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Cacao butter and common fat mixers that are solid at room temperature (coconut, butter, etc) are very high in saturated fat.

I’m in search of a dark chocolate recipe that satisfies the following

  • Solid at room temperature, ideally with a bit of “snap”
  • If a fat or dairy is added, it’s one that has no or very low saturated fat (olive oil, non-fat or low fat milk)

Other than that, pretty open ended. My first project is making my own peanut butter cups.

James Kyle
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    I don't think so - it's part of the physical nature of unsaturated fats that they are mostly liquid at RT, but there may be someone here who knows better. – bob1 Nov 06 '23 at 01:55
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    It is the fact that fats are saturated that makes them solid. So there is no way to replace saturated fats with oils without changing the texture. Apart from the fact that at least in the EU you couldn’t it call chocolate anymore. – jmk Nov 06 '23 at 05:39

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No, you can't make chocolate at home, with any fat, not even with cocoa butter - see Making dark chocolate at home and all the questions that are linked to it in its page's sidebar.

For the purpose of your peanut butter cups, you might have to get creative and make the outside from something other than chocolate. Some kind of chocolate-flavored tuille cups, possibly smeared with some chocolate syrup or thickened mousse on the inside, may give you the needed physical properties and aroma. It won't have the same texture, but it has the potential to be tasty.

rumtscho
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  • I find this a little confusing since there are so many recipes available for making bars with cacao.

    I get that it won’t be world class chocolatier level, but it should be possible eh?

     – James Kyle Nov 06 '23 at 14:11
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    I found this link in another post which is a great break down of the problem with tuning melting temperatures and fat options. http://www.food-info.net/uk/qa/qa-fp45.htm – James Kyle Nov 06 '23 at 14:23
  • @JamesKyle there are also a lot of recipes for turning lead into gold, or for choosing a spouse based on the stars' positions in the sky. It doesn't mean they work. What you can certainly make at home is a variety of soft masses similar to what you can find inside many chocolate bars. You can probably approximate a chocolate fudge, a ganache, or a nougat when starting from cocoa powder. You can't get a bar of solid chocolate, similar to a simple Lindt Lindor bar, that is tasty to a normal person. The masses you can make are OK as fillings, but too soft for a coating, much less a cup. – rumtscho Nov 06 '23 at 14:28
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    @JamesKyle the link you posted is about commercial production. It's possible to dilute chocolate with vegetable fats within a tightly controlled industrial process for making real chocolate bars, and still approximate the original texture. Even in that case, 1) they don't start from cocoa powder, 2) they need machines and process control unavailable to the home cook, and 3) the majority of the fat is still cocoa fat, the vegetable oil is simply a cost-reducing addition. – rumtscho Nov 06 '23 at 14:32