I have always had something of a sweet tooth. At the age of two, I knew how to spell ice cream, foiling my parents' clever attempts to plan out treats for themselves for after I went to bed. As I got older, I was a fool for Jolly Ranchers, Sugar Daddies and Lik-M-Aid.

These days, the desire for sweet things remains, although I try to keep it in check for the sake of my dental health and waistline. However, I often find myself craving something sweet after lunch or dinner and if I'm not careful, those sugar yearnings can explode into some seriously unwise indulgences.

Thankfully, about six months ago, I discovered Sweetriot. These tiny, dark chocolate-cover cacao nibs satisfy my need for a sweet treat without blowing the calorie bank and for some unknown reason, I'm able to make a single 1-ounce tin last for weeks. There's something about the marginally sweet dark chocolate, coupled with the slightly bitter crunch of the nib that keeps my tastebuds happy.

If you're a chocolate lover who needs something tiny to keep your sugar cravings tame, I highly recommend these little guys.

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.

According to their mission statement, sweetriot's goal is to "create a more just and celebrated multicultural world for our next generation." A fine mission, to be sure, but what they actually do is sell a line of chocolate covered cacao nibs. Appropriately named "peaces", all of their products are all-natural, gmo-free, dairy-free, kosher, gluten-free and feature only fair trade chocolate. In addition to carrying a social cause, they also taste great. The nibs come in three primary flavors, divided and named by the cacao content of the chocolate that enrobes the nibs. Flavor 50 is a mild dark chocolate and almost similar in flavor to milk chocolate, though it is dairy-free. Flavor 65 is a classic dark chocolate and flavor 70 (pictured) is extra dark and boosted with a bit of espresso.

My favorite way to eat them is to mix the three different peace mixes - 50, 65 and 70 - together. The sweeter 50 takes the edge off the dark 70, while leaving a nice espresso taste. Basically, they all just get along - and there's no need to overthink it because it tastes so good.

If you want to give them a taste, the Happy holly-days pack and Hanukah packs deliver one tin of each flavor and also make great little gifts. You can also try the newest flavor, 70cinn, which is a limited edition flavor released just for the holidays.