Fancy Vegan White Chocolate!

Last year for the holidays, I made tree ornaments for friends / family. It was fun, inexpensive, and personal. They were also small enough that they were easy to ship all over the place. :)

This year, I wanted to make something again! I decided to get crazy and make vegan white chocolate. I found a recipe online and decided to just go with it!

The main ingredient in white chocolate is cocoa butter. How on earth do you find that stuff? Well, you can find it at some health stores, but I ordered mine online. If you go to amazon and search for it, you can probably find a good pound of it for 10 - 12 bucks.

So you'll need these things:

2.1 ounces of cocoa butter
1 tsp soy milk powder
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

I got really fancy and used vanilla bean instead of vanilla extract! ;)

So anyways, here are the instructions:

1. To ensure your chocolate is as smooth as possible, run the soy milk powder through a rotary coffee grinder. Sift the soy milk powder, powdered sugar and salt into a medium mixing bowl and set aside.

2. Add the cocoa butter to a small saucepan and melt over medium heat. Alternatively, the cocoa butter can be melted in the microwave. Transfer the mixture to a double boiler and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the soy milk powder, powdered sugar and salt mixture followed by the vanilla extract. Continue whisking until smooth.

3. Temper the chocolate. Bring the mixture up to 120F (49C) while whisking frequently. Remove the bowl containing the mixture from the double boiler. Place the mixture in the refrigerator periodically and whisk occasionally to allow the mixture to reduce to 79F (26C). Now place the mixture back on the double boiler and bring it up to 87F (31C). If you overshoot and the temperature goes past 89F (32C), start the tempering process over.

4. Pour the mixture into your preferred chocolate mold. You can order chocolate bar molds online or get creative pour the chocolate ½ inch high in paper cups. Lift your mold up about an inch or so and drop it onto the counter top a couple times to release excess air bubbles. Allow the chocolate to solidify at room temperature overnight if possible to allow it to crystallize properly. If your kitchen is too hot for the fat to solidify then place it in the refrigerator after about 30 minutes. Remove the white chocolate from the mold and store it in an air tight container for up to 6 months in a cool, dark place. Makes 3.5 ounces.

So I did it!

I also think the addition of the vanilla bean added a nice flair....

RATINGS:

Deliciousness: 4/5 
It's tasty, for sure! It's really sweet, of course, because it's sugar and cocoa butter. But it's yummy. :)
Ease of Preparation: 2/5
Easier than other candy projects I've tried. But you realllllllllllly need a digital thermometer, a lot of patience, and a good sense of humor for this project. You will make messes, you will probably burn things. It's all part of the fun.
Prettiness: 5/5
Little gems of vanilla bean white chocolate! Cute.