How to Make Milk Chocolate with Dark Chocolate

In this easy tutorial, food scientist and chocolate lover Elily Temam explains how to make milk chocolate with dark chocolate for delicious results, using simple ingredients in your kitchen.

Whether your favorite type of chocolate is dark chocolate or not, sometimes you just crave something sweet and creamy. That doesn’t mean your chocolate preference has changed, it just means you want to have milk chocolate for a change. Or, maybe you don’t like dark chocolate at all, but somehow ended up with a few blocks for whatever reason.

Either way, don’t let it go to waste. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to make milk chocolate with dark chocolate, to satisfy that milk choc craving. Food scientist and sweet-tooth cook Elily Temam explains how.

How to Make Milk Chocolate with Dark Chocolate

By Elily Temam, Food Scientist X Chocolate Addict

Making milk chocolate from scratch can be time-consuming and a bit hard if you are a beginner, but there is an easier alternative, that is using dark chocolate bars or cacao powder to make milk chocolate. Making milk chocolate from dark chocolate only needs some small adjustments (alterations).

There are various ways you can make milk chocolate from dark chocolate. Here, I will share two recipes you can use to easily make milk chocolate at home. The different ingredients used in the two recipes will result in two different milk chocolate styles.

Which recipe is better for learning how to make milk chocolate with dark chocolate? The first recipe more closely resembles real chocolate, using sugar and milk powder, while the second is a softer style that uses sweetened condensed milk instead. Both recipes are easy, and it really depends on what ingredients you have at home or can easily purchase.

How to Make Milk Chocolate from Dark Chocolate – Recipe #1

This recipe will show you show you how to make milk chocolate with dark chocolate, using sugar and powdered milk. Do not replace the powdered milk with normal liquid milk, or it will not work.

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp Milk Powder
• 100g Dark Chocolate
• Pinch salt
• 1 Tbsp Powdered Sugar
• Optional Flavors (see note below)

Milk Powder: This ingredient is where the notorious name of milk chocolate came from (1 tablespoon).

Dark Chocolate (70% cocoa solid): It is a form of chocolate that contains no dairy product and is known for having from 50 up to 90% cocoa solids and a sweetener (100g). If the chocolate you are planning on using has a higher cocoa solid than 70%, the amount of milk and sugar you add should be higher but as you go along taste to make sure it is to your liking.

Salt: a sprinkle of salt can elevate your chocolate flavors.

Powdered Sugar: The powder form of sugar is a better alternative than its liquid counterparts. The water content in liquid sweeteners tends to cause the chocolate to have a thinner consistency (1 tablespoon).

Flavorant Options: Shredded coconut, vanilla extract, nuts of your choice, peppermint, and spices like cayenne pepper and black pepper add a nice kick to your chocolate.

Equipment

• Chocolate Mould
• Rubber Spatula
• Double Boiler
• Heat Safe Bowl
• Sifter

Method: How to Make Milk Chocolate with Dark Chocolate (Recipe 1)

Step #1: Melt the Chocolate

To melt your dark chocolate, you are going to use the famous double boiler method:

1. In a saucepan fill 1 or 2 inches of water and boil it on the stove, once it comes to a simmer reduce the heat to low.
2. Get a heat-safe bowl and put it on top of the saucepan, once you have everything in place, you can start putting in your ingredients.
3. First and foremost, chop up your dark chocolate to small even pieces to make sure they melt well and quickly while stirring constantly because chocolate can burn.
4. Once your chocolate has melted and is lump free, take it off the heat. Next, you’ll start adding the remaining ingredients.

Step #2: Add Sugar and Milk Powder to the Chocolate

1. Get your sifter and sieve your powdered sugar into the melted chocolate. Mix it well until all the lumps are gone.
2. Next, sieve in your milk powder to reduce the chance of having a milk chocolate with grainy texture, granted the sieving step doesn’t guarantee you will have a smooth milk chocolate but it can help.
3. Continue mixing until it has become lump free, and the sugar and milk powder are well blended.

