Easy healthy homemade chocolates filled with a 3-ingredient healthy fudge, high in fiber and mood-boosting magnesium, perfect for snacking or to give as an edible gift for the holidays.
Healthy Homemade Chocolates
Making homemade chocolates is such an easy, fun activity. And makes so much sense health-wise. A big box of commercial chocolates smacks of fun, right? Valentine's Day, Christmas, Hanukah, Mother's Day.
Such a welcome fun gift, BUT the ingredients are often not that healthy. And what's more, mysterious. So making your own homemade chocolates is a terrific option.
Fillings for Homemade Chocolates
Here I filled mine with a healthy chunky center made with whole foods, but you can actually use many different fillings to create an assortment of chocolates. I can think of nut butter fudge, cookie dough fudge, date caramel and marmalades.
But today I focus on a simple fudge filling that is incredibly healthy, full of fiber and protein.
Ingredients in My Healthy Homemade Chocolates
I use a 3-ingredient filling as a base and add a few add-ins.
The base filling is basically coconut butter, maple syrup along with quality chocolate.
Between the fresh coconut and quality chocolate, each piece is 5 gms protein, 3 gms fiber and rich in mood-boosting and sleep-supporting magnesium.
How do These Homemade Chocolates Taste
Overall, the base alone does not taste strongly of coconut if you use quality unsweetened shredded coconut with no other ingredients on the label. Bob's Red Mill's is a good brand for that. And be sure you use shredded, not flaked. In this batch, however, my add-in was extra shredded coconut, so mine did taste coconut-y on purpose.
In general, this fudge filling is delicious and easy to customize with add-ins. In fact, this filling is multi-tasking. I use it as the fudgy filling in these Filled Chocolates that I used to make Easter eggs and filled chocolates for a holiday chocolate box. I also used this filling in the middle layer in these Triple Chocolate Brownies.
So how do we make these delicious homemade chocolates?
I'll tell you but before we dive into the recipe, I will pause a moment and invite you to sign up for my free chocolate course. Five lessons are delivered to your inbox, teaching you five easy ways to make your own chocolate desserts!
Okay, now moving on...
How To Make Homemade Chocolates
It is easy to make healthy homemade chocolates.
Step 1. First make the shell by melting quality chocolate with a touch of coconut oil for shine and pourable texture.
Step 2. Then line the mold with the melted chocolate, drawing the chocolate up the sides with a spoon. Refrigerate so the shell will set while you make the filling.
Step 3. Blend up the filling ingredients, roll into balls and press into the wells.
Step 4. Top with melted chocolate and set in refrigerator for about an hour or more before attempting to release them from the mold.
A PolyCarbonate Mold Is Best for Homemade Chocolates
Let's talk about this mold. The mixture in my recipes makes about ½ cup of each, the chocolate and the filling. So you'll have to decide how much you'll need to make based on the mold you use. If you have left-overs, both are easily kept refrigerated for at least a week.
I used a polycarbonate mold here because I am not great at tempering chocolate - that procedure that choclatiers use to make chocolate shiny. It involves thermometers and patience, both of which are in short supply in my kitchen, haha. I do have a tempering recipe that uses the microwave here, but if you want a shortcut, just use a polycarbonate mold!
I used a swirly dome design, but you can see there is a wide range of shapes in these molds. You don't line it with oil, and in fact it must be bone-dry before you fill with chocolate. So if you rinsed yours out, dry, dry, dry before use. Also be careful not to scratch it - I store mine in the box it came in.
Other recipes on my blog that takes advantage of this shiny chocolate shortcut using a polycarbonate mold, is my Sprinkles Chocolate Bar recipe with VIDEO. And I used an easter egg mold in my Filled Chocolates post.
Best Add-ins for Homemade Chocolates
I added a few tbsp of shredded coconut to my chocolate filling for a coconuty fudge filling. You can choose any add-ins you want. Some I recommend include:
- mini chocolate chips
- crushed nuts
- roasted chickpeas
- swirls of peanut butter
- toasted quinoa or puffed rice
- or bits of fresh ginger
Tips To Make Homemade Chocolates
Tip 1. Use high quality chocolate. I use Enjoylife chips because they are so allergy-free, but they do have a sweetener, so if you want a less sweet dark chocolate, choose HU or Chocolove or Theo.
Tip 2. Don't let any water go near the melted chocolate or it will seize. If this happens, rescue your chocolate by heating it in a sauce pan and stirring without burning until it is smooth again.
Tip 3. Use a quality shredded coconut. You are turning your coconut into a rough butter basically and sometimes if the bag of coconut you use is too old, the coconut won't convert to butter. If yours is more crumbly than creamy, add a tbsp of melted coconut oil and see if that rescues it.
Tip 4. Use cacao powder for a more bitter and higher nutritional content, or quality unsweetened cocoa powder for a sweeter flavor. Also useful if you simply don't have cacao powder in your pantry but you DO have unsweetened cocoa powder.
How Do You Make Homemade Chocolates Last Longer
To make them last longer, don't remove them from the mold until you are ready to eat or gift them. As soon as you do, the shiny top will begin to dull. Also store them in the refrigerator sealed for a week. You can freeze them but they begin to develop a white case eventually.
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Healthy Homemade Chocolates
Ingredients
Chocolate Coating
- ½ cup vegan chocolate chips
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
Chocolate Filling
- 1 cup shredded coconut optional: a few tablespoons extra as an add-in
- 2 tbsp cacao powder
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
Useful Equipment
Instructions
Melt the chocolate:
- Put chocolate and coconut oil in a pyrex measuring cup or other microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute. Stir mixture with a spoon until smooth. If the chocolate hasn't melted, microwave again for 15 seconds and stir again.
Coat The Chocolate Molds:
- Spoon in about 1 tsp of chocolate mixture into the bottom of each mold well.
- Use the back of the spoon to draw the mixture up the sides to coat it.
- Refrigerate the mold while you make the filling.
Make the Filling
- Blend up the shredded coconut until it turns to butter, about 1-2 minutes depending on the speed of your blender.
- Add in the cacao powder and maple syrup. Blend again. You might have to stop blender and push the mixture down in the middle to get it to mix up. Once it is combined into a crumbly chocolate mixture, taste-test and add a tablespoon more of maple syrup if it is not too sweet. You want this filling to be soft but also not too sweet, so you decide. Also if you used cocoa powder instead of cacao powder, you might not want to add more maple syrup because cocoa powder is sweeter than cacao powder.
- I added a few tbsp of shredded coconut at the end and folded it into the chocolate for a coconuty fudge filling. You can choose any add-ins you want. Some I recommend include mini chocolate chips, crushed nuts, or bits of ginger.
Fill the Mold Wells
- Remove the silicon tray from refrigerator, and roll tiny balls of the mixture and press into the molds, flatting the top level with the top of the mold well.
- Spoon ½ tsp or less of melted chocolate on top of each well and set in refrigerator to solidify. At least one hour. We kept them there for 1 week in the mold.
Remove from Mold
- If you used a polycarbonate mold, remove the chocolates by turning the mold over onto a dish or parchment paper and rap the mold sharply. Sometimes you need to slightly twist the mold. It takes effort but it's worth it because the chocolates that come out of a polycarbonate mold have a stunning shean.
Store the Chocolates
- Once out of the mold, store the chocolates at room temperature for two days, then in the refrigerator for 1 week, or freeze indefinitely. However either method will slightly dull the sheen.
Give Chocolates as Presents
- To present them, put each chocolate in a mini paper cup liners, add to a box, and present your gift at room temperature within 48 hours.
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