One of the draw backs of being on the gluten free and dairy free diet, especially for kids, is that they can’t have a lot of the pre-made candies. This includes chocolates, chocolate bars and M&Ms.; However, by learning a few candy making tips, you can make your own chocolate candies for Valentine’s Day, Easter or for a special treats.
Working With Chocolate and the Gluten and Dairy Free Diet
First of all chocolate itself is not off limits. However, the use of milk and butter with chocolate is prohibited by the gluten and dairy free diet. Fortunately, soy milk and Nucoa (non-dairy margarine), work great for candy making, especially when working with chocolate, however, Nucoa tends to be a little greasier than butter so you may need to add a little corn starch to absorb some of the excess moisture.
Now that you know the basic rules for working with chocolate recipes, your next step is to learn how to work with chocolate itself. There are several tips that you need to learn if you want to work with chocolate.
(1) First of all the brand of chocolate that you work with does matter. Not all cocoa powders are created equally. Some are richer, some more bitter and other are more aromatic. For a familiar chocolate taste, the Hershey’s Cocoa Powder is fine, however, if you want to experiment with more sophisticated dessert recipes, then you may want to experiment with other brands of cocoa powders.
(2) The second tip when working with chocolate is to bloom it with heat before working it into your recipes. When making candies, I like to bloom my chocolate in melted margarine or in warmed soy milk. The point here is to allow the chocolate to release some of its oils and develop a richer flavor without burning it.
Creating Chocolate Candies
When most people make chocolate candies and candy bars they simply buy candy melting chips. However, because these chips generally contain dairy, you will need to start from scratch. To create a solid chocolate mold candy you will need to use food grade paraffin wax, also referred to as baker’s wax or canning wax. Food grade paraffin wax is not the same as the paraffin wax used for candle making. To make sure your wax is safe to eat, read the label.
When creating chocolate candies you will want to use about one ounce of food grade paraffin wax per 12 ounces of chocolate mixture.
**Warning: Paraffin wax is flammable so you will want to work it gently over low heat using a double boiler. If you melt it in the microwave watch your dish and remove it from the microwave as soon as it has melted.
Candy Molds
Now that you know the mechanics behind create gluten and dairy free chocolate candies your next step is to find candy molds. Fortunately these can be found in just about any hobby store and cooking store. Molds can be found for all the major holidays like Christmas, Chanukah, Easter, and Valentine’s Day. You can also find novelty shapes, basic shapes, coins, cartoon characters and other fund mold shapes to work with. Some molds will have a stick port worked into the design so that you can insert a lollipop stick.
