how'd you do it, do you just liquify the cacoa butter and cacoa powder together, then add some sweetner and whatever else you'd like? is there a trick to getting it the right consistancy?

thanks everyone...

Simple recipe:

- Coconut oil
- honey / agave
- cacao nibs

Blend these up in 3:2:1 ratio (example: 1 cup cocunut oil, 2/3 cups honey, 1/3 cup nibs) until everything is smooth, pour into a mold and freeze. It work work better with cacao powder, but if you have nibs just blend longer.

hi eecho...i will try it, thanks. i ordered some cacao butter a couple days ago, maybe i didn't need it! i'll try it a few ways maybe...

I've made it before and did a 2:1:2 ratio of fat/sweet/cacao. This was with cacao butter, agave, and cacao powder. I imagine it came out with more of a dark chocolate taste than eecho's. Mine turned out quite rich, only 1-2 bites is a serving. But here's how I did it.

The cacao butter comes in a brick, so what I usually do is chip off a chunk with a butter knife, then melt it down with a makeshift double-boiler setup. Once it's liquid, I measure it. I then add 1/2 as much agave, and as much cacao powder, so for example my last batch was:
3.3oz butter, 1.6oz agave, ~6.5T cacao powder

I also added a couple pinches of salt, this is optional. I mix it all well and pour into small metal tart tins I got from Bed Bath and Beyond. The above batch poured about 12 tins ~1/2 full. I put it in the freezer for quicker hardening, but after an hour they can be taken out and they pop right out of the tins.

I kinda recommend cacao butter over coconut oil because it's solid at a higher temperature and has a certain awesome rich taste, and I recommend cacao powder over nibs for ease in mixing and just more potent choco flavor.

I don't really make them anymore, only for special occasions, but that's how I did it. Good luck with determining your ratios and report back with your results!

hi...i've been experimenting with it, but not gettng the proportions right yet! thanks for posting how you did it. so far i've tried the cacoa butter, powdered cacao and molasses (didn't have agave on hand). it was okay, but missing something, very rich yes, not quite the right texture but i couldn't figure out why. it's potent this stuff. i'm not used to cacao, i felt high for an hour.

i may try adding some powdered walnuts...i'll try something like the proportions you used too...thanks...

Hey ya'll, just wanna add my 2 cents. The trick to chocolate making so its perfectly tempered is to make sure the cacao butter, after its melted and mixed with the cacao powder and agave, make sure it doesn't go above 95 degrees and it is still tempered. if it gets too hot, you will have to retemper it. so if made properly, you can simply mix it and pour it into molds, and within 30 minutes without using the freezer or fridge it will set hard. Pro's usually NEVER use the fridge or freezer, but they are of course being sure to always perfectly temper the chocolate first. Tempering is a quite basic scientific method, its rather easy, just look it up on google. If you learn this, you have won 90% of the battle.

The Raw Lion 440 pounds to 225 pounds!

That's interesting because I thought its melting point was right around 95? Do you have info on its melting point? I don't use freezer out of necessity, more out of instinct and thought it might lead them to pop out of the tins better.

It depends on the chocolate blend. Some chocolates melt around 95, some melt at 95, but then won't solidify until closer to 100. AND how the chocolate solidifies depends on whether it is tempered or not. The freezer is used by some, especially if tempering is not being used. But the 2 major drawbacks to using either a freezer or fridge, are
1. When you pull the chocolate out of the freezer, it will naturally draw condensation, water and chocolate are mortal enemies. as chocolate is hydroscopic(absorbs H2O)
2. The proper formation of cocoa butter crytals will not occur thoroughly if made to harden so quickly like in the freezer.

There are 6 types of crystals that cacao butter will form into. The art of tempering is getting it to turn into just one of those.
The key is that each crystal melts at a different temperature. So the easiest way to temper is to never let the cacao butter come out of temper, this is best achieved by never letting it go above about 95 - 98 degrees.
The method I use, is called "seeding". If the chocolate is totally melted and hot, like past 100. Then you must let it cool back down until it is in the lower 90's. Then you can grate some hard cocoa butter back into it. This will seed the reaction, therefore stimulating the cocoa butter to form only the hard crystal of cocoa butter.
Then as long as you keep it melted but not super thin, like 95 degrees ish, it will be in temper!!! then you can pour it into molds and it will set perfect. as long as your air temperature is cool enough, like 73 degrees or cooler. and the relative humidity is below 50% ish. chocolate making is an extremely anal thing, so sometimes it is just easiest to use more simple methods like in most of the uncookbooks, saying to use coconut oil, and freezers and stuff.

but the beauty of properly tempering chocolate is quite satisfying, and there is nothing like seeing the chocolate properly contract and shrink to pop right out of the molds, which it will when done properly. When i pour chocolate, and i am done. Within 20 minutes sometimes i can hear popping noises from the contracting molds !!! I use plastic though. metal is awesome, old school is best !

