It's quick and easy to make creamy keto milk chocolate at home! All you need for this simple sugar free chocolate recipe are 4 ingredients and a silicone chocolate mould.
Since going sugar free a few years ago, I've been opting for dark and darker chocolate. Chocolate with 90% cocoa solids contains only 7 grams of sugar for a whole 100g/3.5 oz bar - perfectly fine for a low carb diet.
I then started to make my own, TOTALLY sugar free dark chocolate (sweetened it with powdered erythritol) and posted my recipe for low carb chocolate on the blog. Check it out - it's delicious and the post includes plenty of recipe variations!
But. Sometimes it's just got to be milk chocolate, right?
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Can you have milk chocolate on keto?
Shop-bought milk chocolate contains around 50% sugar. Not a good idea for anyone, basically. And all the shop-bought sugar free milk chocolate bars I have tried so far have been more or less disappointing. Firstly, they are expensive, And secondly, they may be sweetened with stevia or erythritol, but the taste.... meh.
So. Here's my homemade version. Simple, rich and super-milky!
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you'll need:
- Cacao butter - do not substitute this with coconut oil or regular butter. It has to be cacao butter.
- Thick heavy cream or double cream - can be subbed with coconut cream for dairy-free chocolate.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Powdered sweetener - I used powdered erythritol, but for a completely smooth chocolate use powdered allulose. With erythritol based sweeteners there is always a residual graininess as it re-crystallises as it cools.
Instructions
This section contains step-by-step instructions and photos that show how to make this recipe. See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities
1.) Heat double cream / heavy cream in a frying pan until it stats to bubble, thicken and reduce.
2.) Keep stirring with a spatula so the cream does not burn. I used ¼ cup / 60g of cream. After a few minutes, my cream had reduced by half and I was left with 2 tablespoon / 30 grams. Can you see how thick it has become?
3.) While the cream cools in a bowl, melt your cacao butter.
4.) Add in the powdered sweetener and cacao powder and stir until combined.
5.) Here's a CRUCIAL step. You have to wait for the cacao butter / cocoa mass to COOL DOWN. You want the reduced cream and the cacao butter to be of a SIMILAR TEMPERATURE. Stir and combine them...
6.) .... and pour the mixture into a silicone chocolate mould. Chill in the fridge or freezer until set.
Tips and tricks
The key ingredient in regular milk chocolate is whole milk powder. There are Keto chocolate recipes out there that use heavy cream powder, which has less carbohydrates. Cream powder is a specialist ingredient and not cheap. And I did not want to buy a huge pot of milk powder that I KNOW I will NEVER use again.
Therefore, I settled on using REAL double / heavy cream in this recipe and simply reduced the liquid by half. It does make the chocolate softer. I don't recommend keeping it at room temperature - it turns into the consistency of a creamy praline. Store it in the fridge or freezer!
I've mentioned above how important it is that the chocolate mix and the cream need to have a similar temperature when mixed. This is ESSENTIAL! I have made the mistake for you here, guys. If the temperature difference is too great, THE CHOCOLATE WILL SEIZE AND SEPARATE!!!!! You don't need fancy equipment - just test with your finger and combine the two when the time is right.
The amounts given will make you only 1 chocolate bar. Which is not a lot, but I thought it's better for you to try first before making a larger batch. Double or triple the recipe as you wish.
You can use either cacao powder or cocoa powder in this recipe. Cacao has the added benefit that it contains more antioxidants and nutrients as it is not roasted.
If you wish, you can add vanilla to the recipe. As it's a no-bake recipe, I'd go for quality here. Regular vanilla extract contains alcohol, which you would be able to taste. Go for a vanilla powder instead, or even splash out on a vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds.
A chocolate bar mold is great for this recipe, but not essential. Just put parchment paper on a plate and pour in your chocolate. Freeze, then break into pieces. Voila - keto milk chocolate bark. Alternatively, make pralines with a silicone ice cube tray!
Reader Tip
Update October 2023: A reader who used allulose shared this tip, which is useful for anyone who has experienced issues with chocolate seizing.
Instead of adding the allulose to the warm cacao butter, he dissolves the allulose in a little bit of water. He then stirs the allulose solution into the completed chocolate mixture as the last step. This way, he does not experience any coagulating which he did on his first try.Â
This is not necessary with erythritol or other sweeteners, but will work well with allulose since it dissolves easily. I'll try it next time and report back here!
Storage
Store this chocolate in the fridge for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
If you store it in the freezer, you'll get a great snap.
More Sugar Free Chocolate Recipes
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Recipe
Creamy Keto Milk Chocolate Recipe
from Sugar Free LondonerNote: The servings slider only changes the first amount in each line and not any subsequent amounts. Please make your own calculations where necessary.
