These easy, dairy-free homemade honey-sweetened chocolate chunks are just what you need to replace conventional chocolate chips! Paleo and GAPS diet friendly!
Chocoholism.
Ok, so by now, if you’ve been around this blog a time or two, you probably know at least one thing about me for sure: I love chocolate. You might say I’m a chocoholic. I’ve been told I have a sweet tooth a couple times, but it’s actually not true. I love chocolate, not sweets.Â
When it comes to chocolate, I’m not a Hershey’s kind of girl. Don’t try and give me milk chocolate for my birthday. I’ll take it home and feed it to my husband!
The darker the better, baby. I’ve even been known to eat cocoa powder straight from the can.
GAPS friendly.
With this in mind, you’ll understand that when I say chocolate was the hardest thing to give up when going on the GAPS diet, I mean it was hard…
If you’re not all up on what the GAPS diet entails, you can read through my family’s journey. I wrote about it the first time my family went through the intro diet. Yes, a whole family of 6 going on an extreme detox diet for 6 months. It was fun.
Since then, I’ve put myself back on the GAPS diet – and stuck it out almost 2 years so far! And with almost 2 years under my belt, I needed a GAPS-friendly alternative to chocolate chips and chocolate bars to fill my need. I mean, cravings.
Simple does it.
Now, being that I’ve been sugar-free for the past 6 years (other than honey and the occasional molasses or maple syrup), I’ve been making my own chocolate bars for a while. They’re not really hard, just a few ingredients mixed up and stuck in the freezer to harden. But they don’t work that well for baking.
So when I had to give up my occasional cheat of semi-sweet chocolate chips, I knew I needed to figure something out. Thankfully, I fellow GAPS friend had told me about a blogger who had used bakers chocolate bars to create a GAPS-friendly chocolate bar. So I set out to make my own version.
A chocolatey win.
With only 3 ingredients – and 2 optional ones – these easy homemade GAPS chocolate chunks are just what I needed! They’re super simple to make, hard to ruin, and work great in baking. A wonderful, melty gooey-ness, instead of a chocolatey water mess like my freezer chocolate.
Now, you don’t have to be on the GAPS diet to enjoy these chocolate chunks. They’re perfect for paleo peeps, too, as well as those of you who can’t afford stevia-or-something-else-sweetened stuff on Amazon…
In the recipe card I’ve linked to some of the products from my affiliate partners that I like to use. Purchasing through these links won’t cost you anything extra. Thanks!
Easy, Homemade Honey-Sweetened Chocolate Chunks
Free from grain, gluten, eggs, dairy, and refined sugar.
Ingredients
- 1 bar plain bakers chocolate (I usually just get them at Walmart)
- 2 tablespoons honey (local or raw is best!) or organic liquid steviaÂ
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla (you can learn how to make your own)
- 2 dashes himalayan salt
Instructions
In small saucepan, melt bakers chocolate over low heat.
When melted, remove from heat and allow to cool until you can touch it.
Stir in remaining ingredients and pour into a freezer-safe loaf pan (I use a silicone one) or silpat/foil-lined cookie sheet.
Freeze until firm, then chop into chunks.
Store in the fridge.
Excited to use your new chocolate chunks? They go great in these grain-free treats! (Or just eat them by the handful. No judgement…)
This is a great idea for use in muffins too! I make a banana muffins and would so preferred this to the sugar-sweetened chocolate chips. Thanks for sharing 🙂
You’re welcome!
Great idea Raia!! And with this recipe you can totally control the final sweetness too!!
Yes! I love that about it. I can make them as dark as I want! Haha.
Oh wow this is such a great idea!! Will be trying this for sure.
Thanks! Hope you enjoy them. 🙂
WOW Raia those look just like real chocolate! I can’t believe they are honey sweetened! How nice!
Thank you! I love how easy of a sub they are. 🙂
I can’t believe I never thought to do this before! Such a great idea and I bet they’re amazing in cookies.