The Raw Lion 440 pounds to 225 pounds!

also, i have found that the raw bars I make are sort of lacking. Last time i made some, I added a big ol scoop of almond butter !!!!! WHEEEEEEWW ! ! ! !
it tasted a lot like a reeses !!! yessir, it filled in the dullness. I tempered mine so they were hard and perfect at room temp, but tasted great and melted easier due to the almond butter, HIGHLY RECCOMENDED !!! I can answer specific questions about professional chocolate making ALL DAY !!!

thanks rawlion! the chocolate you make sounds so good! okay, i must try doing this too.

i'm sure it will take me some practice to get it right. the last small batch i made (and now i'm learning to make small ones first so i get proportions and texture right)...the last one was the best so far, but still could be better. it's the texture mainly, and i can't say what's wrong with it, maybe not thick enough, like it melts too easily? i'll experiment a little more...the nice thing about chocolate...even when it's not quite right, it's still pretty good.

When I make raw bars, I first start by melting the cacao butter lightly, then i add dashes of agave, and then i keep adding more and more cacao powder until it thickens a bit. it is going to be quite a bit more powder than you might think. That melted cacao butter really swallows up the powder. Then i lightly adjust the agave level to taste. doesn't need much agave, and i am cautious as agave is water based, but the level is so low it stays in suspension, but add too much agave then you have chocolat' that won't set hard. BUT YOU CAN ALWAYS FREEZE IT IF YOU MESS UP !!!

ah, maybe that's part of where i go wrong...i have the melting part alright, it's very lightly till it just melts...but i add the cacao powder and agave all at once.

this last time i added fine ground pecans...it turned out quite good!

next one i'll try adding the rest slowly. thanks!

I don't want you to have any misconceptions adrian. I don't think it matters what actual order you put the stuff in the chocolate. But just the ratios mainly, and whether or not you have a good temper going. What i suggest is that you save a little hard cacao butter for when the chocolate is pulled off the heat, and cooled for a bit to a safe temperature. Then grate a bit of the cacao butter into the chocolat blend. this will seed the proper form of the cacao butter crystal into the chocolate. Also make sure that you are adding enough cacao powder to make the chocolate be more than just a oil blob with some powder added. i use quite a bit. you keep adding the powder until you actually notice the substance thickens some. if it is still runny like liquid it is either A- too warm, or B- it has too little cacao powder. If the chocolate is coming out too "melty" when it id finished it is probably these same problems. Which can be fixed either by working on tempering more successfully, and not using the freezer, as this inhibits the natural formation of the proper cacao butter crystals. And also you may not be using enough cacao powder to have a true SOLID chocolate. Like i've said before, when i first made 100% raw chocolate, I kept adding the powder and it really freaked me out how much powder the butter absorbed. I literally keep adding powder until the couverture is thick as it should be, then I add as little agave as possible to make it taste good! VOILA !
Then the relative humidity is very crucial. if it is above 50%, your chocolate will try to absorb water. I have been successful in 60%, but you must take deeper precautions. The freezer or fridge is also negative because whenever you pull the chocolate out, which you must do eventually, it will condense moisture on it, no doubt, from the air. Chocolate is hydroscopic(absorbs water), so this will also make a more melty chocolate, thsi tied together with the reduced number of proper crystals in the chocolate from being frozen, is potentially the whole problem.

The Raw Lion 440 pounds to 225 pounds!

thanks rawlion....it's getting better with each try. i need to add more cacao, i'm surprised how much i use too! but that is why it didn't have the right texture. i've been adding some grated cacao butter to seed, don't know if i'm getting it right...but it is getting better than the first time anyhow.

it's fun being able to have chocolate and it's not junk food!