I love chocolate, but it’s not always made with the best ingredients. This healthy Homemade Paleo Chocolate recipe solves that problem!
Made with 7 healthy ingredients, this easy chocolate bar recipe is great because it’s soy-free and dairy-free. It’s also super simple to make. All you need is cacao butter, cocoa powder, coconut butter, maple sugar, sunflower lecithin, vanilla powder, and salt.
What is sunflower lecithin?! It is a super food that contains phosphatidylcholine. Phosphatidylcholine is an important nutrient because it breaks down fat. It also helps with the formation of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that is vital for memory and mood stability.
Sunflower lecithin is key to this Homemade Paleo Chocolate recipe. The recipe will not work without this ingredient because it gives the chocolate its creamy flavor. More important, sunflower lecithin keeps the ingredients from separating. I use sunflower lecithin in my Creamsicles recipe, and add it to smoothies every day.
Homemade Paleo Chocolate
Ingredients
- 50 grams cacao butter
- 15 grams coconut butter
- 10 grams cacao powder
- 10 grams maple sugar, powdered
- 2 grams sunflower lecithin powder
- ½ gram vanilla powder
- 1 pinch celtic sea salt
Instructions
- In a very small pot over very low heat, melt cacao butter
- Stir in coconut butter, then remove from heat
- Use scale to measure dry ingredients
- Measure cacao powder and place in a small bowl
- Measure maple sugar and add to bowl
- Measure lecithin and add to bowl
- Measure vanilla powder and add to bowl
- Add salt to bowl
- Grind dry ingredients in a coffee grinder
- Use whisk to mix dry ingredients into cacao butter mixture
- Transfer mixture to chocolate bar mold
- Refrigerate for 1 hour, then serve
- Store in refrigerator for up to 1 week
I created this recipe using weight measurements rather than volume. This recipe will not work without a scale because so many of the ingredients are in such small amounts it is not possible to measure them accurately by volume. Although I know that most American are used to cooking by volume, I don’t have volume measurements for this recipe, so it does require a little flex!
Another tip? This tiny whisk is very helpful when mixing the dry ingredients into the wet. A standard size whisk didn’t work. Please note this recipe makes one chocolate bar, and I made a couple of extra for the photo. I tested this Homemade Paleo Chocolate recipe more than 50 times to make it perfect and I know you’ll love it!
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Sharon says
Hello Elana
Thank you for posting your recipe. I have hunteS across the internet. If I wanted to make more chocolate bars eg 5-10 how do I increase the quantities?
Many thanks
Elana says
Sharon, you’re welcome! I haven’t tried that so not sure if the recipe can be scaled up, if you experiment let us know how it goes :-)
Peggi L Douglass says
I have only recently started adding sunflower lecithin to homemade goods such as chocolate, baked goods and dressings. I accidentally purchased the powdered form and the bag only has instructions for use as a supplement. I’ve seen many articles discussing all the benefits of sunflower lecithin – preservative, emulsifier and so healthy! So, I’ve just been experimenting with the measurement and so far have not been disappointed. I was really excited to see that several of your recipes use the powdered form – thank you!
Elana says
Peggi, thanks for your comment and so glad to hear that you are enjoying sunflower lecithin. For my other readers, here is a link to my recipes that use it:
https://elanaspantry.com/recipes/?diet-type=&recipe-type=&ingredients=sunflower-lecithin
Enjoy!
Elana
CHERYL T says
I have a liquid sunflower lecithin. Would that be a possible substitution? Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Elana says
Cheryl, I can’t recall if I’ve tried that so not sure if it would work, I doubt it though :-)
Ajay says
Hi,
Is there a replacement for coconut butter ?
Like coconut oil or something else ?
Ajay
Elana says
Ajay, I haven’t tried that so not sure, but I don’t think coconut oil will work :-)
Evelyn says
Hi Elena!
I haven’t much many homemade recipes which use sunflower lecithin, was very excited to see yours!
I have read a lot of articles which state that one of the reasons why commercial chocolate manufacturers use soy lecithin is because they can use less cacao butter (hence more economically viable for them).
Is this true for sunflower lecithin? if you were to make the recipe without it, would you be using more cacao butter to compensate? I’m interested for the sake of calories and health purposes!
Hope to hear from you soon!
Evelyn
Elana says
Evelyn, I use sunflower lecithin in this recipe because it’s a great source of phosphatidylcholine, a phospholipid that’s essential to human health. Phospholipids are a type of “lipid” which is simply a fancy word for fat. It also makes things incredibly smooth and delicious :-)