Make this natural chocolate extract to flavor your baked goods, it also works well in creams and pies. Make now for Thanksgiving and Christmas baking, so the extract has time to mature and reach full flavor. It is a surprisingly simple technique, and as long as it’s started early enough it will be ready for baking, gift giving, or any other use you have for it.
Christmas Baking with DiY Chocolate Extract
Christmas baking used to be a big deal in my home. We’d begin in November baking all the favorite Christmas cookies like shortbread, pizzelles, chocolate chip, ginger cookies, sugar cookies, lemon cookies, and brownies. Chocolate figured strongly in these seasonal treats either as a flavourful addition or a decorative topping.
As I was making a batch of chocolate liqueur – Crème de Cacao – to share with the readers over at Attainable Sustainable, I also started a batch of chocolate extract, for Christmas gift giving and for my own Christmas baking. Making flavor extracts is super simple and very similar to making an herbal tincture or a liqueur. You just need to pour alcohol over the flavor source – whether that’s bitter almonds, cocoa nibs, coffee beans, mint leaves, or vanilla beans. Then let it steep – either with or without sugar – for a month or more to extract every delicious drop of flavor. You can add sugar after the flavor is infused in the alcohol, it doesn’t need to be added before the steeping process begins.
The steeping or maceration process takes time and the longer you have to steep the extract, the deeper the flavor will be.
The World Wide Vanilla Shortage
This year several chocolate manufacturers made good on their pledge to use only natural vanilla flavour in their chocolate bars. A world shortage of vanilla beans is happening right now, from a combination of increased demand and lower crop yields. Where the price of vanilla beans was only a few dollars an ounce, just a year ago, in 2016 the price of vanilla has risen about 500%. Using chocolate extract this season is a way to stretch expensive natural vanilla beans and still have the healthiest and most flavourful baking. (And then hang on tight because the 2016 crop will be coming in December. The price might just come back down.)
Homemade Chocolate Extract
Chocolate extract is a deeply flavourful extract that can be used in the place of vanilla extract in chocolate desserts. It adds a special touch to chocolate chip cookies, pastries, and even whipped cream and frosting. It takes only a few hands-on minutes to make and then a month to steep.
Make it now for Christmas baking and holiday gift-giving. The longer between making and giving, the more the flavor matures.
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DiY Chocolate Extract for Christmas Baking and Gifting
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: N/A
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 750ml 1x
Description
Chocolate extract is a deeply flavourful extract that can be used in the place of vanilla extract in chocolate desserts. It adds a special touch to chocolate chip cookies, pastries, and even whipped cream and frosting.
It takes only a few hands-on minutes to make and then a month to steep.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups cacao nibs, organic
- 2 vanilla beans, split
- 2 cups of Scotch Whiskey
- ½ cup of sugar
- ½ cup water, boiling
Instructions
- Place cacao nibs in a glass bottle.
- Add vanilla beans and whiskey.
- Cap the bottle and shake well to evenly distribute the whiskey.
- Make sugar syrup by adding sugar and boiling water together.
- Stir well to fully dissolve sugar.
- Allow the sugar syrup to cool.
- Add sugar syrup to the bottle.
- Cap and shake again.
- Label and date the bottle.
- Put the bottle in a cool, dark cabinet.
- Shake the bottle once a day. Let it macerate for one month.
- Taste it to see if the flavour is to your liking. It can steep longer if you wish.
- When it is ready, strain the mixture through a cheese cloth. Decant the liquid into clean, sanitized bottles.
- Label and date.
Use the left over chocolate nibs in baking, in the place of chocolate chips, in another recipe. Chocolate extract will last indefinitely due to its high alcohol content.
Notes
Use chocolate extract in: Frosting, Whipped cream, Hot chocolate, Mocha and espresso drinks, Muffins, Cookies, Cakes, Pastry filling, Biscuits, Quick Breads, Gifts and Gift Baskets.
- Use it to replace the vanilla in your favorite recipes on a spoonful by spoonful basis. It is a delightful and flavorful change.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 5ml
Yield: 3 cups or 750ml
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups organic cacao nibs
2 vanilla beans, split
2 cups of Scotch Whiskey
½ cup of sugar
½ cup water, boiling
Method:
Place cacao nibs in a glass bottle. Add vanilla beans and whiskey. Cap the bottle and shake well to evenly distribute the whiskey. Make sugar syrup by adding sugar and boiling water together. Stir well to fully dissolve sugar. Allow the sugar syrup to cool. Add sugar syrup to the bottle. Cap and shake again.
Label and date the bottle. Put the bottle in a cool, dark cabinet. Shake the bottle once a day. Let it macerate for one month. Taste it to see if the flavour is to your liking. It can steep longer if you wish.
When it is ready, strain the mixture through a cheese cloth. Decant the liquid into clean, sanitized bottles. Label and date.
Use the left over chocolate nibs in baking, in the place of chocolate chips, in another recipe.
Chocolate extract will last indefinitely due to its high alcohol content.
Use chocolate extract in
- Frosting
- Whipped cream
- Hot chocolate
- Mocha and espresso drinks
- Muffins
- Cookies
- Cakes
- Pastry filling
- Biscuits
- Quick Breads
- Gifts
Use it to replace the vanilla in your favorite recipes on a spoonful by spoonful basis. It is a delightful and flavorful change.
Other Extracts Suitable for Gift Giving and Baking
- Vanilla Extract
- Chocolate Mint Extract
- Almond Extract
- Lemon Extract
- Orange Extract
- Coffee Extract
Your turn:
What flavour extract are you currently buying that you want to start making yourself from scratch?
I use only the cacao nibs and alcohol, no vanilla ( you want CHOCOLATE flavor, right?), no sugar water!
Just ferment the nibs, freeze in order to have the nib oils float to the top to be scraped off, and enjoy.
Some are saying they save the oil that floats to the top for a keto friendly chocolate flavored oil…..interesting!
Adding the sugar would prevent those who can’t consume sugar out of luck: the two ingredient basic recipe is the best.
I steeped mine for a few months, and there’s a cloudy filmy bit floating on the top. One of the cacao nibs near the bottom of chalky white. Does that sound safe to eat? I did a small sniff/taste test but all I get is alcohol…
A further step is after fermenting, place in freezer until there is a film on the top. This is fat from the cacao nibs…probably what you are seeing: just scrape it off unless there is a bad odor.
You also do not need the sugar water: just the nibs and alcohol of choice, let sit for several months and the flavor will enhance the longer it sits, scrape the fat off and enjoy.
I am diabetic, so I won’t be using this recipe, but the one that requires only the nibs and alcohol.
Thanks for this!
Is the sugar essential? Does it help in preservation or is it just for taste?
Can I use something other than whisky?
Vodka, brandy, any other neutral alcohol that’s at least 40 proof.
I would like to use something that not alcohol . But would it lastbloner as the alcohol does
This looks great and I would love to make this weekend. What scotch whiskey is your preferred for this recipe? Thank you!
Use a less expensive brand, since the vanilla flavor will overpower any subtle smoothness and flavor in the whiskey itself.