Q&A for How to Make Chocolate With Cocoa Powder

Don't add water, as it will change the texture of the chocolate for the worse.

Do not put water into the chocolate. Even a small amount can make it seize. The water is just used to heat the chocolate. Put water in the saucepan and put the chocolate mixture on top in a bowl so it melts together.

Use a thick-bottomed container. Place a small bowl above the container; it should not touch the water inside the container. Use this set up whenever you require a double boiler.

As far as I know, hot chocolate powder is just cocoa powder with sugar/sugar substitute in it, so if you use hot chocolate powder, add less or no sugar.

About a choclate bar or two in size will be made from this recipe.

Probably not a good idea. The mix might become too watery, which means you'd need to add more cocoa powder.

Yes. Place it in the deep freezer; it will definitely get hard.

The chocolate is hard if you eat it right after you take it out of the fridge. You can, however, leave the chocolate outside of the fridge for a little while, until it softens. This may give you a similar texture to truffles.

The chocolate will not be creamy, but will become watery. There is no good way to remove it.

Yogurt or sour cream are good substitutes, so is cream cheese. I like substituting half cream cheese and half sour cream if I run out of butter.

Yes, but it depends on your taste and as you can see above the recipe says that 1/4th teaspoon salt is optional.

The butter wasn't properly incorporated. You need to do Step 2 for longer.

Try to leave it overnight for at least 11 hours.

Cocoa powder by nature isn't sweet, it's bitter. You add sugar to balance it and give it a sweet note.

You probably added too much sugar, milk, or butter. All of these ingredients are soft, so adding too much of any of them could result in a "taffier" consistency.

Yes, about half the amount of the sugar. But know that it may change the consistency.

Don't freeze the chocolate. Just put it in the fridge to set so the chocolate won't melt but come to room temperature again

If you are concerned about changing the consistency, decrease the water by the amount of vanilla extract you add. It would probably be fine if you just added it in, though, since it would be a fairly small amount added.

Yes, but the taste will not be as rich as if it would be if you used real milk.

The recipe is approximately 1.35 lbs. I divided this recipe by 4 for enough to dip (spread on) a pound of strawberries.

You could use margarine or coconut oil. It isn't very necessary, any oil-based creamy ingredient that sets hard when cooled will work, though the taste will vary greatly.

The water is just used to heat up the butter and cocoa mixture. The steam causes it to melt. So switching the water for milk won't make it creamier.

Yes. Unless you temper the chocolate, it will melt very quickly.

Yes, if you don't freeze it.

Yes, you can.

This is actually better.

Yes, cream can work well in place of milk.

It can be eaten any time you like, and none of the ingredients require processing. It is alright to cool it on the counter a while then move to the refrigerator. The freezer is an option, but cooling too quickly can stop or modify the re-crystalization of the sugars.

Using silicon molds helps in this case, also brushing or spraying the mold with some butter or oil next time will make them pop out easily. Let them sit on the counter top for a while to soften up, then pop them up.

You can totally dip peanut butter balls into it. Place a layer of chocolate in an ice cube tray, then put some peanut butter balls in, and make sure there is enough space around the peanut butter ball to add a top layer of the chocolate.