar in a pot (over a strainer in a bigger pot with boiling water) with the cocoa powder. I stirred for a good 20 minutes… till it was very smooth.
I added a little agave, almond extract and vanilla.
It’s in the freezer now… can’t wait to try it… in liquid form it was very tasty :)
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Kayla Reply:
November 7th, 2011 at 11:40 am
Hey there! I’ve adapted these to be casein free as well (my son
is very allergic) and have considered using powdered sugar, but
have used white sugar both times I’ve made these. How did the
powdered sugar work out? The 1st time I did these my CF “butter”
was salted and made these REALLY salty :-( OOPS!
I’m also looking for a way to change the
consistency to solve the “runny/melting” problem… maybe shortening?
Anyway! Can’t wait to hear how yours turned out!
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Carrie Reply:
November 7th, 2011 at 5:19 pm
Well the chocolate chips frozen were tasty but when I tried putting
them into cookies they just melted and instead of chocolate chip
cookies I got really really flat brown cookies lol… they didn’t
taste bad, but weren’t really what I was hoping for…
I have no discovered my baby girl is allergic to milk AND soy…
so I will have to revise and try again… probably use palm oil
shortening :)
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LindseyforLaura@HHM Reply:
November 11th, 2011 at 8:38 am
Hang in there with those allergies! Both my girls were allergic to soy and milk protien so I know how hard that can be! I really hope this recipe works for you with your revisions!
Kayla Reply:
November 11th, 2011 at 10:39 am
It sounds as if they’ve grown out of thier allergy?
Is this true? If so when? and what were thier reactions?
My son has been tested for additional allergies-
I really hoping it’s not soy, we really depend on that
to keep him safe from casein- though I know it can be
done. I appreciate your note!
LindseyforLaura@HHM Reply:
November 11th, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Kayla,
My girls did outgrow their allergies. They started at birth and by the time they were about 2 years old had been able to have soy and dairy again. Their symptoms were
extremely “colicky” behavior, projectile vomit (lovely, I know.) at times my second daughter refused to eat. We did a test for pyloric stenosis on my second and when that came back negative we knew it was allergies. As soon as we made the changes she was like a new baby.
I really can commiserate with parents dealing with allergies in kids. It is so tough.
I made these and they were really gross. I thought you could use white sugar and butter?
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Laura Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:11 pm
White sugar and butter should have worked okay, although I wonder if using coconut oil with the white flour would have made them set up better? Bummer that it didn’t work! :(
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So I made made my first batch and it went.. okay. Is Cocoa powder supposed to be the “naturally unsweetned” or am I using the wrong thing??? The taste is not too bad, but since I’m used to eating store bought it’s obvisouly different tasting. I have not baked with it yet though. Thanks for helping
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Laura Reply:
September 19th, 2011 at 3:25 pm
Right, naturally unsweetened cocoa powder. They won’t be as sweet as store bought, but in cookies or brownies they’re perfect!
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Can you use 1/2 butter and 1/2 coconut oil?
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Laura Reply:
September 21st, 2011 at 8:20 am
Sure, that would work!
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Hi Laura,
I made these with coconut oil and they were TO DIE FOR! Totally curbed my chocolate craving and since I used stevia (to taste) I didn’t feel a bit guilty eating them. :) Even with a spoonful of peanut butter!
I tried them in a batch of cookies however, and had some problems. They melted all over the cookie pan and dripped down into my oven. My cookies weren’t the prettiest, but that doesn’t matter, the problem was with the oil running right off the pan.
Do you think this is because I used coconut oil instead of butter? Has anyone else had this problem?
I think they’d do great in brownies since you have sides to your pan. I’ll have to try that soon!
Thanks for a great recipe – my kids are sooo happy since we had stopped buying chips from the store.
Paula
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Laura Reply:
September 21st, 2011 at 6:55 pm
Mine melted all over the cookies too, making them ugly – I’m not sure how to prevent that!
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hi laura, i’m wondering if you make these up ahead and store them? my guess is you need to keep them in the fridge, right? prob not something you can keep in a jar in your pantry??
thanks,
kim
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LindseyforLaura@HHM Reply:
October 7th, 2011 at 12:05 pm
You are right! Go ahead and store them in the fridge in and air tight
container.
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I tried these last night (and again today…) My second batch turned out soooo good and I am very excited! I melted the sucanat and 1/4C butter first over a higher heat and the sucanat totally melted, then stirred in 1/4C coconut oil and cocoa. Oh my! Delish! I also added a couple of sprinkles of sea salt which I thought was yummy…not much though. I am wondering if you stirred the chips in to your cookies straight out of the freezer if they would melt so much in the oven? I may give that a try. Thank you, Laura for adding a little chocolatey sunshine to my life this week.
Amy
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I tried this. Smells amazing. I found out after making it that no one in my house like dark chocolate but me! :D All of it to myself. Thank you for the recipe, it’s amazing.
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What about chopping up the chips into finer pieces? Or using cocoa butter?
If the batter doesn’t have time to set enough to hold the chocolate in place before the chocolate turns runny, that might be a problem.
Coconut oil is liquid at room temp…about 76 °F.
Butter turns liquid between 90-95 °F.
