In ancient times, this dessert was called black gold, because only very wealthy people could afford it. Now it has become more accessible to all segments of the population, and the recipe for chocolate is not a secret. So why not plunge into the history of this delicacy and create a little magic by cooking it in your kitchen?

History and types of chocolate

The past of chocolate has more than three thousand years and begins in the vast expanses of present-day Mexico with the Olmec Indians. They worshiped the cocoa god, and the beans of the tree were used as money. So, 100 beans were the price of one slave.

In the 16th century, the bloodthirsty Hernan Cortes tortured the Mayan Indians, who replaced the Olmecs and Aztecs, to issue a recipe for making chocolate. From this time on, the treat began to quickly conquer Europe. It is interesting that for a long period chocolate, because of its bitter taste, was exclusively a drink for men, and only thanks to the British, who replaced water with milk, women could also taste chocolate.

In the 19th century, the sweetness gained its solid form after extracting cocoa butter from beans. Originally, a rectangular chocolate briquette was released in the English factory Fry and Sons (J.S. Fry & Sons). At the beginning, chocolate boxes were decorated with leather and velvet, surprises were put in them in the form of notes of specially written melodies. Now the decoration of the dessert is more democratic.

Modern factories produce not one hundred different sweets and chocolate desserts, but dark, milk and white are considered the main types of chocolate produced. It can be porous or dense, in the form of figures or traditional tiles, with or without various fillers.

Recipes for cooking goodies are different.So, a dessert can even be vegan (without components of animal origin) or diabetic, in which sugar is replaced with sweeteners for diabetics.

Of the fruits cultivated in Brazil, Ecuador and Côte d’Ivoire, pink chocolate is made with a flavoring note of berries, without dyes and flavors, which is why I also call it ruby.

How to make classic cocoa chocolate

Among the bright and colorful wrappers of various tiles and bars, it is difficult to find a delicacy prepared in accordance with ancient recipes of chocolate craftsmen. More often, under this name, you can get cocoa products on cheap vegetable (palm and coconut) fats. To enjoy the rich taste of cocoa beans, it's easier to make chocolate from cocoa yourself.

In the types of classic dark product, only three components are used: cocoa powder, sugar and butter. The fat component can be a mixture of butter and cocoa butter, or only high-quality butter.

For a portion of chocolate, the proportions of the necessary components are:

  • 100 g of cocoa powder;
  • 50 g of powdered sugar;
  • 40 g butter (or 30 g cocoa butter and 10 g butter).

Step-by-step algorithm of actions:

  1. Warm the oil over the quietest fire or water bath. Sift the powder with cocoa and mix this loose mixture into the liquid fat.
  2. Boil the composition on minimal heat for several minutes until the cream is thick. Then turn off the stove and allow the mass to cool slightly. Pour it into molds and refrigerate until completely solidified.

Sugar practically does not dissolve in cocoa butter, so it should be ground into a very fine powder.

To exclude large particles, it is better to sift it through a section of organza, then you can avoid an unpleasant creak on the teeth.

Milk treat at home

The usual bitter dark chocolate is not for everyone's liking, so it will not be amiss to master the recipe for a milk treat. The more milk is added to the product, the sweeter it will turn out. But then you need to carefully monitor the density of the mass, otherwise it will not harden.

The composition of hand-made chocolate on milk will include:

  • 50 ml of cold milk;
  • 75 g of cocoa powder;
  • 60 g of plain white sugar;
  • 25 g of melted butter;
  • 5 g of wheat flour.

The sequence of actions:

  1. On a moderate flame, warm the milk to 60 - 70 ° C. Then, with a tablespoon, introduce sweet sugar crystals mixed together with brown cocoa powder with sowing movements. Cook everything, stirring, until all sweet crystals are dissolved.
  2. When the mixture reaches uniformity and bubbles appear on the surface, put small pieces of butter, sift the flour on top and stir it with a spoon again until smooth.
  3. Then turn off the stove and let the chocolate cool to room temperature. Pour it into small ice tins and place in the cold to stabilize. After that, it remains only to remove the chocolate from the molds and experience the bliss of its relish.

