Dairy Free & Soya Free Allergy Friendly Chocolate Chips & Baking Chocolate

Something that can become frustrating, seemingly impossible or often downright expensive is trying to follow some food allergy friendly recipes which originate in countries other than your own. My biggest pet peeve is recipes that are seemingly dairy free, soya free, gluten free, etc. but call for specific products which are obviously commonly found in the author’s country but are nowhere to be seen in my country! This can really become a problem when something needs, for example:

- Soya free ice cream like Rice Dream ice cream, when soya based ice creams are all that is available

- Dairy free chocolate chips when all that is available is expensive luxury chocolate bars

- Gluten free bread crumbs when you have multiple food allergies and can’t eat the Gluten free breads sold in the shops due to corn or milk or potato...

...to name but a few of the common problem ingredients.

Here at Survival Guide I am always reading the ingredients of everything I see, just in case – because you never know what you might fall upon and today I want to share with you a couple of options if you are in need of dairy free chocolate chips...

Homecook Wonderbar Dark Chocolate Flavour
Wonderbar gets a bit of a beating when it comes to taste reviews but the first thing to keep in mind is that it is NOT a luxury chocolate, if considered a chocolate at all (note that the name only refers to 'Chocolate Flavour'). I actually sometimes eat Wonderbar Dark Chocolate Flavour Bar straight from the package if I'm baking with it but F. doesn’t think that much of it. He's probably right but it is dairy free and very affordable. Saying that it is quite sweet and I usually get sweetened-out after only a few squares. Its far from a luxury chocolate but straight eating aside, Wonderbar is actually intended as a baking chocolate and its quality is in line with its intended purpose. Its major attribute is its bang for buck quality. There’s been a ‘special offer 3 pack’ on for ages which means you get 3 bars (450g) for about €2.15-2.50 (€0.75 for one bar). This can make your baking project significantly more affordable if you need a lot of chocolate. I think that its perfectly acceptable for chocolate chip cookies and similar uses. I like to chop the bars into chunks instead of buying chocolate chips because I think it makes for a more home-baked comfort in the final product but if you prefer chips or indeed, have a soya allergy try out some of the Chocolate Chips below which come at a slightly higher price.

Boyne Foods have confirmed for me that the Homecook Dark Chocolate Flavour Wonderbar is:
- Dairy free/Milk free
- Lactose free
- Wheat free
- Gluten free
- Corn free
- Egg free

****IMPORTANT UPDATE****
Today (14 March 2014) I received an unfortunate email from a mother (H.) who had to bring her daughter to the hospital the previous evening due to an anaphylactic reaction after eating some homemade Chocolate Corn Flake bake using Wonderbar. H's daughter suffers from severe dairy and egg allergies. H. has since contacted the manufacturers who have stated that Wonderbar still do not contain the allergens in question and have agreed to test some of the chocolate used as supplied by H. I await feedback from the results and will announce the findings accordingly. In he meantime I am happy to confirm that H's daughter has recovered and is well.
****************************

Homecook Dark Chocolate Flavour Wonderbar is usually available in Tesco, Supervalu, Dunnes and some Centra stores. You might also come across Scotbar which is the same idea and is also naturally dairy free but I prefer Wonderbar (note: Scotbar might a have different food allergy staus than Wonderbar).
Ingredients: Sugar, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Cocoa Powder, Emulsifier (Lecithin), Vanillin, Flavouring (Chocolate Flavouring, Créme Vanilla).
Nutritional Information per 100g: unavailable

Note: Wonderbar is sweetened with sugar unlike many traditional ‘cooking chocolates’ which are usually bittersweet. For this type of chocolate or for a richer, higher quality chocolate try naturally allergen free brands like O’Conaills 100% Cocao (approx. €5.25 for 100g, Willie’s Supreme Cacao or Valrohna Dark Chocolate Drops (€13.95! and contains soya). All available at Fallon & Bryne.

Plamil Dairy Free Chocolate Drops
This little tub of goodness is brilliant because it is not only dairy free, but also soya free (although there is a may contain traces warning)! The sad news is that Down to Earth and The Sweet Life used to carry these Chocolate Drops but not any more… Gah! Sooo, after combing the city centre The Hopsack way down in Rathmines (Dublin 6) were the only ones to say that although they don’t carry them, that they can order them for me so I would definitely order them here if it was up to choice! I think that they should be roughly €3.50 for the tub of 175g (Hilariously, this picture is a photo of the photo on the Plamil website because I couldn't get my hands on any today!)

- Dairy free/Milk free
- Lactose free
- Corn free
- Soya free (note: there is a may contain traces warning)
- Gluten free
- Wheat free
- Coconut free
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Egg free

Ingredients: Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter, Sunflower Lecithin.
Nutritional Information per 100g:
Energy 2282kJ/546kcal
Protein 6.8g
Carbohydrates 59g
Fat 31g

Plamil’s Dairy Free Chocolate Drops are also available through their website: www.plamil.co.uk
Also available through the website is Baking Chocolate Drops with sugar and Baking Chocolate Drops with xylitol instead of sugar (both in 1kg catering sizes) which are made in a Nut free environment.



On my search about town I also found these:

Moo Free Scummy Organic Dairy Free Alternative to Milk Chocolate Drops
I found them in Nourish for €1.45 for only 35g so they don’t exactly fit the bill of budget baking ingredients but they are

- Dairy free/Milk free
- Lactose free
- Gluten Free
- Wheat Free
- Egg Free
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Does not contain soya but also has a ‘may contain traces of nuts and soya’ warning
- Fair trade
- Organic

Ingredients: Organic sugar, organic cocoa butter, organic rice powder (20%), organic cocoa mass, emulsifier (sunflower lecithin) & natural flavouring.
Nutritional Information per 100g:
Energy 2440kJ/585kcal
Protein 3.05g
Carbohydrate 51.7g
Fat 40g

Or if you’re really desperate for some Chocolate Chips and don’t mind about ‘traces warnings’ you could also check out Dr.Oetker’s Plain Chocolate Chips which are available in some of the larger Tesco and Dunnes stores for €1.19 for 100g but I think that this is a way bigger gamble because the warning reads: Contains soya and traces of milk...
Ingredients: Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter, Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin; Natural Flavouring: Vanilla. Note: ‘contains soya and traces of milk’ warning
Nutritional Information per 100g: unavailable