10 Homemade Chocolates for the Holidays (No Recipe Required!)

For birthdays, parties and Christmas gifts, or just for yourself, nothing beats homemade chocolate. Chocolates can belong to any season and any holiday. They show care and commitment, and are actually very easy to do and don’t take much time.

Melting chocolate doesn’t require a double boiler; a metal bowl in a pot of boiling water will do just fine. The healthiest option is to mix cacao butter and cacao powder. Baking chocolates or vegan chocolate-making kits are great, but any vegan chocolate chips on hand will work. Just avoid regular chocolate bars, because they tend to separate and get flaky when heated.

Raw chocolates can be made by mixing together melted cacao butter and cacao powder. The biggest difference between raw and non-raw chocolates is the heat at which you melt the cacao butter, so plan more time for raw chocolate because it will take longer to melt. Try a basic Raw Dark Chocolate, easy to customize with these tricks or a Raw Superfood Chocolate.

Cute and exciting candy moulds come in all shapes and sizes, but all you need to make these chocolates is a muffin tin or an ice cube tray. Pour the melted chocolate into a mini muffin tin or ice tray, or fill full-sized muffin tins halfway. These chocolates are meant to make little cups, about a third of the way full in a regular-sized muffin tin, or all the way full in a mini tin.

1. Layered With Fudge

Pour a first, thin layer of chocolate and allow to cool, while keeping the rest of the chocolate warm. Spread in cooling almond butter or peanut butter fudge, add more chocolate, and sprinkle nuts on top. Fudge can be made with just three ingredients: nut butter, coconut oil, and sweetener cooked for ten minutes on the stove. Give texture no-bake style with rolled oats or coconut. Some great fudge filling options are Raw Vegan Chocolate and Peanut Butter Fudge, turn it into a Mounds bar with The World’s Healthiest Mounds Bar Fudge and go white with Raw White Chocolate Coconut Fudge Bites.

2. Bejeweled

Stir cranberries and pecans or chopped walnuts into the chocolate mixture, and save a few to sprinkle on top for an exciting, textured chocolate. Optionally, skip the sugar and throw in some dates or raisins instead. Experiment with other nuts, like pistachios, and other dried fruit until you find your favorite combination.

3. Tourist

Inspired by the scrumptious and definitely not vegan Frey Tourist chocolate bars my roommate used to bring me back from Switzerland, which are more nuts and fruit than actual chocolate, I decided to make my own version. Raisins, almonds and hazelnuts go into this delicious bar, and with hazelnuts I can’t imagine anyone would miss dairy.

4. Ginger Snap

Just add candied ginger! The healthier but time-consuming option is to dry your own ginger, and use with dates and cinnamon for a spicy treat.

5. The Great Pumpkin

Cook pumpkin pie spice into the chocolate, or mix it with the raw, melted cacao butter, and sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top.

6. Pumpkin Pie Filling

After allowing the bottom layer to cool, spoon a dollop of your favorite pumpkin pie filling, and pour the chocolate in circles around the filling before covering to keep the soft filling contained. No Bake Vegan Dark Chocolate-Pumpkin Pie is great for raw pumpkin chocolates.

7. Sweet and Green

Mix cashew butter, fresh greens and agave in the food processor and use for the filling. If they won’t be eaten right away, stick to spirulina or dehydrated greens.

8. Super Berry

Mix dried goji berries and goldenberries into the melted chocolate. Golden berries are really tart, so be prepared if you haven’t had them before, but once you get used to them it’s a flavor not like any other, in a good way.

9. Coconut Cream

There are two great ways to make cream-filled chocolates with coconut. For the first, make a coconut whipped cream and use as the filling, just like the pumpkin pie filling. For fruit cream, add your fruit of choice to the cream. For citrus fruits, using a marmalade will work better. The second way is to combine coconut butter with fruit, like in these Raw Dark Chocolate Cherry Cream Cups. For an extra gourmet variety, try floral extracts like rose, or whole lavender flowers.

10. Coconutty

Sprinkle shredded coconut on top before the chocolate cools, or mix into the chocolate for more coconut and texture.

11. Hint-of-Mint

Mix a few drops of peppermint extract into the chocolate, and garnish with fresh mint leaves.

12. Mint Cup

Make a minty fudge cream with sugar, coconut oil, and mint extract or fresh mint leaves. After letting the bottom layer of the chocolate cup harden, add a dollop of mint cream and cover with chocolate.

Looking for more ideas? Try truffles and making your own candy, too.