Sugar-Free Dark Chocolate Candy Bars are perfect for those with allergies and very easy to make at home!
See those two little squares of chocolate just waiting to be bitten?? These little squares of deliciousness are completely sugar-free! They have only 118 calories in those two pieces, 2 grams of protein and fiber!! Making your own candy at home is simple, affordable and not to mention so versatile!! Add in's are endless!
Most, if not all, store bought chocolate and candy today has sugar in some form and preservatives in it. There are about two brands at Whole Foods that are sweetened with stevia and taste great, but very expensive. One 3 oz bar I found was $6.99!! Much cheaper to make your own is what I say, don't you think?
But besides the cost of buying healthier chocolate at stores let's talk about cravings shall we?! Giving in to chocolate cravings can be the biggest downfall when it comes to practicing a healthy lifestyle and/or trying to lose weight. But not indulging in chocolate just because you might lead a sugar free way of life or think you can't possibly have it now that you need to lose weight, could put someone into depression! The key factor here is not so much enjoying chocolate, but it's about the kind you are enjoying .
If you are indulging in typical white sugar filled, preservative filled store bought candy bars then yes, the sugar in them causes cravings for more. But when you choose to make candy bars at home and use healthier ingredients and sugar free alternatives, your body will be satisfied, won't have that typical spike in blood sugar and it certainly won't make you crash after eating any. No spike in blood sugar means you won't be craving more and more after indulging in a few pieces.
With just a few ingredients and a candy bar mold, you'll be enjoying your creation to curb your sweet tooth which of course will help you keep on focus with your healthy eating track!
If you're not a fan of dark chocolate or need a dairy free option this candy bar is made with coconut butter, you can tell by the lighter color than the chocolate bars at the top of the post. This recipe is exactly the one I used for making my No Bake Chocolate Coconut Butter Bunnies last year for Easter! Just melt and pour into candy bar molds. I honestly don't think it has a coconut flavor because the chocolate flavor is more prominent, but you can be the judge as this takes literally less than 5 minutes to make and 30 minutes or so to harden.
Notes:
- You can use whatever milk of choice you like although I have only tried it using 1% dairy milk.
- For a dairy free option I would suggest unsweetened almond milk or coconut milk.
- To make the coconut butter bars, just follow this recipe for my No Bake Chocolate Coconut Butter Bunnies and pour into candy bar molds.
- The powdered stevia you see below is not the pure extract, it is a Sweetleaf powdered stevia that has added fiber. Please click the link to see the brand.
Sugar-Free Dark Chocolate Candy Bars {Nut & Gluten Free}
Ingredients
- 4 ounces 100 % unsweetened cacao or baking chocolate
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons milk of choice
- 1 teaspoon liquid vanilla stevia
- 1 ½ tablespoons powdered stevia
Instructions
- Melt all ingredients in a sauce pan over low heat on the stove until completely smooth.
- Pour into candy mold and refrigerate or freeze until hardened.
Notes
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Carolyn
I love dark chocolate so I hoped this would be a good substitution for chocolate filled with sugar. Unfortunately, this was extremely bitter with a horrible aftertaste from the stevia which I use all the time. I cut the chocolate back to 1 oz & it was still bitter. Added monk fruit sweetener to take away some of the bitterness but still had the nasty aftertaste of the stevia. I used Sweetleaf stevia & followed the recipe exactly the first time I made it. Will have to rework the recipe to make it fit for me to eat.
Brenda
If you find any recipe bitter it could be you need to add more sweetener for your tastebuds and it could also be the quality of the chocolate used.
Heather
Thank you! I had a friend asking for ‘hard core keto’ THC infused chocolate. I made your recipe with infused coconut oil and they turned out great! I used less sweet leaf sweetener than called for and vanilla bean scraped out of the pod. I’m adding espresso to the next batch. I have so many ideas for additions! Chilies, cinnamon, pumpkin spice... great recipe!
Carolyn
I was looking for a sugar free chocolate recipe for a diabetic friend and tried this one. I bought the correct ingredients and followed the recipe. It tasted very bitter and not sweet at all. My friend threw it in the trash. I don't recommend this sugar free chocolate recipe. Maybe a different sugar substitute would be better.