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz / 40g cacao butter
- ¼ cup / 60g thick double cream / heavy cream
- 1 ½ tablespoon cacao powder unsweetened
- 1 tablespoon allulose powdered (use an additional ½ tablespoon if you like your chocolate sweet), or use powdered erythritol
Instructions
- Heat the cream in a pan until it bubbles. Lower the heat and stir regularly so the cream does not burn. Cook it until it has reduced by half and has become thick and slightly yellow in colour. Pour into a bowl and set aside to cool.Â
- Melt the cacao butter in a pan until just melted. Remove from the heat. Stir in the cacao powder and the powdered sweetener **see notes.
- Once the cream and the cacao mix have the same (lukewarm!!) temperature, combine them and stir. Pour into a chocolate bar mould and place in the freezer or fridge until set.Â
Linda Bartel
I’ve made many many different recipes for homemade sugar free chocolates. Never been real excited about them. Until this one. No more searching for recipes. This is my go to from now on. I did use the stevia for a little sweeter taste. Definitely the cream and not the powder. I’ve tried the powder and have not been thrilled with the results. If everyone follows your instructions then you will get perfect sugar free milk chocolates. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Rachel
For some reason I cannot get the erythritol to completely mix with the cacao butter and cacao powder and the erythritol will clump up... is there a way to avoid this? always end up with the chocolate separating.
Katrin Nürnberger
The chocolate separating is a temperature issue. It happens when the mix gets too hot. Try heating gently and keeping the temperature as low as possible. That should solve the problem.
Celeste De Bruyn
Hello! The recipe sounds amazing, just looking around for cocoa butter in order to try it out 🙂
How would you add the milk powder instead of cream to the recipe?
Katrin Nürnberger
Just stir it into the melted cacao butter mix I guess. I've never done it myself but that's what I would do.
Bethan
Thank you for sharing this recipe. How long will the chocolate keep for and would I store it in the fridge or would an airtight jar be fine.
I’m just thinking about Christmas time and if I could make a few variations in the couple of weeks leading up to Christmas.
Many thanks.
Katrin Nürnberger
Hi there, you'll have to store it in the fridge unless you use heavy cream powder, which would make it fine to store at room temperature. As we're using fresh double / heavy cream, I'd say don't store it longer than 1 week, just in case. I never made enough to test-store it for longer, always ate it too quick!!
Denise
Do you have a dark chocolate version? I'm experimenting and I haven't quite gotten it yet. I am using cacao powder, coconut oil, vanilla and pure monk fruit powder. I store it in the fridge. It's a bit chalky and it's not sweet to start with but the aftertaste is sweet. Looking over your recipe, I'm going to try adding cacao butter when it arrives.
Katrin Nürnberger
yes! Here it is: Low carb chocolate
Jana
What a wonderful gift you have given us. To paraphrase the saying - give someone a sugar free chocolate bar and she'll be happy for a few bites. Give her the recipe and means to make her own really good chocolate and she will be happy forever. I really had no idea how easy this was going to be....nor how good. I did add the vanilla and mixed in well chopped pecans, spread it on a plate with parchment paper and popped it in the freezer as instructed. It passed the Hubby test and opened a great chocolate future for me.
Katrin Nürnberger
Love this... I feel honoured to have given the inspiration for a great chocolate future!!! Your comment has just made my Monday morning x
Chelsea
Hi, I’ve noticed a few comments saying the cacao butter was too clumpy. I also experienced this - I added a little solid coconut oil to the cacao butter/powder/erythritol mix, which fixed the consistency. Some types of cacao butter can be dry of the oil splits or settles at the bottoms of the jar. Looking forward to trying the chocolate; it’s setting in the freezer...
Katrin Nürnberger
Thanks for your input about the cacao butter! That's really interesting!
Rebecca
This looks great! We have xylitol, but no erythritol. Would it work the same just with slightly more carbs? Thanks 🙂
Katrin Nürnberger
Xylitol is slightly sweeter than pure erythritol I think, so you may need a little less.
Anne
Just wanted to say that whey isolate is a great replacement for cream or milk powder. I have used both Pulsin unflavoured and a vanilla isolate and both work well. You can also melt down bars like lindt 90 and add extra cacao butter and whey isolate/milk powder/cream and add powdered erythritol/birch xylitol to sweetness you like - my hubby needs much more than I do! I keep meaning to try chocolate using cacao powder but most recipes I see call for coconut oil and I am not wasting good quality cacao with coconut oil! This one I will try out, thanks!
Katrin Nürnberger
That's good to know, thanks for the tip!
Sarah
Hi, do you think you could use cacao paste instead of powder?
Katrin Nürnberger
I've never used or seen cacao paste! But if it behaves the same way as cocoa powder - of course 🙂
Sandra
Thank you for the amazing milk chocolate recipe. I have recently started my own blog and often mention yours as I am a great fan.
Katrin Nürnberger
Thank you so much! And good luck with your blog - it's a lot of fun 🙂