If you never make anything but ONE from scratch...

MAKE IT THIS ONE!!!

I was going to name this post "Healthy Homemade Chocolate Chips" but I was laughing too hard.  Let's face it.  Chocolate chips aren't "healthy" but they can be added to healthy foods!!  And if you're going to bake with them as often as I do, you might as well be 100% sure of what goes into them.

I stumbled on Heavenly Homemakers Homemade Chocolate Chips and put it on my "list".  I finally got around to it last week.  If you are interested in getting into cooking with real foods, check out her site.  I have found so many excellent recipes there.  I decided that after this ginormous bag of chocolate chips was gone, I would try my hand at homemade chips.  I knew that if I made them from scratch, I would be more selective of the recipes I threw them into (thereby decreasing my daily chocolate ration).

 Here is what you need:

Here is the simple recipe:

Homemade Chocolate Chips (from Heavenly Homemakers)

1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup rapadura or sucanat (you can use white sugar if you want)
1 cup coconut oil or butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

And since I use so many chocolate chips, I decided to double it:

Put the sugar, butter (or oil) and cocoa powder in a quart glass jar.

Put about 2-3 inches of water in a saucepan and put the jar in the water.  Heat the water on medium or medium-high heat.

Stir your mixture frequently.  And, for pete's sake, put oven mits on your hands.  This jar gets HOT!!!

I used rapadura sugar which took a little longer to dissolve so it was done after about 15 minutes.  It might be quicker with white sugar. 

Stir in your vanilla extract. 

Pour the mixture on parchment paper in a shallow 9x13 pan or cookie sheet and place it in the fridge for about 2 hours.

Try your best not to lick the spoon.  I guarantee you it will be impossible to stop. 

Instead, just let the babies lick the spoon!!!

 

Pull your pan out and break the chips off into large or small pieces.  It doesn't really matter.  I broke mine into large pieces and then I chopped them into smaller pieces after they were frozen.  The frozen pieces didn't melt as bad when I was handling them.  These are very different than store-bought chocolate chips.  They melt faster and don't hold their shape as well in a cookie.  But the flavor is awesome!!

In the end, each batch yielded 14 oz, so two batches yielded 28 oz of chocolate chips. 

Ultimately, I am concerned with making real foods (without chemicals or additives) but I am equally as concerned with the cost!  So, for all you couponers out there, I did a quick breakdown.  (It is a rough estimate because I am not certain what I paid for a few of the items.)

Homemade Chocolate Chips: 28 oz for $4.64

Grocery Store ~ $5.00 for 24 oz
Grocery Store ~ $2.99 for 12 oz

Costco 72 oz = $8.99

- 28 oz for $3.59