Brenda
Tasting the sweetness of the mixture is the key here before allowing it to harden. If you think it's not sweet enough for you when it's in a liquid form then add more sweetener before pouring into the molds.
Gina
This looks so good and easy! Do you think adding some type of nut would turn out good? Say an almond or walnuts? I am going to try your recipe and also add a nut or two.
Susan
Serving size is 2 grams.... thats .07 ounces..so one bite...Hershey kiss size? I dont know anyone, myself included that only eats one kiss and that satisfies a chocolate craving. It looks good however 🙂
Brenda
My recipe plug in had a glitch and converted all serving sizes to 1gram, which I am nasally trying to fix but haven't gotten to all my recipes which is 6 years in the making, over 700 now. The serving is for 2 pieces.
Sigrid
Has anyone ACTUALLY made this recipe? I was interested in making this recipe, but when I got to read it, I saw there is a MASSIVE amount of stevia in it!
Only 1/32 tsp is required to get the sweetness of 1 tsp sugar. This recipe has 5 1/2 tsp of stevia. That is equivalent to approximately 11 cups of sugar! Thus, each serving will contain an approximate equivalent to 1 1/3 cups of sugar!
Testing recipes and proofreading your blog entries before posting can help people at home prevent wasting a LOT of expensive ingredients.
Brenda
There are many different kinds of stevia. In this version I used powdered stevia that has added fiber and it does not have an aftertaste as the pure extract does. You can click the link to see the brand I used. The liquid stevia is also not as sweet as using pure stevia extract.
PATRICK
HI BRENDA, I GOT THE SAME RESULTS AS MOST OF THE COMMENTS. FUDGE LIKE TEXTURE. I FOLLOWED THE INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY. I THINK THE REASON FOR THE RESULTS IS , THERE ISNT ENOGH LIQUID TO MIX AND IMPOSSIBLE TO BECOME LIQUIDFIED ENOGH TO POUR. WHAT DO YOU THINK? PAT
Frank Rizzo
where can i find these moulds?
Brenda
http://amzn.to/2wh0MgL
Magnus Johansson
Hey
Looking after chocolate bar molds and love those can you remember the name or maybe a link to them.
Thanks
Magnus. Johansson
Michelle
I wish I'd read through the comments before making this. I substituted plain Trader Joe's liquid stevia for the Sweetleaf vanilla liquid stevia. Otherwise, I followed all ingredients and instructions exactly, but it turned out grainy and bitter. I then added a drop of peppermint essential oil hoping to redeem to a better flavor, but it was no help. It might be super helpful if the recipe instructions indicated clearly to use no substitutions for brands or types of stevia.
Damodara
Regarding these bars, once made, do they have to be stored in the refrigerator/freezer, or will they soften at room temperature. Also, could xylitol be used in place of stevia...love to experiment, so just wondering about different possibilities.
Brenda
I'm sure you could use xylitol, not sure how fine it is so hopefully it wouldn't give a grainy texture to the bars. I kept mine refrigerated.
Martha Redi
I made the sugar free dark chocolate candy bars and the result is yummy but didn't become pourable. Next time I'll pretend its fudge and make little mounds of the delicious chocolate. Thank you. I'm a bit sorry that the coconut oil is so high in sat fat, but am considering this an infrequent treat. Thank you again Brenda XXOOO
Martha
Dave
Straight into the trash it went. I guess you shouldn't try to substitute any ingredient. I used Ghirardelli 100% cocoa bars and it turned into a grainy looking goop and all the fat separated out. I think you need to revisit the recipe and provide more info.
Brenda
If it was grainy that usually means it was on too high of heat. I will work on a video I think to demonstrate it. Sorry you had to throw it out.
Samm
I was trying to figure out why mine came out goopy and grainy. It hasnt solidified yet so i will see soon if i messed it up too much. When i was pouring my vanilla extract in it i goofed and over poured so at first i thought that would cause trouble, but figured it would be fine since i planned to just use however many splenda packets seemed necessary by tasting as i go. Then i thought hmm let me add 1/4 tsp of cinnamon and i thought that was the culprit, so i added a little more fairlife milk to help make it more liquid again.... but nope... and the flavor and consistency still wasnt where i wanted it so i added even more vanilla and milk afterf the powdered splenda.... thats when i noticed a bit of bubbling on the edges of the bowl and thought oh crud turn the heat down! I wonder if i should have added more oil but i didnt want to add extra oil and make it so it would never have a chance of solidifying.
