Quick Substitutions: Cocoa Powder for Chocolate

I saw this in one of my email newsletters. It was a short video, and they didn't even have a written version of the recipe, but I thought it was such handy information to know! It is a video on how to substitute cocoa powder for chocolate. I thought this was awesome because I always have cocoa powder on hand, but I don't always have unsweetened or semi-sweet chocolate on hand.

Homemade Unsweetened Chocolate

Ingredients:

3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp butter

Directions:

Dissolve cocoa powder in liquid that is called for in the recipe. Mix in butter.

Makes enough to replace 1 oz unsweetened chocolate.

Source: Video from MyRecipes.com. You can watch the video here. I think you have time to watch it. The video is only 36 seconds long. :)

Homemade Semi-Sweet Chocolate

Ingredients:

3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. butter
1 1/2 tbsp. sugar

Directions:

Dissolve cocoa powder in liquid that is called for in the recipe. Mix in butter and sugar.

Makes enough to replace 1 oz semi-sweet chocolate.

Source: Same video as the one above.

Notes: I haven't tried either of these, but I thought it was super valuable information to have. You know, if you ever HAVE to have brownies and just happen to be out of bars of baking chocolate. :)

Quick Substitutions: Coconut Milk

Do you need coconut milk, but don't have any in your cupboard? However, do you happen to have some flaked coconut on hand? If so, you can make your own coconut milk!

Coconut Milk

Ingredients:

1 cup flake coconut
1 cup milk

Directions:

Simmer 1 cup coconut in 1 cup milk until mixture begins to foam. Strain. Use in beverages, or in baking and in cooking.

Refrigerate any leftovers.

Source: I found this recipe on the back of a package of sweetened flaked coconut (Kroger brand) and thought it was definitely a handy thing to know!

Notes: I haven't actually tried this, but I wanted to keep it in a safe place so that I could try it when the need arises!