Homemade Chocolate or Carob Chips recipe

Homemade Chocolate or Carob Chips – Do It Yourself

By Adrienne, on April 25th, 2011

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Have you ever had a hankering to make chocolate chip cookies, but have found yourself “sans” the chips in your pantry?

Or perhaps you are, like us, on a special diet where you need to avoid

• dairy
• sugar, or you wish to avoid
• trans-fats
• artificial or natural flavorings that are often in store-bought chips?

Well, for years I have been trying to find a recipe for chocolate or carob chips that would work.

FINALLY I HAVE ONE  !!

Thanks to the basics from a fellow blogger who writes about special diets, I finally have a winner!

This week on Maundy Thursday, I thought I’d make a dessert to take to our church’s Passover Seder so that my family would have a healthy dessert alternative.  Well, the cookies that I tried from Affairs of Living’s site didn’t turn out so great (though the other kids at our table surprised me by eating a number of them and to be fair, I did alter the original recipe a bit due to dietary restrictions), but the chips sure were a success.  I’ll have to make another go at the cookies another time.

Homemade Chocolate or Carob Chips

Yield: Approx 3 cups chips / chunks

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut oil (or any solid healthy fat.  I recommend Nutiva or Tropical Traditions coconut oil)

1 cup cocoa or carob (I prefer roasted carob) powder

3 Tbsp sweetener (liquid or granulated work fine.  Use as healthy an option as possible.  If using stevia extract, substitute 3 scoops, or to taste.)

2 tsp vanilla

Method:

1. Melt coconut oil over a very low heat.  Remove from heat.  Stir in carob, sweetener, and vanilla.  (If you heat over too high of a heat or don’t remove from the heat, the coconut oil will separate from the carob when cooling.  You can still eat it, but it won’t be as smooth.)
2. Pour mixture into a pan (8×8 works well).
3. Place in refrigerator or freezer until solid.  Remove from pan, and cut into chunks of desired size with a good, solid knife.
4. Store in a cool place until ready to use.

NOTE:  These chips may or may not hold up in baking.  Some of it appears to be the time of year when you bake.  It also appears to be due to the type of recipe.  They held up great in my Grain Free Coconut Chocolate Macadamia Cookies, but, as you can see from the comments, for some readers they didn’t work so well. Try using this cocoa butter instead of the coconut oil for chunks that hold up better.  And stay tuned – I will have a new recipe soon that’s tastier!!

Yields approximately 3 cups of chips.  True to my bulk baking style, I recommend making a double batchand storing the extra in your freezer for future baking or munching  .

*Some people choose to avoid cocoa due to stimulants inherent in it.  If you are one of those people, you may wish to check out an almost completely caffeine-free cocoa available called Wonderslim.

Of course, you can use these in chocolate (carob) chip cookies, or eat them plain!  If you use carob, and a healthy sweetener, then you have a great way to get coconut oil into your diet.

This past Sunday I didn’t have any good take along snack options for my kids, so I opted for soaked and dried almonds and these chips instead.  Sound crazy?  Well, with special diets and whole foods, you can and should think out side the box a bit.  For another “crazy” breakfast that I serve to my kids sometimes, check out mySilky Bean Fudge recipe and enjoy a laugh while you are there  .