With the addition of mint

What kind of tricks are manufacturers not going to draw attention to their sweets. You can even find lard in chocolate! Homemade chocolate can also be quite interesting. For example, this gourmet is appreciated by many gourmets for a refreshing refined taste.

It is possible to try all the facets of the unusual combination of chocolate and mint by savoring the delicacy extremely slowly, and to make it yourself, you must prepare:

  • 65 g of cocoa powder;
  • 40 ml of cold milk;
  • 35 g of plain white sugar;
  • 10 g butter;
  • 125 ml of hot boiled water;
  • 5 g of vanillin;
  • 3.5 g of cinnamon powder;
  • 1.5 g of chili pod;
  • 6 to 8 branches of fresh mint;
  • almonds, peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts to taste.

How to make mint-flavored chocolate:

  1. Sprinkle the washed juicy leaves of mint with sugar, add spices (pepper, cinnamon and vanilla). Grind everything into the gruel until the juice is allocated.
  2. Combine the resulting mass with cocoa and pour milk.Introduce hot water in small portions, carefully stir and place on the stove.
  3. Cook the chocolate until thick, stirring constantly to prevent sticking. Then put soft butter and stir. Stop heat treatment as soon as a glossy gloss appears.
  4. Cover the container for pouring the tiles with foil, distribute half of the chocolate mass onto it, spread the nuts evenly on top and pour the remaining chocolate. Let the dessert harden in the cold.

Professional chocolatiers pour their desserts into polycarbonate molds.

But they are expensive, so those who make chocolate at home from time to time can use small silicone ice molds. It is only important not to forget to grease them with vegetable oil so that the dessert separates from them without problems.

DIY chocolate

Bitter dark is prepared, not only by mixing melted butter with cocoa and a sweetener, but also otherwise - with the addition of hot water.

To make chocolate with boiling water you need:

  • 50 g of cocoa powder;
  • 10 g of sugar;
  • 25 g butter;
  • 20 ml of boiling water.

Working process:

  1. Crush cocoa with sugar (for convenience, you can grind it in powder), pour boiling water and grind to a paste.
  2. Pour liquid butter into the chocolate paste and keep the resulting composition a little in the bath. Before shine, continuously mix.
  3. We distribute the finished chocolate in the molds and cool in the freezer. To remove frozen candies, you just need to flip the form and knock it on the table a little.

Cooking with vanilla flavor

Until recently, the most expensive delicacy can perfectly complement the most expensive spice in the world - vanilla. And let the nearest store, most likely, manage to buy its synthetic substitute for vanillin, but its taste and aroma will add a classic “zest” to classic chocolate with milk.

The proportions of the components for this treat:

  • 50 g of cocoa powder;
  • 50 ml of milk;
  • 65 g of butter;
  • 90 g of granulated sugar;
  • 5 g of vanilla powder.

Cooking:

  1. Pour sugar and vanillin into a container with hot but not boiling milk. Stir the mixture until the sweet crystals are completely dissolved, but so that the sugar does not burn to the bottom.
  2. Bring the butter to a liquid state in a steam bath or in a microwave. Pour it into sweet milk and mix.
  3. The last to add chocolate is cocoa powder, carefully mixing the components so that there are no lumps. Over low heat, simmer the chocolate for 25 minutes, then pour it into molds and allow to congeal.

Coffee dessert

Coffee is able to briefly speed up the metabolism, which is good news for coffee lovers with chocolate. But you can combine both of these products in solid form. So, flavored chocolate with coffee and citrus notes can become not only a favorite treat, but also an exquisite handmade gift.

