This vegan white chocolate melts in the mouth with a creamy white chocolate flavor, yet it is made with only three ingredients, and can be colored easily. I made mine a beautiful pink, perfect for gifts.
Vegan white chocolate made with three ingredients. White chocolate doesn't get the attention dark chocolate does, right? One reason, the traditional version is not healthy like dark chocolate. This recipe is and it's just such an easy recipe to customize. I added beets to mine but think any color.
What is Healthy White Chocolate?
The difference between vegan white chocolate and commercial white chocolate, like Hershey's, is in the processing and ingredients. My recipe has only three ingredients, and nothing processed. It's also vegan and dairy-free and gluten-free.
Generally commercial white chocolate is full of milk fat and solids. That's because USA laws require anything named white chocolate to contain 3.5 % milk fat and 14% milk solids. I assume those laws were established to prevent artificial ingredients from taking up the entire product. However, it leaves out those who want to ditch dairy, doesn't it?
Ingredients You'll Need
There are only 3 ingredients needed to make these festive, delicious sweet treats.
1. Cacao butter: This is the first and most important ingredient, the one that makes this a white chocolate recipe. Cacao butter is yellow and sold in chunks or chips. It smells like chocolate.
2. Coconut butter: Just blend a bag of shredded coconut to make it. See more below or here is my how to make coconut butter recipe.
3. Powdered sugar or maple syrup: You won't need much because coconut butter is naturally sweet.
Steps to Make
Step 1: Make coconut butter. See this post or follow the steps in the recipe card below.
Step 2. Melt your coconut butter and cacao butter together in a glass pyrex measuring cup sitting in boiling water. This is my version of a double-boiler. Of course, if you own a true double boiler, use that! You don't want to go microwaving coconut butter or cacao butter, both will burn.
Step 3: Taste test for sweetness. Use sugar or maple syrup. The syrup will darken the color. Since coconut butter is naturally sweet, you won't need much.
Step 4: Fill molds or a parchment-lined 8x4-inch loaf pan and break up chunks. That's how I made my first version (see picture below). But silicon molds are more fun because this mixture holds shape beautifully.
How to Make Coconut Butter
You can buy coconut butter, but it's best to make it fresh. I have a detailed blog post here on How to Make Coconut Butter that you can check out. I even explain how to make chocolate coconut butter in that post.
In short, it involves buying a bag of shredded coconut, unsweetened and with only coconut as the ingredient. And blend it in a high speed blender for about 3-5 minutes. It becomes a paste, and creamy and that's your coconut butter. If you leave it out at room temperature or refrigerate it, it will harden. Just melt in a pyrex cup sitting in boil water to soften.
I use coconut butter in so many recipes. These bars are our favorite; I add cocoa powder and maple syrup to flavor the coconut butter chocolate flavored.
About Cacao Butter
Cacao butter is also called cocoa butter, and you may be familiar with it as an ingredient in bath products. But it's actually an edible fat extracted from the cocoa bean. It's naturally dairy-free and gluten-free.
Cacao butter is found in the superfood area of a market or online, and typically comes in packages, and appears as crushed, yellow solid chips. It smells wonderful, like chocolate! I may or may not occasionally step into my pantry to smell inside my cacao butter package lol.
Cacao butter is not cocoa, and it's not cacao powder, and it's not brown. Yet cacao butter not only adds a rich chocolate flavor (I know, it's weird that it's yellow), but also adds a strong healthy element to your white chocolate.
That's because cacao butter retains its antioxidants, and essential fatty acids, which boost immunity and have anti-inflammatory effects, and nutrients that boost brain power and your heart
How to Color White Chocolate Pink
Uncolored vegan white chocolate is still pretty, but if you want to color it, I have your back! In fact, I have three possible awesome options to turn this treat pink naturally.
1. Goji berries - Use dried berries found where dried fruits are sold, or use goji berry powder.
2. Beets - Use fresh or frozen beets, or beet powder. For the pink hearts here I used precooked beets found in the produce section of my grocery store.
3. Pitayas (dragon fruit) - Frozen pink pitaya meat is in the frozen section of some grocery stores. Or use a dragon fruit powder found where supplements are sold.
With all the liquids or frozen veggies, you might see that the mixture grains up a bit once you add it. That's because those options have a bit of water and water causes cacao butter and chocolate to seize. But you don't have to worry. Either warm it up again in a double boiler, or just press it into the mold. Once hardened, the grain softens and looks quite smooth.
Other Valentine Desserts
Marzipan Hearts
Homemade Chocolates in a Box
Lemon Cupcakes
Hazelnut Truffles
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Vegan White Chocolate
Ingredients
- ½ cup cacao butter (quality cacao butter (it's yellow))
- ½ cup full fat coconut butter (blend into a paste 1 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut)
- 2-3 tablespoon powdered sugar or maple syrup
for pink color
- 1 teaspoon goji berry powder (or more for color)
- OR
- ½ teaspoon beetroot powder (or more for color or a tablespoon beet pulp)
- OR
- ½ teaspoon pitaya powder (pink frozen version, thawed, liquid only; or more for color)
Useful Equipment
Instructions
Prep
- Line a loaf pan with parchment paper, or set silicon molds out. No need to coat molds.
- Blend up 1 cup of shredded coconut to create ½ cup full fat coconut butter. I usually blend a bit more because sometimes the ratio is off depending on the moisture in the shredded coconut.½ cup full fat coconut butter
Make the white chocolate
- Add the cacao butter to a pot of boiling hot water. PRO TIP: Measure out 1 cup melted. I pour it into metal measuring cups to be sure I have exactly 1 cup, and I pour the extra melted cacao butter in a different container, and allow it to harden and return it to the cabinet to be used another day.½ cup cacao butter
- Stir in the sugar and coconut butter. Stir until all are combined.2-3 tablespoon powdered sugar
- Add the coloring agent you choose. Stir until you have a uniform color. I prefer powder but you can use a thawed chunk of beet - the issue is the slight moisture might make the mixture a touch grainy. It's fine once it freezes though.1 teaspoon goji berry powder, ½ teaspoon beetroot powder, ½ teaspoon pitaya powder
- Taste-test for sweetness. I don't like mine sweet so feel free to add as much as ⅓ cup powdered sugar or ¼ cup maple syrup. Just know the syrup will darken your color.
- Pour mixture into molds or into a parchment-lined loaf (8x4-inches) pan.
- Freeze for 30 minutes or more until solid. If you used the loaf pan, cut into chunks with a hot knife. Store in refrigerator or freezer if it becomes too soft at room temperature.
- You can dip chunks or molded forms of this chocolate into dark chocolate so it becomes encased. Then if it melts, it's okay, it's contained in the dark chocolate.
Niloufer Khatri
Hey hi ! Can I use this to make a chocolate drip ? Vegan chocolate drip for a cake
Dee Dine
Hi Niloufer, I am not sure. It will be a very hard coating. If that's your goal, then it's fine. Dee xx
Samantha Dean
I used dragonfruit to make this pink and it came out much darker. Tasted wonderful. Harder than I expected. How do you break it up?
Dee | Green Smoothie Gourmet
Hi Sam, glad you liked the recipe! I usually cut my frozen no-bake desserts with a pastry scrapper dipped in just-boiled water. A mold for small bites would work best here though. Then the small bites can just melt in your mouth, no cutting or chewing needed. Hope that helps! Dee xx
Kat
Dragonfruit is pitaya
Dee Dine
That is another name for it, thank you!