Step #3: Finishing Off

1. Sprinkle in your salt and mix it.
2. Add the flavors of your choice, if any.
3. Pour the chocolate mix in your mold.
4. Set the chocolate in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes.   

This chocolate needs to be stored in the fridge.

How to Make Milk Chocolate with Dark Chocolate – Recipe #2

The second recipe needs only three ingredients, replacing the powdered sugar and milk powder with sweetened condensed milk.

Ingredients

• 5-8 Tbsp Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 100g Dark Chocolate
• Optional Flavors (see note in Recipe 1)

Sweetened Condensed Milk: This is a concentrated cow’s milk where the water has been evaporated, with sugar added to it, hence why it is named sweetened condensed milk. This ingredient suffices milk chocolates

Dark Chocolate Bar:  The cocoa solid for the chocolate should be from 80-90%.

Equipment

• Double Boiler
• Heat Safe Bowl
• Chocolate Mold
• Rubber Spatula

Method: How to Make Milk Chocolate into Dark Chocolate (Recipe 2)

Step #1: Melt the Chocolate

1. Prepare your double boiler.
2. Chop the dark chocolate bar into even pieces, place it in the bowl, and let it melt.
3. Once it starts to melt, stir continuously with the spatula.

Step #2: Add Sweetened Condensed Milk

After the chocolate has melted completely:

1. Add half of the sweetened condensed milk (3-4 Tbsp). Mix gently until it is combined fully.
2. Taste the chocolate mixture to make sure that it is to your liking. If it is not sweet enough add in more of the condensed milk.
3. Once the chocolate has reached your preferred level of sweetness, continue stirring until you are sure that it is uniformly mixed. Remove from heat.

Step #3: Finishing Off

1. After you have removed it from the heat, stir in the flavorings of your choice.   
2. Pour your mixture into a mold of your choice.
3. Put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, and let it set. 

Because the sweetened condensed milk is liquid, this chocolate mixture will not set as hard as the first recipe. However, this chocolate is good for dipping in different fruits.

Additional Tips for Making Dark Chocolate into Milk Chocolate

Getting a Smooth Texture

Achieving a smooth texture for homemade chocolate can be difficult because commercially manufactured chocolates use a conche or a melanger to give you that smooth and melt-in-your-mouth type of chocolate texture.

At this point, you might be wondering how you too can achieve that smooth and uniform texture that is the result of a conche or a melanger, the more attainable option for at-home use is a mortar and pestle. Although you will not reach the same textural quality, it will have some texture improvement and give you an arm workout as well.

Working with Different Ratios of Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate’s cocoa solid content ranges from 50 to 100%. The higher the cocoa solid content, the more bitter the chocolate gets; this means that as the ratio of the cocoa solid increases the amount of sweetener you use will also need to increase to get a sweet end result.

The other thing you need to note is when the cocoa solid content is higher than 80%, the melting point of the chocolate increases, so melting it needs to be done with extra care, since it requires more time to melt and extra gentle stirring is also pertinent to prevent it from burning.

Storing your Home-Made Milk Chocolate

Homemade chocolate is not as stable as the store-bought ones and they cannot simply be stored in a cool dry place as we do for the other chocolates. In simple English, store them in the fridge, but for a longer shelf life, you can store them in the freezer.

Conclusion

We hope you’ve enjoyed this article from Elily on how to make milk chocolate with dark chocolate, and now feel inspired to use up that store of dark chocolate in your pantry. If you’ve stored your dark chocolate for awhile and see white streaks on it, don’t worry, its just chocolate bloom which is harmless, and can still be used for making milk chocolate using the method in this tutorial.

For more easy tutorials on making chocolate at home, check out our articles on making chocolate from cacao nibs and making chocolate from cocoa powder. Or, if you are ready to move into more advanced chocolate crafting, you can learn the full bean to bar chocolate making process here.

Happy chocolatiering!