Smooth creamy deliciousness – ‘milk’ chocolate at its best. For some reason whenever I think of milk chocolate Galaxy’s advert come to mind – ‘why have satin when you can have silk’

Now don’t get me wrong I love dark chocolate and there are times that only dark chocolate will do. On its own or with the right paring dark chocolate can be perfection but there are days when only ‘milk’ chocolate hits the spot.

When I first starting taking dairy out of my diet I didn’t know how I would cope giving up my precious Cadbury’s Milk Chocolate. I LOVED milk chocolate and nearly all its variants. I quickly realised I was going to struggle without it so I started work on a dairy free ‘milk’ chocolate bar.

I started researching what goes into making a bar of chocolate. My first efforts were not totally successful. I thought of using dried coconut milk but without sugar I couldn’t get it to mix with the cocoa butter and I often ended up with fudge (must say that it was delicious fudge and the family sure enjoyed it!!!!)

Anyway one day I was making cashew nut butter and it occurred to me that this might be the solution – so I tried it out and boy was it good! I’ve since tried with other nut butters and they all work - some have stronger flavours than others, like peanut, but mostly you can’t even taste them.

I still like using cashew nut butter because it gives the best colour and looks the most like traditional ‘milk’ chocolate - that said almond nut butter is an amazing replacement too.

I use powdered coconut sugar because it gives a smoother result. The finer the coconut sugar the smoother the chocolate bar. If you use ordinary coconut sugar you will get a slightly gritty texture – I’m not against this and a couple of my friends have said that they love it like that so I guess it’s a matter of personal preference on the day!

One of the best things about this bar is once you have the basic ‘milk’ chocolate bar you can start changing it up and making all sorts of variations.

Orange Chocolate, Fruit and Nut, Cherry Almond – one of my favourites I’ll be sure to share that soon.

I hope you enjoy!!!!! :)

‘Milk’ Chocolate Bar Prep Time: 10 mins        Set Time: 4-8hrs                                                                                       Makes 6 Bars

Ingredients: 6 tbsp. Cocoa Butter ½ Cup Cashew Nut Butter or you can make your own - recipe here :) ¼ Cup Cocoa Powder ½ Cup Powdered Coconut Sugar 2 tbsps. Coconut Oil (melted) 1 tsp. Powdered Vanilla 1 tbsp. Maple Syrup

Instructions: 1) Melt the cocoa butter in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water.   2) Remove from heat and slowly stir in cashew nut butter.   3) Add all the other ingredients and stir until smooth.   4) Divide between a 6 chocolate bar mould and leave on the side for 1 hr before placing in the fridge for another 3- 7 hrs until firm.   5) Once set remove from the moulds. These are firm at room temperature but you may want to store them in the fridge – especially in hot weather! :)