Raw milk chocolate...need some advice on something to make it harder?
Hi fellow rawbies!
Today I was fiddling around with making raw chocolate in the kitchen. It is something I haven't done a lot of since becoming a raw foodist, due to I'm not a dark chocolate fan. But I will have some raw chocolate in small amounts on occasion. I've tried about 4 different recipes, but have always been disappointed...just too dark chocolatey for me.
Anyways, I remembered a recipe I had glanced at long ago had mesquite in it and lucuma. So I decided to try it today, and I must say...this is the first raw chocolate that actually tastes like milk chocolate to me. It is wonderful. Even my husband loved it. BUT it is not hard. It is that firm kinda bendy texture. My whole family has been inhaling it tho, regardless. And even if I can't change the firmness of the chocolate without
compromising the flavor...I think this will be one of my favorite raw desserts. (outside of cobblers )
I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on what to do to make it harder? I do not want to use maple syrup tho. The main thought I've been having is adding more cacao butter??? What do you all think??? And thanks so much in advance for responding.
Here's the stats' on the recipe I fiddled with today:
~Raw yummilicious MILK chocolate~
2/3 cup cashews
2/3 cup agave (maybe just a bit less than this)
2/3 cup cacao butter (liquified)
1 Tbsp lucuma
1 Tbsp mesquite
1 tsp. vanilla
4 Tbsp. cacao powder
Liquify cacao butter in sun (it's hot enough today) or dehydrator. In vitamix blend all of the above, and pour into molds or onto wax paper in dish. Freeze ,cut, and enjoy!
Sounds like you and I have been on the same wave lenght lately... I too rarely eat chocolate, but felt like whipping some a couple of weeks ago. Have a look here.
That recipe sounds very similar to one I made and it didn't turn out hard either. At the time, I thought it was due to my using part coconut oil and part cacao butter, but now it makes me wonder... In any case, more cacao butter sounds like a good plan.
I know rawererin has been on a similar quest to create a hard chocolate. You might want to check out a couple of threads on the matter:
I did see those links, and I did try one of rawerin's recipes...but it still was so rich dark chocolatey for me...and maple syrup isn't raw and neither is maple sugar. Tho I'm not a complete purist, I want to stay with raw sugars. The texture was great tho, and I loved the almonds chopped in it . My family enjoyed it too.
I saw your blog on the raw chocolate...and it is beautifully done btw! But it all looked like dark chocolate. I'm on a quest for raw chocolate that is hard that tastes like SAD milk chocolate. And yes, one of the ones you listed had a similiar equation with agave, nuts, cacao butter. I added the lucuma/vanilla/mesquite combo...with just a bit of cacao powder...and for some reason this changed the flavor substantionally from dark chocolate to milk chocolate. Flavor wise it hits the spot. It's just too chewy. Kwim? Man..I feel like a chemist....lol
I wonder if I used more mesquite and less agave and upped the cacao butter? I have never used mesquite before this...so I'm not sure what the equation from agave nectar would equate to...to mesquite. Any ideas?
Have any of you used the cacao paste Carmella mentioned in her blog?
Thanks for your help!
I'm going to try again tomorrow...
Heathy was telling me a few days ago she's made chocolate with mesquite before. I'll ask her what she thinks.
Oh, and that choc paste is actually quite strong, like dark dark chocolate so I'm not sure whether you'd like that. It's basically 1/2 cacao powder and 1/2 cacao butter.
Oh, thank you for sharing that about the cacao paste!
I just finished off the raw milk chocolate I made...man..it is so utterly good. Usually I can only eat 1 small piece of raw chocolate cuz it seems so rich to me. But this is just so amazingly good...(too me anyways..lol!), and not as intense as the dark raw chocolate.
Yep...the quest for hard milk chocolate is ON! he hee. Thanks for asking Heathy too! I'll let ya know how it goes tomorrow. And if it comes out hard I'll take some pictures
so what gave you the milk chocolate flavor... the lucama or mesquite? and you don't have to use that much to get a milk chocolate flavor? ooh I might have to try this!
The lucuma kinda has a milky-starchy flavor, and the mesquite is kinda a sweet-smoky flavor. So my guess would be the lucuma...but the mesquite definitely adds something too.
Try it with your maple sugar combo and let me know what ya think!
Oh, and I just used 1 TBSP of each with 2/3 cup of agave, cacao oil, cashews each....which you can see in the above mentioned recipe. Hope you like it as much as we do!
Mishka,
I've had it with all that milk chocolate talk! Now I'm intrigued and want to make this too! I don't have any mesquite though. I think I heard somewhere that you can sub it with carob. Probably not as smoky and yum, but do think it would do here?
NOooooo! I definitely think it would become a whole different flavor with the carob added. Carob is a bit smoky...your right, but somehow mesquite is a different smokey. LOL! You could try it with just the lucuma tho right? Maybe add 2 Tbsp. of it?
Your going to laugh at this...
My husband went looking in the freezer tonight for the rest of the raw milk chocolate I made....and I had finished it off! He was all bent out of shape cuz he wanted more!!!!!!!! I had some other normal dark raw chocolate left in the freezer and he turned his nose up at it and said no thankyou. I felt like a little piglet for not leaving him any! Well tommorrow is a new day, and I promised him I'd make more. I just love it when my non-raw family finds a raw substitute for something they enjoy. Makes me so happy!!! I'm going to have to order more cacao butter soon....
Thanks Mishka. I think I'll go with just the lucuma then. Although I might put a bit of maca in there. That's what went into Ginger's superfood fudge and it was sooooo yummy!
