220g /2 cupscacao butterI use cacao butter buttons
80-120g /1⅓-2 cupsraw cacao powderor cocoa, see notes
45-90ml3-6 tbspmaple syrupor sweetener of choice
2teaspoonvanilla extractoptional
pinchofsaltoptional
Instructions
Melt the cacao butter in a double boiler or in a heat-proof metal, glass or ceramic bowl which you place over a saucepan filled with about 2-3cm/1inch of (boiling) water (make sure your bowl is not touching the water or the bottom of your saucepan). Stir the melting butter frequently as this speeds up the process.
When most of the cacao butter is melted, add maple syrup, and vanilla and salt (if using). Remove the saucepan from the heat.
Add the cacao powder when your butter has completely melted (or only tiny pieces are left). Stir chocolate until well combined and no lumps are left.
Pour into moulds or create your own shape by making chocolate slabs. You could also use small containers and only fill them up to about a quarter of an inch / 5mm. Once the chocolate is cool, it comes off easily. Chinese take-away containers have worked very well for me in the past.
Put in the fridge to set, or leave out in a cool room. You can store the chocolate in an airtight container or a resealable bag for several months in the fridge.
Notes
How much cacao powder you use really depends on what you prefer. If you love dark chocolate, you should take 120g/2 cups. If you're not the biggest fan of bitterness, you'd rather want to use less.
You can easily make this recipe sugar-free by omitting maple syrup. It’ll be quite bitter though. You may also try stevia, monk fruit or xylitol.
Instead of maple syrup, you can also use honey or agave syrup.
Technically, you could also swap cacao butter with coconut oil, however, I find that coconut oil melts much faster and leaves you with very messy fingers. Mind you, the chocolate made with cacao butter melts fairly fast, too (compared to store-bought chocolate). But, cacao butter also adds more flavour and texture to your chocolate, so if you can and your budget allows it, go for cacao butter :)!