Lavender Vanilla White Chocolate Bar

Silky, feminine Lavender Vanilla White Chocolate Bar with specks of vanilla beans, home-grown lavender and a touch of gold.

Like music, a scent can evoke long lost memories. The wonderful aromas of lavender and vanilla always take me right back to my childhood. We spent a great deal of time with my grandparents and those two scents always seemed to permeate their home.

This Lavender Vanilla White Chocolate Bar is one in a series of four bars I made, based on your responses from one of my Instagram polls a few weeks back. I think it would be perfect for that special lady in your life, you call mom.

Flavouring The Chocolate

You may use fresh or dried lavender (see how to grow and dry your own). If you choose to infuse the chocolate, either fresh or dried lavender is fine. Infusion is a great option for those who prefer the lavender flavour, without the bits. Simply pour the chocolate through a strainer to remove the buds before molding.

However, if you plan to add the lavender buds to the chocolate, dried buds would likely provide better shelf-life. I had the idea to treat them with light coat of cocoa butter to see how they would hold up next to an untreated bar. After two weeks, they both still looked good, then they magically disappeared. No one has yet come forward to take responsibility...

I like the pops of lavender speckled throughout the bar alongside the vanilla beans, so that is the route I took for these bars. Like above, the amount you add is dependent on your taste. Too much lavender, however, can quickly become overly perfumey and soapy.

Culinary lavender oil is also a good option for adding flavour, if you don't have access to fresh or dried lavender buds. In another batch, I added lemon oil, which paired lovely with the lavender and reminded me of these and these. I'll show you how in an upcoming post for another bar I made.

How To Fill Bar Molds

When I bake layered cakes, I scale the batter into each pan to ensure uniformed layers. It works like a charm, so I use it when making bars. Not only do I get bars that are all the same weight, I cut down on waste and mess.

The description provided with molds usually include the weight the chocolate the bar will produce. I use that to determine the amount of chocolate I'll need to make a partial or full mold. When ready, I place the mold on my scale, tare it and fill each cavity per the provided weight.

Depending on the brand of mold, the information may not be exact, but is a good place to start. The type of chocolate you use may also affect the number provided. I find once I tap the filled molds to remove air bubbles and level the chocolate, I rarely ever need to scrape any extra chocolate away.

Finishing Accents

I think the bar is pretty, in an understated way, with just the specks of vanilla and lavender. I had some gold leaf left over from another project and thought it would add a nice touch to the design of the mold.

The leaves aren't exactly cheap, so use sparingly. I added the leaves directly to the mold before adding the chocolate. You can just as easily add the leaves to the chocolate after you unmold them. Damp fingertips (no, not with saliva...), or a plastic tweezer (my gold leaves included a mini tweezer) make adding them a breeze. And they are are completely edible!

These Lavender Vanilla White Chocolate Bar would make a great Mother's Day or teacher's gift. Give them a try and when you do be sure to let me know so that I can share them - tag @isugarcoatit or hashtag #isugarcoatit