White chocolate isn’t really chocolate at all, at least not in the strictest sense of the word. But I love it anyway. I got a white chocolate bunny for Easter one year as a child and I was immediately hooked. What’s not to love about the creamy vanilla confection? Since it’s virtually all cocoa butter and sugar and contains no chocolate liquor, it has little to no redeeming nutritional value, but it certainly does taste good. If only someone would find a way to make it without sugar, I’d be all set.
I’ve come across a couple of posts for homemade white chocolate, including this one from Cupcake Project, and I thought it might be worth a try using erythritol. Food grade cocoa butter is pretty easy to get your hands on these days, either through Amazon or at specialty food stores, and it keeps very well because it remains fully solid at room temperature. In fact, it’s rather hard to measure out cocoa butter, as you have to chip away at it and then weigh the chunks to get the appropriate amount. It doesn’t resemble butter at all, so don’t be fooled by the name.
I bought a candy mold at my local craft store for shaping the white chocolate when it was finished, and I chose one that had small round shapes because I thought that might makes things more manageable. I really wasn’t sure how good the outcome would be, since commercial white chocolate goes through a long process of conching and such to make it smooth and creamy. Not having the equipment or the know-how, I was just hoping for an edible creation that resembled white chocolate in flavour. And thankfully, that’s what I got. It definitely has a bit of a gritty consistency and I want to try making it without the milk powder to see if that might help. But it was certainly a serviceable version of low carb white chocolate and my middle child in particular loved the little candies. I almost found them too sweet, if that’s possible, but they certainly satisfied the desire for a taste of white chocolate.
I then got it in my head to try making something with the bits, to see if they held up during baking. Since a homemade version has no stabilizers like soy lecithin to keep them solid under heat, I knew it was a bit of a gamble. But I was craving some baked goods for breakfast and I had macadamia nuts that needed using, so the idea of a sweet scone with macadamias and white chocolate was very alluring. And I am very glad I tried it out, because the scones were delicious. The white chocolate bits ended up melting quite a bit as I suspected they would, but the flavour of white chocolate did come through in the scone, and that’s what matters most!
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond flour
- ¼ cup granulated erythritol I used Swerve
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup macadamia nuts lightly toasted and chopped
- ¼ cup low carb white chocolate pieces chopped (recipe below)
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- ¼ cup butter melted
- 2 tablespoon heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 325F.
- Whisk together almond flour, erythritol, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Stir in chopped nuts and chopped white chocolate.
- Add egg, butter, cream, and vanilla, and stir until dough comes together.
- Turn out dough onto parchment-lined baking sheet and shape by hand into a rough circle, 7 or 8 inches in diameter. Using a very sharp knife, slice into 8 even wedges and separate carefully, then space evenly around the baking sheet.
- Bake 18 to 20 minutes, or until scones are firm and lightly browned. Keep an eye on the bottoms to make sure they don’t burn.
- Remove from oven, transfer to a wire rack and let cool.
Notes
Ingredients
- 2 ounces edible cocoa butter
- ⅓ cup powdered erythritol I used Swerve
- ½ teaspoon powdered milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- Place cocoa butter in a microwave safe bowl and heat on high for one minute. Then heat on high at 30 second increments until it is fully melted. This will take longer than with other fats and oils, because cocoa butter is fully solid at room temperature.
- Stir in powdered erythritol and powdered milk until dissolved.
- Stir in vanilla extract and salt.
- Spoon mixture into whatever candy mold floats your boat. Place molds inside refrigerator until white chocolate is solid, about an hour.
- To remove from candy molds, simply turn upside down and press on top of each mold to release.
Notes
Lisa says
The scones were delicious!
Ds says
Can you use coconut milk powder instead of powdered milk in the white chocolate buttons?
Carolyn says
I honestly can’t say, since I haven’t tried it.
Sheila M Bassett says
So I tried making these twice today. I have heavy cream powder instead of powdered milk. It all looked great…smooth, creamy… until I added the vanilla extract and then it all just separated and became oily and gritty. Threw it out and started over, but the same thing happened. I’m not going to give up, but thought I’d come here for advice since I hate to waste my cacao butter!
Carolyn says
Hey Sheila…this can be an issue with chocolate things but I have an idea I’ve tried recently…I put the dry ingredients in my blender or food processor and pour the melted cocoa butter into that and blend. It helps!
Sheila M Bassett says
Thanks, I’ll try that!
Erica says
Is there any substitute for the powdered milk? Whey protein? Sunflower lecithin? Etc
Vivian says
These look delicious!! Can’t wait to try them! Thank you!
Carol says
I made the white chocolate this weekend and for half a second I was mad at you – after I added the swerve and the powdered milk it was obviously too much in relation to the melted cocoa butter and was a solid mess. Lol – I should probably wear my glasses next time I’m trying a new recipe I thought it said 1/2 c. powdered milk not 1/2 tsp! I actually saved it by adding some heavy cream – more like a white chocolate ganache but the flavor was really good! Looking forward to making it again with the right measurements 🙂
nicole says
I am going to try and make the white chocolate buttons for my 6yr old who’s a T1 diabetic. Can I somehow change the recipe to make them chocolate? I’m going to try and make a chocolate bunny!
Carolyn says
If I were you, I would melt some cocoa butter with unsweetened chocolate, and then add some sweetener in. It won’t be quite the same, you will have to figure out how much sweetener to use. Add a little vanilla in too, for better flavour.
Jess F says
I made a batch of these this weekend and they turned out lovely! I didn’t have the cocoa butter on hand to make the white chocolate so I used dark chocolate in place of the white. I think if I make them with the dark chocolate again I would increase the sweetness of the scone just a little. I’m guessing the white chocolate adds a more sweet flavor than the dark chocolate. But otherwise I made the recipe as written and had no problems, they are a fabulous breakfast. Thanks for such a great recipe!
Jeanette says
Are these flavorful ans scone like. I know it sounds like wierd ques but ive tried george stella and although good flavor, it was more like muffin. Tried another scone recipe and i had to throw them out. It was like flavorless..umm blah. All those ingredients wasted.
Carolyn says
Well, obviously I am biased, but yes, they are both flavourful and have a similar texture to real scones.
Jeanette says
THEN Im excited to try them tonight.. they look fabulous!
Amy Shalosky says
Hmm, I wonder if you’d get an even smoother texture if you ran the sweetener and powdered milk through a coffee grinder to powder it? Sounds delicious!!
Croixrunner says
It’s a home run Lady Carolyn!