DIY Lavender Chocolate Chips
How to Make Lavender Chocolate Chips From Scratch (They're Purple and Absolutely Worth It)
I'll be honest — this recipe started because I couldn't find what I needed anywhere. I wanted to bake lavender chocolate chip cookies for a spring garden party, and I pictured soft, buttery cookies studded with little purple chips that practically announced their flavor before the first bite. I searched every baking aisle, scrolled through every online specialty shop, and came up absolutely empty.
So I made them myself. And honestly? I'm glad no one else sells them, because making your own is a genuinely fun kitchen project that takes about 30 minutes and costs a fraction of what any artisan chocolatier would charge. Once you've piped your first tray of tiny purple dots and watched them solidify in the freezer, you'll feel ridiculously accomplished. Let's get into it.
Why You'll Fall Head Over Heels for This Recipe
- Completely customizable flavor — you control exactly how much lavender intensity goes in, from a whisper to a full floral statement
- Only 4 ingredients — white chocolate, coconut oil, lavender candy oil, and food coloring; nothing obscure or hard to track down
- Done in 30 minutes — including freezing time, these come together faster than most cookie doughs
- Visually stunning — the deep purple hue makes any bake look bakery-worthy or like it came from a boutique patisserie
- Versatile — use them in cookies, muffins, scones, bark, ice cream, or straight from the bag when no one's watching
- Budget-friendly — one batch yields 6 oz (170g) of chips, comparable in volume to a standard shop-bought bag
The Origins and Cultural Significance of Lavender in Food
Lavender has been flavoring food and drink for centuries, though it had a long stretch as purely a scent ingredient before cooks began fully embracing its culinary potential. The Romans used it in cooking and bathing alike — the word "lavender" itself likely derives from the Latin lavare, meaning to wash. For much of European history, lavender was grown primarily in the south of France, particularly in Provence, where fields of it still stretch across hillsides in jaw-dropping purple waves every summer.
The French were arguably first to champion culinary lavender seriously. You'll find it woven through traditional Provençal cooking in herbes de Provence blends, honey, syrups, and baked goods. In the UK, lavender has deep roots in cottage garden culture, and British bakers — particularly in regions like the Cotswolds — have long stirred it into shortbread, scones, and elderflower presses.
In the USA, lavender flavor had a bit of a moment in the early 2000s through artisan coffee shops (lavender lattes, anyone?) and has since become a genuine staple in craft bakeries and pastry counters. The lavender-and-chocolate pairing, specifically, is a relatively modern combination — one that works beautifully because chocolate's slight bitterness counterbalances lavender's sweet floral edge without either flavor drowning the other out.
Making your own lavender chocolate chips is, in a way, a small nod to this centuries-old love affair between flowers and food — just slightly more DIY about it.
Ingredient Deep-Dive and Substitutions
Understanding why each ingredient is in here will help you make smarter swaps if needed.
White Chocolate Chips (6 oz / 170g)
White chocolate is the MVP of this recipe for one very specific reason: it's light-colored enough to take on the purple tint you're after. Dark or milk chocolate will absorb the food coloring, but you'd never see it — you'd just get dark-purple-ish chips that look muddy rather than vibrant.
Look for chips with a higher cocoa butter content for the smoothest melt and best flavor. Brands like Hershey's Premier White Baking Chips or Guittard work well. In the UK, Callebaut white chocolate callets melt beautifully if you can source them.
Substitution: If you can't use white chocolate (dairy allergy, vegan diet), look for vegan white chocolate chips made with rice milk or oat milk. They melt slightly differently but still work. If you simply prefer a richer chocolate note, milk or semi-sweet chips are fine — just know the visual effect will be lost.
Coconut Oil (1 tsp / 5ml)
This isn't just a health food trend ingredient here — it's doing real technical work. Coconut oil lowers the viscosity of melted chocolate, making it smoother and easier to pipe, and it helps the finished chips set with a slight sheen rather than a matte, dull finish.
Substitution: Solid vegetable shortening works as a 1:1 swap. Avoid butter — the water content in butter can cause the chocolate to seize (turn grainy and lumpy), which is a nightmare to fix.
Lavender Candy Oil (3 drops)
This is the heart of the recipe. Candy oil — also called flavoring oil or confectionery oil — is oil-soluble flavoring, which means it blends seamlessly into melted chocolate without causing it to seize. This is absolutely critical. Do not substitute regular lavender essential oil (it's not food-grade and can be unsafe at culinary amounts) or water-based flavor extracts (the water will cause your chocolate to split and clump horribly).
LorAnn's lavender candy oil is widely available online in both the USA and UK, and it is potent. Treat it like hot sauce — start with 1 drop, stir, taste, and build from there. Three drops is a confident lavender flavor; 5+ drops and you're eating soap. Start low.
Substitution: There aren't many direct swaps for oil-based lavender flavoring, but some brands like Amoretti and OliveNation also make excellent confectionery-grade lavender oils.
