This recipe was inspired by a recipe I saw for grasshopper bark on pinterest. I immediately set to researching as many versions of dairy-free homemade white chocolate I could find. The best paleo white chocolate recipe to start with came from this recipe from the Paleo Parents (no weird sweeteners, no bizarre binders, just clean paleo… er, well, paleo with sugar). I have modified the recipe slightly to use less sugar (with that powerful mint flavor, you don’t need as much sugar). I also decided against the use of food coloring to make the white chocolate green, but you could definitely add that if you wanted to (in that case, I would use white sugar instead of evaporated cane juice so you get a brighter color).
I used unsweetened 100% dark chocolate for the base layer in this bark because I liked the contrast of the bitter dark chocolate and the sweet minty white chocolate. You could substitute a bittersweet chocolate if you prefer.
I don’t know how many servings to call this. Respectably, 4 or 5, but too easy for one person to gobble down before anyone even knows it’s been made (speaking from experience here…).
Ingredients (White Chocolate Layer):
- 3 oz cocoa butter (by weight)
- ¼ cup evaporated cane juice (for whiter chocolate use white sugar)
- 2 tsp arrowroot powder
- ½ tsp peppermint oil
- Blend sugar in a food processor or blender until it forms a fine white powder (I used a Magic Bullet). Mix sugar with arrowroot powder and set aside.
- Melt cocoa butter in a medium bowl in the microwave or over low heat on stovetop. This takes longer than you think, so keep setting the microwave for one more minute, stir and check, one more minute, etc. I think it took about 4 minutes in total, but it would depend on how big your chunks of cocoa butter are.
- Once the cocoa butter is melted, mix in sugar and arrowroot powder a little bit at a time whisking thoroughly to help the sugar dissolve.
- Once the sugar and arrowroot powder is fully incorporated, add the peppermint oil.
- Let the white chocolate cool until it is thicker, but still warm enough to be liquid (if it’s too runny, it won’t make a nice swirl patter when you pour it over the base layer).
Ingredients (Dark Chocolate Layer):
- 2 oz unsweetened dark chocolate
- ½ tsp vanilla
- Prepare an 8”x8” glass dish or cake pan by lining with a sheet of wax paper (you could also try greasing with butter or palm shortening). You could use a 9”x9” pan, but your bark will be a little thinner. A great alternative would be a silicone cake pan because no liner would be necessary.
- Melt chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave or over low heat on the stove top. As soon as it’s melted, stir in vanilla (this just helps soften the chocolate slightly).
- Pour into prepared dish or cake pan and spread out to evenly cover the dish.
- Pour the cooled but still liquid minty white chocolate layer over top.
- With a knife, trace swirly patterns through the melted chocolate until it looks pretty.
- Refrigerate until set. Remove from pan (the wax paper will make this job really easy) and break into pieces. Enjoy!
Marit says
I use barley grass for green color! It has a somewhat distinctive taste in itself, but it goes really well with mint!
(http://superfoodmama.blogspot.nl/2012/11/minty-green-superpower-balls.html)
Thank you for inspiring me, it looks awesome!
paleoparents says
Natural food coloring is fun too 🙂 href=”http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&ajr=2&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=india%20tree%20food%20dye&linkCode=ur2&rh=n%3A1055398%2Ck%3Aindia%20tree%20food%20dye&tag=bellaonlinepr-20&url=search-alias%3Dgarden
Audrey V says
I couldn’t find food quality cocao butter at my store. I wonder if I could use coconut butter?
Thanks!
ThePaleoMom says
I had to buy cocoa butter online. If you want to do something minty with coconut butter, maybe try this recipe http://pinterest.com/pin/120752833730639894/
Rachel says
Hi Sarah,
I was wondering if white chocolate could be okay for those sensitive to regular chocolate. What do you think? Thanks.
ThePaleoMom says
Well, just like butter, there’s trace proteins. So, it reqlly depends on how sensitive you are. I was curious myself and tried it last week to see and had a pretty strong reaction.
Audrey V says
So I made this last night and it was wonderful. But since I couldn’t find cocoa butter locally, and I couldn’t wait to order it online, I used white chocolate. My version was not paleo since the white chocolate has dairy and soy in it. And I was hesitant to use unsweetened chocolate because my husband and kids complain that my “treats” are not very sweet. So I used semi sweet chocolate (this is also not paleo because it has soy). Looking back at your reference for the grasshopper bark on pinterest, my version was very similar to that, except I used peppermint oil, and the pinterest recipe used mint flavoring, and said not to use peppermint (I’m not sure why, it tasted great with peppermint oil). So I melted the white chocolate and stirred in peppermint oil and spread it in the pan. Then I melted semi sweet chocolate (had to add a little coconut oil because the chocolate was getting dried out) and added vanilla and spread it on top of the white chocolate. The whole family loved it, and it was something that you can eat just a little, without needing to go overboard. This will be a good treat to take to holiday parties so my GF son will have something. I think I will now order the cocoa butter online, and start working toward a darker chocolate, so my version will be like yours. Thanks a million for this wonderful recipe!
adriane says
would honey or coconut sugar be an okay sub for the cane syrup?
John Public says
How is evaporated cane juice paleo?
Tamar England says
Sarah discusses that topic here: https://www.thepaleomom.com/2012/03/is-sugar-paleo.html — Tamar, Sarah’s assistant
Shirley Smith says
I cannot wait to make this! Looks so easy 🙂
Sally Shott says
Is vanilla a legume?
Tamar England says
No, vanilla is Paleo. However, it is on the “be cautious” list for the Auto Immune Protocol: https://www.thepaleomom.com/2012/07/spices-on-autoimmune-protocol.html — Tamar, Sarah’s assistant
Agnieszka says
Can you use sucanat or coconut sugar instead of the evaporated cane juice?
Christina Feindel says
That should work fine. – Christina, Sarah’s assistant
Diane Cressy says
This reminds me of my Chocolate coconut Almond Bark I used to make when I lived in Panama… It was so indescribably delicious and addicting.. Everyone that tasted it agreed! Here was my recipe:
Chocolate Coconut almond bark
1 cacao ball finely grated (I usually bought this from the Indigenous as they did not use any pesticides or fertilizer)
1 1/2 cakes of raspadura grated ( Raspadura is unrefined pure cane sugar that can be purchased directly from sugar cane farmers, in some grocery stores and local food vendors across Panama)
1+Tbsp coconut oil to coat bottom of pan ( I bought this fresh from my Indigenous neighbor)
Handful of freshly grated coconut (frecho) ( This has lots of moisture because it still contains all the milk)
Handful of toasted crushed almonds (I toast them in a skillet on the stove)
Add all but almonds to pan heating over double boiler and mix well until melted.. when melted, add toasted almonds and spread out on a small to medium foil covered cutting board. Put in freezer for 1/2 hr to an hour and break into bite sized pieces.. YUM! Super delicious!
I brought back a lot of the cacao and raspadura with me but have yet to make it here and have been back over a year now 🙂
Christine Deyell says
Is peppermint oil the same as peppermint extract? Should I use peppermint essential oi…? Thank you!