Chocolate Making at Home

Chocolate making at home is not as difficult as one might assume. It requires all the basic material which is easily available at any nearby store. So why buy a Cadbury box to gift to your near ones this Diwali? You can make delicious chocolates at your home, wrap them up with attractive papers and then gift them to your friends and family.

Material and Tools Required

Indredients: Cocoa and Milk Powder are the basic ingredients used to make chocolates. You can also use nuts (like cashews, pistachios, pecans or almonds) and different flavours like vanilla essence, chocolate essence, cinnamon or espresso to add to the chocolate material. Here is the material required for Simple Chocolate making:

• Cocoa powder
• Milk powder
• Butter
• Sugar
• Water

Tools and Other Material: The generic tools required for chocolate making are: Microwave, grinder, baking sheet, tin foil and the basic kitchen utensils. If you don’t have a microwave then you can prepare a chocolate cake or a brownie by using a pressure cooker. After making the liquid chocolate, it is usually spread on a baking sheet covered with a tin foil. The tin foil could be removed after cooling the chocolate in a refrigerator or at room temprature.

Using a wide variety of recipes available over the internet, you can prepare a variety of chocolates. The ingredients required may vary according to the type of chocolate.

Chocolate Candies:

Chocolate candies could be made by using Cocoa powder, Milk powder, butter, Chopped chocolate bars or chips, candy moulds (for shaping), nuts and dry fruit (optional)

Chocolate Truffles: For making chocolate truffles at home you’ll need Cocoa powder, sugar, milk powder, chopped chocolate bars or chips, Cream, nuts and dry fruits (optional).

Chocolate bars: Chocolate bars could be made by using Cocoa Powder, cocoa butter, honey or maple syrup, vanilla extract, moulds (for shaping), nuts (optional).

Dark Chocolate: You can make dark chocolate using Cocoa Powder, Cocoa Butter, Raw Honey or Powdered Sugar.

Chocolate Cake/Brownie: A chocolate brownie/cake could be made by using Cocoa Powder, Refined Flour, Milk Powder, Baking Powder, and sugar.

Health Benefits of Chocolates

In addition to being delicious, chocolates also have a number of Health Benefits. Here are some of them:

• Cocoa improves blood flow in our body.
• Cocoa regulates cholesterol levels.
• Chocolates are good for heart.
• Dark chocolate is rich in fibre, which helps you to eat less.
• Controlled intake of Chocolates can help fight diabetes.
• Chocolates are good for eyes and improving vision.
• Dark Chocolate is good for skin.
• Chocolates can also prevent formation of cough.
• Dark chocolate reduces the risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
• Dark chocolate also reduces stress hormones.

Chocolate Making Classes

You can get hands on chocolate making by joining Chocolate making classes. Most of these classes won’t require any previous experience in chocolate making. So, even a beginner can learn about the basics of chocolate making. Reading online recipes could be a good idea but joining a class can take your chocolate making skills to another level.