Oil-Based Purple Food Coloring (a few drops)
Here's where a lot of first-timers go wrong: they grab whatever food coloring is in the cabinet — usually a water-based liquid gel — and wonder why their chocolate turns lumpy and grainy. Chocolate is essentially a fat-based system. Introduce water into it and the cocoa solids grab that moisture and clump together in what bakers call "seizing." Your chocolate goes from smooth and silky to a stiff, crumbly mess almost instantly.
Oil-based food coloring (sometimes called candy color or oil-based color) is formulated specifically for chocolate and other fat-based applications. A violet or purple shade is ideal; you can also layer a tiny bit of blue on top of a pink-purple base to push the hue cooler and more violet.
Substitution: Powdered fat-soluble food coloring works equally well and sometimes gives even more vivid results. Avoid AmeriColor or Wilton gel colors — both are water-based.
Essential Kitchen Equipment
You don't need a professional setup, but these tools make the process noticeably easier:
- Microwave-safe bowl or double boiler setup — for melting the chocolate without scorching it
- Disposable piping bags — these are cheap, easy to clean up, and give you much better control than a zip-lock bag with a corner snipped. Reusable piping bags work too.
- Small round piping tip or scissors — snip a 3–4mm opening from the tip of the bag for chip-sized dots
- Parchment or wax paper — both work; parchment releases the chips slightly more cleanly
- Small baking sheet or tray — something flat that fits in your freezer
- Rubber spatula — for folding in the oil and color without overworking the chocolate
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Melt the Chocolate
Microwave method: Add the white chocolate chips and coconut oil to a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in 20-second bursts, stirring vigorously between each interval. This is not the time for impatience — rushing the microwave will scorch your chocolate and there's no coming back from that. After about 3 to 4 rounds of 20 seconds, the mixture should look glossy, smooth, and completely liquid with no white lumps remaining.
Double boiler method: Fill a small saucepan with about 2 inches (5cm) of water and bring it to a gentle simmer — not a boil. Set a heatproof bowl on top, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't actually touch the water. Add the chips and coconut oil. Stir slowly and consistently until completely melted and silky. Remove from the heat immediately once smooth.
Step 2: Add the Flavoring and Color
Working off the heat, add 1 drop of lavender candy oil and stir it through. Give it a taste — yes, taste your chocolate at this point. If you want more lavender, add another drop and stir again. Three drops is typically the sweet spot for most palates: distinctly floral but not perfumy.
Once you're happy with the flavor, add 2–3 drops of your oil-based purple food coloring. Fold it in gently rather than beating the chocolate, which can introduce air bubbles.
Step 3: Adjust and Mix
Keep adding color a drop at a time, stirring after each addition, until you reach a purple you love. Depending on how cream-colored your white chocolate is to start with, you might need 4–6 drops total to get a vibrant lavender shade. If your chocolate leans yellow-cream, a drop of white food coloring can neutralize it before you add the purple.
The finished mixture should be uniformly colored with no streaks. It should still be fluid and pourable — if it's started to thicken, it may have cooled too much. Gently warm it again in 10-second bursts.
Step 4: Load the Piping Bag
Transfer the chocolate into your piping bag using a spatula. Twist the open end closed and snip a small opening — about 3–4mm — from the tip. Test the size on a piece of paper first; you want dots roughly the size of a standard chocolate chip, not a blob and not a pinprick.
Step 5: Pipe the Chips
Hold your piping bag vertically over the lined baking sheet, about 1cm above the surface. Apply a short, even burst of pressure, then release and pull the bag straight up to form a chip shape with a little peak on top. Space your chips about 1cm apart. They don't need to be identical — slight variations actually make them look more natural and handmade.
Work quickly; the chocolate will begin to firm up as it cools. If it gets too thick to pipe cleanly, microwave the bag for 5 seconds at a time.
Step 6: Freeze Until Set
Slide the tray into the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes. The chips are ready when they feel completely firm and no longer tacky to the touch.
Step 7: Release and Store
Carefully peel the chips off the parchment — a small offset spatula helps here. Alternatively, flex the parchment back and forth gently and the chips will pop off on their own. Transfer them to an airtight container.
Expert Tips for Absolute Success
- Temperature is everything. Chocolate that's too hot when you add color and flavoring can behave unpredictably. Let it cool for 1–2 minutes after melting before you add anything else.
- Don't skip the coconut oil. It seems like a small addition but it genuinely changes how smoothly the chocolate melts and pipes.
- Taste before you pipe. Once these chips are set and baked into something, adjusting the flavor isn't possible. Taste and adjust during mixing.
- Work in a cool kitchen. If your kitchen is warm, the chocolate will take longer to set in the freezer and may go slightly soft when you're piping. Chill your baking sheet in the freezer for 5 minutes before you start piping.
- Avoid steam near chocolate. If you're using the stovetop method, even steam rising from the water can cause seizing. Keep the simmer gentle.