Cocoa butter liquifies between 93-100 °F
I think cocoa butter is the best bet & that’s what Enjoy Life uses in their allergy free chocolate chips.
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does the butter and cocoa powder have to be in a jar? or can it just be in a pan?
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Laura Reply:
October 24th, 2011 at 10:18 am
I think you could try it directly in the pan, but it is more likely to scald this way. The jar in water method is similar to using a double boiler. SO, if you do in in the pan without the jar, just be very careful to stir constantly and keep the heat a little lower – hopefully it will work fine!
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OOPS! I just finished making this and realized I did not poor the chocolate onto parchment paper… is that going to be bad. should I take it out of the fridge and repour??
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Laura Reply:
October 28th, 2011 at 5:26 pm
It should be okay – you may have a bit of a harder time getting them out of the pan is all. Shucks, you might have to scrape out the parts that are stuck and just eat them. :)
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Do you think these would work with honey instead as the sweetener?
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Laura Reply:
October 29th, 2011 at 8:50 pm
I’m not sure if honey would work since it’s a liquid. I’m afraid the chocolate chips wouldn’t harden enough.
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Liz Reply:
January 16th, 2012 at 3:47 pm
I tried mine with honey. I didn’t even think about it. Laura was right, they did not harden enough. The top half is hard, while the bottom, still mushy. Tastes yummy though! If I would have spread the chocolate over my granola bars I made today, it would have been an excellent mistake!
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Awesome! Love your recipes!
How long do you think they will stay good for in the fridge? Do you know if they can be frozen also?
Thanks!
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Laura Reply:
October 31st, 2011 at 2:48 pm
Mine stay good in the fridge for several weeks, so I would say they’d last for months in the freezer!
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Sonja Reply:
February 5th, 2012 at 9:48 am
What? The were still around several weeks later??
What did you do, hide them in a brown paper sack??
ºÜº
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I tried these a while ago and due to my son’s allergy I am so thankful to have this recipe. I think the CF “butter” i had was salted, because wheeeew they were salty! I also noticed they melt VERY quickly! I’m going to try again with CF Parkey Lite and I’m going to go ahead and make either a double or triple batch and store them in the freezer. My last batch kept well in the freezer.
THANKS!
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Definitely adding this to my Recipes to Try category!
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How would you modify the recipe if you use solid unsweetened baking chocolate instead of the cocoa powder?
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LindseyforLaura@HHM Reply:
November 18th, 2011 at 1:59 pm
I am not sure on exact measurements, but I did some searching and found that the only real difference is that solid baking chocolate has fat to hold it together so you would want to decrease the amount of fat in the recipe. So in this case try using less of the oil or butter. Hope that helps!
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I am not sure if someone has already asked this, but I was wondering how long will these keep for in the fridge. (We may eat them all at once-who knows hehe) But just in case we don’t… thanks!
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LindseyforLaura@HHM Reply:
November 18th, 2011 at 1:48 pm
They should last about 2 months. :)
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Does the butter need to be soft??
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Laura Reply:
November 22nd, 2011 at 9:31 pm
No, because you’ll heat it on the stove anyway to melt it.
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Is it supposed to taste like toffee?
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Just wanted to let you know I posted about this recipe and linked back to your site for my readers to view it :). Thanks for the great recipe!!
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So I tried two batches, and they both failed horribly. Im 19 years old and Im teaching myself how to bake and its a bit of a challenge for me. I cant even get the chocolate chips to harden! 1st i tried margine because its all I had, and I left the chocolate chips over night in the freezer and took them out today and was soft like frosting. so today i used butter (im to lazy to go to the store to buy coconut oil, which might be my problem) and I used less butter and more sugar. they were more hard but when i tried to break them up they melted very fast at my finger and they turned into frosting again after 5 mins of being out. im using organic coco power from my grandpas herb business, white sugar and butter. Do I need to melt the ingredients longer? should i just get off my butt and buy coconut oil? lol HELP ME!:)my cookie dough is itching to get its bake on!
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Laura Reply:
December 31st, 2011 at 10:04 am
Well, I’ve definitely found that coconut oil works best to make these. Butter works okay, but like you found, it definitely produces a softer finished product.
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Hi. A few quick questions about this recipe:
1) Can you use olive or grapeseed oil instead of the coconut oil?
2) Has anyone ever used these chocolate chips in chocolate chip cookies and have them come out good?
Thanks!
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Laura Reply:
January 13th, 2012 at 11:00 am
I’ve not tried olive or grapeseed oil in this recipe to know for sure if it would work, but I imagine that it would. I use these in chocolate chip cookies frequently and they do great! They melt and spread out more than a store bought chocolate chip, but they do taste good. :)
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Thanks for your fast response! I was also wondering…do you think I can use agave nectar in place of raw sugar or would that ruin the consistency? How about stevia? Thanks for all of your help! :)
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LindseyforLaura@HHM Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Stevia and agave nectar would probably change the consistency a bit.
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Are these like semi-sweet chocolate chips or milk chocolate?
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LindseyforLaura@HHM Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 1:16 pm
These are more like semi sweet. But if you want milk chocolate, using butter would do that for you!
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