I am thinking this might be a nice idea to mix with my sugar free pancake syrup. Maybe skip the cinnamon next time and just try the bar of baking chocolate and oil, and add the syrup super quick to taste, before i accidentally have a chance to overheat it. I really think using the liquid version sweetener would have helped me too.
Samm
Ok it didnt take long to solidify well in the freezer so that's reassuring. It tasted great and didnt feel like a weird texture when consuming it. I could not taste the cimmamon at all so idk if i would bother adding at all next time. I did omit the salt this first try as well. Not a fan of salty chocolates. Curious how this would taste with peanut butter mixed in as well. But right now all i was seeking was a plain chunk of chocolate that wouldnt interefere much with a gestational diabetes issue. Diabetes runs in my family, though and when at the store.. i DID find a bar of sugar free from a very good brand, but was bothered as usual by the processed food phenomenon of "whats that ingredient? And that one and that one?" So next time... i won't heat it on as high a heat and will try simpler version. The fat did not separate out in mine.
I am wondering how you determined how much oil to put in?
Annoyed
Mine just tasted horrible. I have the same exact sweeteners, but it was still horrible. I'm keto so I'm use to bitter, and I'm use to not having sugar... this was awful. I even added more gradually till I ended up with about double what the recipe called for. Just horrible. Wasted all that product. Guess I'll just stick with Lily's.
John Shrum
Do you know the purpose of salt in the recipe?
Brenda
It helps balance out the sweetness. You can leave it out if you prefer.
Jo
I have tried it with cocoa powder, adding some more milk, coconut oil, and even honey. The texture reminded me of soft play dough, but for myself I'm fine with this as I have made some delicious snacks out of this "fudge" by using this recipe as base!
Heather
Can you use cocoa powder instead of cacao bar?
Brenda
I've not tried it subbing that sorry.
Tonya
God bless you! My daughter has severe reactive hypoglycemia, and although she's an adult, it's been such a traumatic time for for last year's that I try to find little ways to cheer her up. Store-bought sugar-free candy contain so many sugar alcohols, in addition to sugar substitutes, that the intestinal side effects outweigh the indulgence.
Your recipe is not only super straight-forward, but it sounds so quick and easy! Thank you soooooo much!
Brenda
Thank you! I hope she loves it!
Debbie
I was so excited about this recipe after the Simply Lite brand at Trader Joe's added milk powder to their sugar free chocolate bar. 🙁 So I tried this recipe last night, and it didn't turn out well at all. It was not pourable and it tasted really bitter. I do like dark chocolate so I'm used to less sweetness, but this was really bad. That liquid vanilla stevia was over $11.00 for a tiny bottle, and I hate wasting it. What do you suggest?
Brenda
Did you taste the mixture before you let it harden in the mold? If it was bitter to you before letting it harden, you needed more sweetener. For some getting used to stevia is a big transition. I use the vanilla liquid stevia by the brand Sweetleaf. I have tried Trader Joe's vanilla stevia but I didn't like it as much as Sweetleaf. Also different brands of liquid stevia are made differently and the way they are processed to form the liquid will produce different levels of sweetness. NuNaturals vanilla stevia is much sweeter than Sweetleaf. Don't dump out your bottle but try other recipes with it and hopefully you can use it up and not feel you wasted your money on it. I'm sorry you didn't like the recipe.
Kerry
Just made this, and they are really good. I was going to offer the same suggestion-- taste it while it's in the pot- only the consistency will change, not the taste. If you don't like it, add more sweetener. I ended up adding a bit more. I like xylitol, so I had some liquid stevia drops, swelter packets, and added more xylitol at the end. I used ghee and coconut oil. I did make a mistake at the end, and after it was melted and half poured, tried to add a little more (cold) cashew milk, and it seized a bit (but still good- just grainier) so I would recommend putting all ingredients in to melt, tasting frequently, and not adding liquid to the melted mixture.
Fredy
Thank you Brenda for sharing this, check out this sugar free chocolate from le chocolatier, they re very delicious in case you dont want to temper the chocolate by yourself. http://www.lechocolatier.co.za