The composition of such a dessert includes:

  • 100 ml of water;
  • 5 g of ground coffee;
  • 1 g of vanillin;
  • 2 g of orange peel;
  • 250 g of granulated sugar;
  • 25 g of cocoa powder;
  • 125 g of milk powder;
  • 125 g butter.

Instruction:

  1. First you need to brew strong coffee. To this end, send ground grains, zest and vanillin to boiling water. Let the mixture boil for five minutes, then strain and put it back on fire.
  2. In boiling filtered coffee, add cocoa mixed with sugar. Cook for about five minutes. Then remove from the heat and alternately stir in the milk powder first, and then the diced butter.
  3. Once the mass is smooth, spread it over a rectangular baking sheet and leave to harden. This will happen even at room temperature.
  4. Cut hard chocolate into small pieces with a very sharp knife.

A quick recipe for homemade chocolate

To prepare chocolate according to the proposed recipe, it will take even less time than going to the store for the finished tile. A reward for the efforts at the stove will be a delicious dessert without preservatives and dyes. Various fillers can be added to it, if desired: nuts or dried fruits.

For one portion of a “quick” treat you will need:

  • 25 g of melted butter;
  • 2.5 tbsp. tablespoons of cocoa powder;
  • as much milk;
  • just regular sugar;
  • 0.5 tsp flour;
  • vanillin and fillers to taste and desire.

Cooking Method:

  1. In a small bowl, mix cocoa, sugar and a tablespoon of milk. Pour in the remaining milk after the mixture has reached the likeness of a paste.
  2. Boil the milk mixture, mix in it cubes of room temperature oil and flour passed through a fine-mesh sieve.
  3. Heat the chocolate again to a boil, introduce vanillin and other filling components and distribute the resulting composition in tins. After hardening, quick homemade chocolate is ready.

With honey notes

A honey fragrance can be given to a dessert prepared according to any of the above recipes. But the use of a beekeeping product will be more justified for a recipe that almost completely repeats the technology of industrial production. The recipe has two hard-to-reach ingredients (cocoa butter and grated cocoa). You can’t buy them at the nearest grocery store, but you can easily order them in specialized online stores.

The ratio of the components:

  • 100 g of grated cocoa;
  • 50 g of cocoa butter;
  • 25 g of honey.

Cooking Technology:

  1. Cocoa ingredients, previously crushed, grated on a coarse grater.
  2. Melt cocoa butter in a bowl over boiling water. In order for chocolate to turn out excellent not only in taste but also in appearance (with a glossy shine), the temperature of all its components during cooking should not rise above the mark of 40 degrees.
  3. The next process is called conching - the introduction of alternating honey and grated cocoa into the liquid oil. This should be done in small parts, mixing until the ingredients are completely liquefied in the total mass. The duration of this stage will be approximately half an hour.
  4. Next, fill the molds with liquid chocolate and leave to stabilize, without cleaning in the cold, for 8 - 12 hours.

With nuts and dried fruits

The selected chocolate recipe is effortlessly transformed according to the chef’s mood by diluting its composition with your favorite nuts and dried fruits. These ingredients can make the best seller the most primitive set of products.

Possible culinary experiences with white chocolate, for which it is necessary to prepare:

  • 40 g of milk in powder;
  • as much powdered sugar;
  • 30 g cocoa butter;
  • 2.5 ml of vanillin extract;
  • crumbs and pieces of dried fruit to taste.

How to do:

  1. Having built a bathhouse from a stewpan with water and another container, bring cocoa butter to a fluid state. Stir in a loose mixture of milk and powder, adding vanilla extract almost at the very end.
  2. Pour the mold for the future chocolate bar with half liquid white chocolate. Sprinkle it evenly with whole or crushed nuts and / or dried fruits. Top them up with the remaining liquid mass.

After about an hour, the chocolate will harden and you can enjoy it.

There are no tricks to make chocolate in your own kitchen. It is only important to choose quality components, follow the recipe and add a drop of love to each movement.

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