"chocolate gifts" news and stories

First, a confession: I am not a chocoholic. I don't generally crave the stuff. Faced with a typical assorted box, I can stop after just one. But when the right chocolate product comes along, I morph into both fiend and pusher. Here are three of my very favorite indulgences, all available for purchase online.

• See's Candy Toffee-Ettes. The ultimate bite-sized morsel. At the center, Danish butter toffee, perfectly salted, encases toasted whole almonds. Around that is a layer of luscious milk chocolate. Then the whole tiny chocolate parcel is rolled in more coarsely chopped almonds. By now, See's, which began in Los Angeles, has much more than a cult following; in my opinion, they could have made their name on the strength of Toffee-Ettes alone. Fifteen bucks for a pound.
• poco dolce Aztec Chili Bittersweet Tiles. Another California find. If See's is all about down-home comfort, poco dolce appeals to the more uptown or Continental area of the taste bud map. Grey sea salt, roasted pumpkin seeds, cinnamon, and an swift kick of ground chili all meld beautifully with the silky dark chocolate. The price is a bit more uptown, too, at $18 for a box of eight tiles.
• sweetriot Cacao Nibs. A Slashfood colleague wrote about these two Decembers ago, so I will defer to her thorough description. I have only these three words to add: Perfect. Stocking. Stuffer.

I'll admit I haven't gotten into too many different brands of chocolate beyond Hershey's. Well, OK, I love Lindt and Ghiradelli, but those are the mainstream (yet terrific) gourmet chocolates. I'm talking about the more exotic chocolate pleasures that many of us don't try. Here are some gift ideas for the chocoholic on your list who might want to try something a little bit different.

Vosges has a rather intriguing selection of chocolates, brownies, cakes, and ice creams. At first I thought it was some sort of art site or perhaps a fashion site. Godiva has some nice baskets and other gifts.

Brownies are not really the most difficult thing in the world to bake - come on even I can make them! But sometimes, well, wouldn't it be nice to receive a beautifully wrapped package of rich and luxurious brownies that "melt in your mouth"?

Coco à Moi, a highly regarded Local Food Hero, use the finest ingredients – the chocolate in the brownies has 70% cocoa solids so they have "a wonderful rich chocolate flavour" while the chocolate chunks have 52% cocoa solids so they "have a nice bittersweet contrast". The chocolate is made with a blend of different West African cocoa beans carefully selected by a chocolatier to give a consistently high-quality product. All this results in brownies that "are soft and fudgy, as real brownies should be". Is your mouth watering yet?

An indulgent treat or as a gift these little boxes are sure to delight. They even post overseas (they are based in the UK). A standard box costs £7.50 including delivery.

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Though it may be a touch to late to order for Valentine's Day unless you live near a purveyor of fine chocolates, I have never yet heard of someone refusing to accept a belated Valentine's Day box of chocolates – particularly not if it is an exceptionally good box. Consumer Reports published ratings of their best chocolates picks, ranked into categories of excellent, very good, good and fair. Among those receiving Excellent ratings were Candinas and Jacques Torres, followed closely in the Very Good category by confections from Frans Chocolates, Godiva, Leonidas Chocolate and See's.

Every time I see See's Candies ranked lower than some other chocolate makers - though I do like the choices that CR has made here - I can't help but feel that it is because they are both widely available (here on the West Coast, anyway) and reasonably priced. Their products are excellent and, unlike some "higher end" confections, are sure to be a hit with anyone you given them to, since they mainly stick with classic flavors instead of following the arbitrary whims of flash-in-the-pan taste trends. They may not have curried truffles, but their caramels and buttercreams are definately the way to any candy-lover's heart.

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