HOW TO: Make White Chocolate from Scratch

milk chocolates
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History of White Chocolate

According to Nestlé, white chocolate was originally created as a way to use excess cocoa butter (although the company does not specify who created it—a detail perhaps lost in history). The first mass-distributed white chocolate in the U.S. was Nestlé’s Alpine White chocolate bar, introduced around 1948. It included almonds and had a good run through the 1990s (it is now discontinued, to the chagrin of many fans). Competitor Hershey’s didn’t make Hugs, a.k.a. white chocolate Kisses, until 1993, and has since made white-chocolate versions of Reese’s Cups and Twix.

Today, just about every major chocolate maker produces a bar (usually plain, but sometimes flavored), and many a pastry chef spins white chocolate cake, ice cream and mousse from large blocks of white couverture. Its ivory color makes it a lovely contrast against dark chocolate backgrounds of cakes and bonbons. Certain flavors marry better with white chocolate than they do with dark chocolate—lavender, for example—which leads to new flavor combinations and recipes. Over the last few decades, the world has become a more sophisticated marketplace for fine chocolate. In 2002, the FDA amended its standards of identity, enabling white chocolate to be called chocolate if, among other requirements, it is made from a minimum of 20% cocoa butter (by weight), a minimum of 15% milk powder and a maximum of 55% sweetener (generally sugar or maltitol for high-quality sugar-free chocolate). Any other formulation must still be called confectionary or summer coating.

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Recipes

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White Chocolate

Servings 2 pounds

Ingredients

  • 16 oz Cocoa butter melted to 150*F
  • 1 t lecithin
  • 14 oz powdered dry milk
  • 14 oz sugar

Instructions

  • With the grinder running, add 1/2 the melted Cocoa butter. Slowly add 14 oz of warmed sugar and process until a smooth paste forms. Add the remaining heated cocoa butter, lecithin, and 14 oz milk powder.
  • Run the Melanger until the white chocolate is of the smoothness you desire, between 8-10 hours.
  • If you run out of time, place the bowl of the melanger in a 150*F oven, turn the oven off, and pick up where you left off the next day. The chocolate should still be liquid. If it has solidified, simply rewarm at 150*F until liquid again.
    If you can't resume the following morning, cover and store in a cool place. The chocolate can be left partially processed for several days before it will start picking up "off" flavors. Rewarm in a 150*F oven until liquid, then resume processing until the desired texture is achieved.
  • Once at your desired texture, temper and mold.
  • Chill in a cool place or refrigerator (sealed – off flavors will easily infect white chocolate).

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