I couldn't help but smile at your story... Poor hubby! I have to put raw goodies on ration here because they'd disappear in no time! Especially with Manu around... I've nicknamed him 'The Hungry Hun'.
Hmmm...I wonder if the maca will give it a peanut flavor twist? I love peanut butter and chocolate combo..good thinking. YUM!
Ok, so this was my drama today with the chocolate.
I increased the lucuma and mesquite to 1.5 TBSP. each, and increased the cacao butter to 3/4 cup, left the agave at 2/3 and the cashews at 2/3 cup and vanilla and cacao powder the same. It definitely got harder...not brick hard, but hard. But the flavor was compromised along with the changes. It wasn't sweet enough, the texture wasn't melt in your mouth smooth like previously, and it was kinda blah. So I remelted it all (didn't want to waste it) and added more agave and ground cashews. It was better, but making the changes with the additional lucuma/mesquite/cacao butter earlier, just messed with it too much. The texture was more grainy today...even after trying to fix it. The flavor was better due to it being sweeter 2nd time around but just not like yesterdays.
So...adding more mesquite/lucuma was NOT the answer. The agave needs to be at the same ratio as the cacao butter, otherwise it's too waxy tasting and blah. I also think the nut ratio should stay close to the cacao butter, but can deviate a bit. I liked it better when I put more cashews back in. So NEXT time, I would stay with the original recipe but maybe just increase the cacao a very small amount less than 1/8 cup. And definitely keep the lumcuma and mesquite to only 1 Tbsp. to the 2/3 cup of everything else.
My conclusion today is a realization....even if I can't achieve the candy bar crunch of firm chocolate...the flavor discovery of a raw milk chocolate substitute...even if it's a bit on the chewy side...is worth the compromise of the hardness.
I won't be able to try this again soon...gotta order more cacao butter. So until then.
Milk chocolatey yours,
Mishka
P.s. I also made the mistake of putting the cashews and dry stuff in the blender first today...big whoops. Definitely, put all wet ingredients in first, then add the previously blended cashews. And it all goes good from there!
When I was on David Wolfe's site today I was checking out the ingredients of some of the chocolate bars he sells there... and he is even selling one that isn't raw, it has maple sugar in it. So that kinda made me laugh, since Rawerin discovered the same thing. Great minds think alike, and all that! lol! Also, the other chocolate bar by gnosis was just raw cacao butter, powder, agave, vanilla...this was the base, and the other one was the same as gnosis, but added soy lecithin! So there ya go. It's kinda fun seeing all the directions one could go with this. Chocolate making is definitely a fine art . Gotta luv it!
As I'm expecting Heathy's arrival tomorrow (woo hooooooooo!!!), I wanted to prepare a special treat for the one I've nicknamed 'The Ultimate Raw Dessert Queen'. Plus, it was the perfect excuse to try the new chocolate candy molds I bought during my recent visit to the city. I got to work and made a batch of Orange Goji Berry White Chocolate and a variation of Mishka's Raw Yummilicious Milk Chocolate recipe sans the cacao powder. It occurred to me that there might not be quite enough chocolates so I decided to whip up some more of the Milk Chocolate, only I had a chocotastrophy of my own (to borrow shannonmarie's term.)
When measuring the melted cacao butter, I realized it didn't yield the necessary amount. (It's always a hit-and-miss kinda thing.) "Ah well... No big deal," I thought, so I went ahead and blended the ingredients anyways. The consistency was a little too thick and grainy. I found myself in a bit of a bind; I knew that by the time I heat up more cacao butter in the dehydrator, the mixture would almost certainly have seized up in the carafe (nasty business!) Hmmm, what to do...
Since I had some melted coconut oil all ready for a different recipe, after a moment's hesitation, I decided to go for it. I mean, it was right there, sitting on the counter... It seemed so much simpler, right? Wrong! One definition of insanity is doing the same thing while expecting different results, so go ahead... you can call me the 'Cacao Coo coo'! See, I've tried mixing coconut and cacao butter before while making chocolate candy a few months back, and let's just say it wasn't a successful experiment. While the flavor was lovely, the mixture had more of a fudge consistency than hard chocolate. This time around, I managed to make matters worse by pouring the dodgy-looking mixture (to top it off, the oils had separated as well! Yuck!) into my little candy molds. Not a good idea!!! I ended up having to painfully extract the soft fudge with a knife, remelt it and form it into a flat slab.
Ah well... Always something new (or not so new? lol) to learn, eh?
BUT, boy oh boy, does this chocolate ever taste divine!!!
Moral of the story, DO NOT EVER attempt to mix cacao and coconut butter together in a chocolate candy recipe, regardless of how good an idea it may seem at the time. lol
And above all, DO try Mishka's Milk Chocolate; it truly is out of this world!
Carmella's Notes: ~ I would recommend grinding the cashews first for easier processing.
~ I cut down on the sweetener a bit... used more like 1/4 cup agave as I prefer it not too sweet.
ok I made these delicious chocolates...they are awesome!!! but I put them in chocolate molds and put them in the freezer and I can't get them out of the molds!!! (I used the original recipe and did NOT use coconut oil )
...any suggestions as to where I went wrong or what to do???
)
I think I heard somewhere that you can sub it with carob. Probably not as smoky and yum, but do think it would do here?
Well tommorrow is a new day, and I promised him I'd make more. I just love it when my non-raw family finds a raw substitute for something they enjoy. Makes me so happy!!! I'm going to have to order more cacao butter soon....
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