Exciting Flavor Variations and Add-Ins
Once you've nailed the base recipe, the customization options are genuinely fun:
- Lavender Earl Grey — add a tiny pinch of finely ground Earl Grey tea leaves to the melted chocolate for a bergamot-floral combination
- Lemon Lavender — add a drop of LorAnn lemon candy oil alongside the lavender; this pairing is especially good in muffins
- Honey Lavender — use white chocolate with a slightly higher honey content (some European brands have this), or add a very small amount of honey powder (not liquid — it'll cause seizing)
- Lavender Rose — combine lavender oil with a single drop of rose candy oil and tint the chips a dusty pink for Valentine's bakes
- Milk Chocolate Lavender — abandon the purple visual entirely and use good-quality milk chocolate chips; the flavor still shines even without the color
- Mini chips — snip an even smaller tip on your piping bag for mini-style chips that work beautifully in pancakes and granola
Serving Suggestions and Pairings
These chips were basically made to go places. Here's where they shine brightest:
- Classic cookies — fold into a standard chocolate chip cookie dough and let the lavender take center stage against a buttery, slightly crispy backdrop
- Lemon lavender muffins — the citrus brightens the floral note beautifully
- Scones — a very British use that feels completely at home; serve with clotted cream
- White chocolate bark — melt more white chocolate, spread on parchment, scatter these chips and dried blueberries on top, freeze, and break into shards
- Ice cream mix-in — fold into softened vanilla or honeycomb ice cream before refreezing
- Granola — stir through cooled homemade granola for a grown-up breakfast
- Hot cocoa garnish — drop a handful into hot white cocoa for a gorgeous, floral twist
Storage, Freezing, and Reheating Guide
Room temperature: Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry spot away from sunlight. A kitchen cupboard away from the oven is ideal. They'll keep well for up to 6 months, though in practice they'll be gone long before that.
Refrigerator: Fine for storage, though condensation when you bring them back to room temperature can affect the surface appearance. Seal the container well and let them come to room temperature before opening.
Freezer: These freeze beautifully. Lay them flat in a single layer in a zip-lock bag, press out the air, and freeze for up to a year. Use straight from frozen in baked goods — no need to thaw.
Note on heat: White chocolate has a lower melting point than dark or milk chocolate, which means these chips will melt faster and more completely in the oven than standard chips would. That's actually a feature in most applications — gooey, fully melted lavender pools in cookies are a wonderful thing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use essential oil instead of candy oil? No — this is genuinely important. Most lavender essential oils are not food-grade, and even those marketed as food-safe are significantly more concentrated and potentially unsafe at the amounts needed for flavor impact. Only use candy oil or confectionery-grade flavoring oil.
Why did my chocolate turn lumpy and grainy? This is called seizing, and it almost always happens because water got into the chocolate — either from steam, a wet bowl, water-based food coloring, or water-based extract. Make sure every tool that touches the chocolate is completely dry, and always use oil-based coloring and candy oil (not extract).
Can I make these dairy-free or vegan? Yes. Look for vegan white chocolate chips (brands like Pascha or Enjoy Life make them), and use refined coconut oil, which is naturally vegan. The candy oil and food coloring are typically vegan, but check the label on your specific brands.
How big should I pipe the chips? Aim for roughly the same size as a standard chocolate chip — about 1 cm in diameter and 0.5 cm tall. The easiest way to test is to pipe one chip and let it set for a moment before committing to the whole tray.
Can I double or triple the batch? Absolutely. The recipe scales up directly — just multiply everything proportionally. One thing to note: larger batches of melted chocolate cool more slowly, so you'll have slightly more working time, which is actually helpful when piping.
My chips came out flat rather than having a peak. What went wrong? Either the chocolate was too warm and runny when you piped, or the opening in your bag was too large. Let the chocolate cool a little longer before piping, and try a smaller snip on the bag tip.
Can I use these chips in place of regular chocolate chips in any recipe? In most cases, yes. Because they're made from white chocolate, they melt at a lower temperature than dark chocolate chips. In high-heat applications (above 375°F / 190°C), they may melt more completely into the dough, giving you lavender-flavored swirls rather than distinct chip shapes. Both outcomes are delicious.
How do I know if my lavender flavor is strong enough before I set the chips? Taste the warm chocolate mixture directly after adding the candy oil. The flavor will intensify slightly once the chips cool and set, so aim for something that's just shy of how strong you want the final result to be.
Can I pipe these into other shapes? Completely yes. Use a star tip for little lavender rosettes, or pipe into flat discs for chocolate medallions. The possibilities are genuinely fun to explore.
What if I can't find oil-based food coloring locally? Amazon (in both the USA and UK) carries oil-based chocolate colors readily. Wilton's Candy Colors set is widely available and works well for this application. Craft stores like Michaels or Hobbycraft often stock them too.
Final Thoughts
There's something quietly satisfying about making an ingredient from scratch that you simply couldn't buy anywhere — and these lavender chocolate chips are exactly that kind of project. They're not complicated, they don't require special training, and the payoff is completely disproportionate to the effort involved. One tray of tiny purple chips and suddenly every bake you make feels a little more special, a little more intentional.
Try them this weekend — in cookies, scattered over ice cream, or baked into a lemon muffin you're quietly proud of. Then come back and drop a comment below telling me how it went. I genuinely want to hear about your results, your variations, and the recipe you decided to put these in first. Happy baking!
