White chocolate is not actually chocolate at all – it’s simply the cacao butter that is leftover from the process of making chocolate, and often fashioned into Milky Bars or those white chocolate mice that you may have enjoyed as a child. Not everyone is a fan as white chocolate is very sweet and some find it quite sickly. However, other people love the taste, and it’s not as bitter as dark chocolate. Try this Vegan White Hot Chocolate (Minimalist Baker).
Keep these recipes away from pets, due to toxic ingredients. We all know dark/milk chocolate is bad for dogs, but white chocolate is too (too high in fat and could cause tummy upsets, if ingested). Always keep pets away from foods sweetened with pet-lethal xylitol, if used.
Vegan White Chocolate Cake with Orange Curd (Anna Banana) is made with an oat milk and vanilla frosting, sweetened with maple syrup.
No Bake White Chocolate Cheesecake (Crowded Kitchen) is an elegant dessert made with a healthy crust and crunchy pecans on top.
where to buy plant-based white chocolate
If buying vegan white chocolate, compostable packaging sounds good, but most is from eucalyptus trees, which are flammable so planting too many can cause wildfires in Portugal and Australia. So try to find brands packed in paper packaging, that you can recycle. Instead, try making White Chocolate Mocha (The First Mess) with cashews and cocoa butter, for a herbal coffee to help you chill. Enough sweetness to treat, but less calories!
Commercial white chocolate was first invented by the Swiss food company Nestle (along with Nike, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, almost the world’s most boycotted companies, the world’s most boycotted company), the first bar being sold back in 1930. The stable cocoa butter means white chocolate has a long storage life, but does absorb odours well, so keep it away from onions!
Probably the world’s best-known white chocolate is Milky Bar, often advertised on TV. But this bar is a cheap mix of milk powders, refined sugar, cocoa butter, emulsifier and various vegetable fats (including palm oil, its unsustainable use is leading to the destroyed habitats of orangutans and other endangered creatures). Even the more upmarket Milka bar is just a blend of refined sugar and cocoa fat, with defattened milk powder, whey powder, more milk fat and emulsifier.