Haha, thanks! Yes, I love them in cookies. 🙂
What a great idea, chocolate chips always have sugar in them which I try and keep to a minimum, so thanks for a great alternative!
You’re welcome!
I’m happy for you, Raia, that you can have chocolate again! I wonder if Walmart sells any Fair Trade chocolate!? That would be wonderful!
Sigh, I haven’t found any yet, nor on Amazon, either! Definitely makes it harder to enjoy this treat. :/ I’ll have to look at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods the next time I’m near one!
Oh YUMMMMM!! Love that you used honey! I’m so glad I’m eating chocolate while I type this or I’d be really sad right now LOL!! But seriously. This looks delicious!
Hahaha! Thanks. 😉
I’ve never made my own chocolate chunks but they way I eat chocolate… I really should. It looks so easy! Great idea.
Hahaha! I’m the same way. 😉 It’s necessary for a functional life.
It’s so smart to make your own chocolate chips, especially since the good ones from the store are SO darn expensive!
Exactly!
WOW. Excited to try these! I am with you. Chocolate.. is bitter.. Not sweet.. and powerful medicine.. Hope you can have good quality dark chocolate again.. but in meantime, this is a super alternative! I’ve been surfing through your recipes and drooling.. Thank goodness I don’t have any right this second or I’d be in the kitchen baking that pumpkin bread!
In any case. You are a marvel of creativity! Thanks for all the great ideas!
Haha! I’m so glad you enjoy the recipes, Carol!
Oh my gosh I wish I had some of these on hand. Once I’m feeling better I’m going to have to make some so I can snack on them all the time – because CHOCOLATE!!! I hope you got to eat a lot of that batch.
Haha! Yeah, they’re hard to not snack on once you’ve got them. 😉 Hope you’re feeling better soon, Emily!
I love chocolate! Thanks for sharing this simple recipe. Can’t wait to make it!
You’re so welcome! I hope you enjoy them!
I love this way to sweeten chocolate! Thanks for sharing, and those cookies sound amazing!
Thanks, Anne! Hopefully I’ll be posting the cookie recipe soon. 🙂
Oh my goodness, I love it that these are GAPS friendly! What great ingredients!!
Thanks, Anna! I hope you enjoy them!
what can be used instead of bakers chocolate? cacao powder?
If you use cacao powder, I would just use about 1/4 cup. 🙂
Do you know if there’s a substitute for the coconut oil? I can’t have coconut, but I can’t find a homemade chocolate recipe that doesn’t call for it… Thanks in advance!
You could try an organic palm shortening or ghee (if you can handle it). I’ve used ghee and it works well, but I haven’t personally tried shortening.
Can it be stored in cool cabinet? Or will it melt? Thank you for great idea!
I usually store them in the fridge. However, I live in the south where it’s always hot and humid, so if you’re in a cooler climate (or you keep your house on the colder side) they’ll probably be fine at room temp. If they start to melt you can always stick them in the fridge to firm them up again.
Hello there, thank you for the recipe! Can I make it without coconut oil? Can I just melted baker’s chocolate with honey?
You can make it without coconut oil. 🙂
Any advice on how I can thin this to cover cake balls with and add more honey. My grand daughter has issues but loves chocolate.
Hmm… I’d maybe try a mixture of equal parts cocoa powder, honey, and coconut oil? You could add in a little vanilla and salt. If you want to use this specific recipe, maybe add more coconut oil as well as honey.
Can sea salt be substituted for the Himalayan salt? My grandson is on the SCD diet for Crohn’s and can only have sea salt. Thank you!
Yes, definitely!
Will these merge with baked recipes or stay melty pockets of chocolate (if that makes sense) I have tried another brand of chocolate chips that are seeetened with dates and when baked in cakes there is no discernible difference between textures. I miss that gooey texture
I totally hear you! These do tend to not keep the gooey center like store-bought chocolate chips. Sorry!
Is the baker’s chocolate a 4 ounce bar?
Yes, they are 4 ounces.