Homemade Chocolate Chips
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Every package of chocolate chips I’ve seen has highly processed sugar as one of its ingredients, so I like to make homemade chocolate chips once in a while. This recipe requires just 2 ingredients, and you can adjust the sweetness to suit your taste.
We’re very fond of chocolate in my house, so I love having these on hand to add to a healthy batch of muffins or cookies. If you don’t have a frosting tool to shape them, you can just melt the ingredients, let them cool a bit, and then shape the chips by hand. Alternately, you can pour the whole batch of melted chocolate into a loaf pan, refrigerate for an hour, and then break it into chocolate chunks. Children love to participate in this process because we’re basically making the simplest candy here.
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 ounces single-ingredient chocolate (I use Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate)
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup maple syrup
Instructions
- In a double boiler, melt the chocolate over medium-low heat. Turn off the burner and stir in the maple syrup. If you want to add mint extract or vanilla extract to give the chips a different flavor, add it here. Taste the chocolate and add a little more maple syrup if desired.
- Working quickly, transfer the mixture to a frosting tool with a wide tip. I use this fun cupcake decorating tool.
- Press out little chocolate chip sized portions onto wax paper. I use my fingers to shape each chip into a triangle.
- Refrigerate the chocolate chips for at least 30 minutes so they solidify. I store them in the refrigerator until I’m ready to bake with them.
Approximate Nutrition Info
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Homemade Chocolate Chips Price Breakdown
This batch yields 9 ounces of chocolate chips and the total cost is $2.71. There’s no packaged brand of chocolate chips with clean ingredients that I can compare these to, but a 10-ounce bag of Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips retails for over $4.00. Enjoy Life is considered one of the cleanest store-bought versions of chocolate chips. You won’t believe how easy it is to make these homemade chocolate chips, and your family will love them.
Do you store these in the pantry, fridge, or freezer? How long will they keep for? I’m thinking about making a huge batch but wondering how long they would keep for and where to store them at? Thank you 🙂
You can store these in the pantry, Christy, although the fridge may be better during hot summer months. I’m not sure how long they’ll last because we go through them quickly! But I’m guessing you could keep them around for a while since the chocolate and maple syrup both have long shelf lives.
Hi Annemarie… my post is almost a year after your last post on this topic but I just had to write to tell you that I just made some chocolate chips with the help of your recipe!! I love to bake, but I think I love to eat chocolate more, and I was out of chocolate chips. I have to admit my guilty indulgence after dinner is just a few chocolate chips with a tablespoon of natural peanut butter. I’ve been out of semi-sweet chocolate chips for a while now and tonight the craving was just too strong but I didn’t want to drive to the store. So, I went online for the answer. I had some Bakers unsweetened choc squares, maple syrup and vanilla and went to work! After melting the chocolate and adding the syrup and vanilla I had to let it cool a bit in order to put into my piping bag. Once I did though I proceeded to pipe perfectly shaped chocolate chips and put them into the fridge to harden. I then scooped them off the wax paper and put them into a container for better keeping. I “stole” a couple from the tray and put some natural peanut butter on them and wow! My chocolate craving was taken care of! I can’t believe I haven’t been doing this since I learned how to bake when I was young! Thank you for bringing it back to the basics and for your ideas.
Thanks so much for the comment, Julie! I’m glad it worked for you. I think a snack of chocolate chips and peanut butter after dinner is the perfect guilty indulgence. 🙂
Awesome, but I am going to do a short cut by simply piping a plain old “tube” down the full length of the bar pan and then repeat with as many “stripes” as the pan can hold, then chill them, then either pop them up and group them and cut into chunks, or just cut them while still on the pan into chunks!!!
Great idea, Jaslyn! Chocolate chunks would be even faster to make.
Oh thank you, thank you! My little girl is allergic to cane sugar and I can’t find any store bought chocolate chips without it. 🙂
Thanks, Rachelle! These should work well for you. That’s a tough allergy, but we’re all better off without cane sugar in the long run.
Would it be possible to use honey instead of maple syrup? It’s really difficult to find real maple syrup where we live and we try to stay away from sugar. Do you know if maple syrup and honey have the same sweetness so I could just switch out the ingredients one for one?
Stephanie, I often interchange honey and maple syrup one for one. Occasionally it doesn’t work well, but in a recipe like this one I think it will be fine. Let me know if you try it.
I cannot believe this! I JUST made coconut oil-based chocolate bars 2 days ago. As I was nibbling on a piece, I wondered how I could fashion it into chips! Thanks SO MUCH for posting this!
Great timing, Mindy! This should work well with your coconut oil chocolate.
Thank you for this recipe!! I don’t buy chocolate chips anymore, kids will be thrilled 🙂
Audry, I hope you and the kids like them!
What a great idea to use Baker’s squares. I was just thinking about trying to make my own chocolate chips for baking, and here you are with a recipe! 🙂 Have you tried baking with them or do you know if they’ll stand up to heat? Thanks!
Lauren, it sounds like we’ve been dreaming up similar recipes! I bake with these chips and they hold up beautifully. I hope you like them.
Do you think for the “6 ounces single-ingredient chocolate” you could use cacao powder? It’s already unsweetened and is a superfood.
Good idea, Samantha. The only problem is that the maple syrup and cacao powder might not solidify. You could try adding some melted coconut oil to the mixture, and then refrigerate. Let me know if it works!
What a great idea. I *hate* paying through the nose for chocolate chips, only to be buying a bunch of ingredients I don’t need. Thank you for the recipe and instructions.
Thank you, Muriel. I hope you enjoy them!
I’m wondering..for those that are diabetic using liquid Agave or Stevia would be a better choice than the maple syrup. Are one of these an option?
Shirley, I don’t have experience with either of those sweeteners, but I imagine they would work. Let me know if you try it.
I’m wondering how you’re able to do this without the chocolate seizing. Adding anything wet to melted chocolate usually makes it seize, and I would think maple syrup would qualify as wet. If it works, it is a great idea, but I’m afraid to try it.
Good question, Melissa. You do need the chocolate to start to seize in order to move it smoothly through the frosting tool. When I stir the maple syrup into the melted chocolate, the mixture thickens and I put it right into the frosting tool and start pressing the chips through. If you’re nervous, the first time you try this you could just plan to put the mixture into a small loaf pan and break it into chocolate chunks after it solidifies. Good luck, and let me know if you try it.
Sounds delicious, Annemarie–clever of you to use a frosting tool to help you! I’m afraid I’d have so many “failures” I’d be eating more than I saved. I have no self control when it comes to chocolate.
Thanks!
Kirsten, there’s no such thing as a failure when it comes to chocolate.
It would pretty chocolate chunks/shaved chocolate 🙂
Thanks, Sarah. I hadn’t thought of shaved chocolate – great idea!
Do these harden? Like if you just let them dry on a cookie sheet, could you break them apart to make chocolate chunks instead? I love the idea, but I’m afraid I’ll never get around to it if I have to shape them all…
Yes, Shannon, the mixture will harden and you can break it into pieces by hand or with a knife. I’d recommend pouring the chocolate mixture into a loaf pan and putting it in the refrigerator for about an hour. Then it should be ready to break into pieces. Enjoy!
I was wondering the same thing!
These may look fancy, but it only takes about 15 minutes to make them. I do like the chocolate chunk shortcut idea, though!
Wow. I love this! I’ve never thought of making my own chocolate chips before. Brilliant!
Thanks, Jill! I’m looking forward to trying your wheat thins.