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Amadei ChuaoIl Cioccolato Amadei, located in the countryside outside of the small town of Pontedera, in Tuscany, sources their own beans to produce varietal solid chocolate squares and bars. Their Chuao bars are grown only for them in the rain forests of Venezuela. |
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Pavé du FaubourgIt is hard to visit La Maison du Chocolat without having one of their Chocolat Chaud - French hot chocolate. But this is the next best thing when you are in a hurry. Delicate squares of dark chocolate ganache are flavored lightly with a blend of spices. |
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Passion Amande Sucreé SaléeThis praline from the original Belgian branch of Neuhaus Chocolates caught my eye because of its graphic decoration. I was surprised to find inside a combination of gianduja (emulsified hazelnuts and milk chocolate) with caramelized salt almonds. |
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Nibby Chocolate BarScharffen Berger Chocolate Maker's Nibby Bar has been a favorite of mine for years. What could be better — 62% Cacao Semisweet chocolate and roasted cacao nibs. A crunchy delight that is good and good for you. |
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TartufiIn the middle of the Tuscan countryside is a little palace of chocolate and coffee owned by the Slitti family. Their tiny bite-size truffles infused with Cognac and rustically rolled in cocoa powder are the perfect little something to enjoy after dinner. |
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Passion Fruit TrufflesBrian McElrath and Christine Walthour of B.T. McElrath Chocolatier partner passion fruit mousse with just the right chocolate so the tropical fruit flavor takes center stage in a shiny molded shell. |
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Debondt Fruit and Chocolate BarsPaul Debondt takes classic chocolate bark one step further by loading the top of each bar of melted chocolate with an abundance of pistachios, hazelnuts, almonds or dried fruit. |
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Mon Cheri BarEven though I'm not a huge fan of dried fruits and chocolate, Frederick Schilling at Dagoba creates such darn healthy and good tasting bars that I succumbed to this combination of bittersweet chocolate, sun dried cherries and cranberries. |
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Chocolate Bar Selection at Fog City NewsFog City News carries 200 different chocolate bars in stock at all times including bars from the US, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Switzerland and other countries around the World. |
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Caramel with Balsamic VinegarWhen Andrea Bianchini introduced us to his caramel flavored with balsamic vinegar, I was sceptical - but won over by the perfect balance of sweet and tart caramel covered in dark chocolate. |
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La Dolce GrapefruitJoan Coukos of Chocolat Moderne enrobes tangy grapefruit flavored caramel in dark chocolate. The very complex taste and texture is the result of balancing the sweetness of the caramel with the strong citrus flavor and deep, rich chocolate. |
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Debondt HabanaroI don't envy Paul Debondt when he starts slicing and candying the amazingly hot habanero chilies in preparation for this bar that has loads of fruity flavor as well as a good bite. |
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ChocopodChuao Chocolatier created Chocopod - a cross between a bar and a bonbon. Chocopods are made from Venezuelan chocolate containing 60% cacao with a surprise filling of flavors such as Mayan inspired spices or nutmeg with coffee. |
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Burnt CaramelMichael Recchiuti once told me that he has always loved the flavor of burnt caramel. His almost smoky caramel is blended with extra-bitter chocolate ganache and then enrobed with deep, dark chocolate. One taste and I, too, shared his passion. |
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Chocolate ToolsRoberto Catinari was the first truly artisan cioccolatieri in Tuscany who as a young man studied in Switzerland. He perfects the technique of creating chocolate versions of mundane items – yes, everything in the picture is chocolate. |
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Chocolate Bar Criollo 70%Along with his tiny chocolates and pastries, Christian Constant in Paris offers chocolate bars including a Criollo 70%. Less than 5 % of the cocoa beans grown are the criollo which when expertly dried and fermented produces a complex flavor. |
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Ultimate ToffeeAndrew Shotts of Garrison Confections takes classic English toffee one step further using lots of butter to create a crunchy not sticky, rich toffee covered in a not-too-sweet milk chocolate and generously sprinkled with nuts. It is hard to eat just one. |
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E. Guittard L'Harmonie 64%Made from a blend of Criollo and Trinitario cacao beans, Guittard calls L'Harmonie a "baking bar" but I think its one of the richest and smoothest bittersweet chocolate bars around for munching. |
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Donnelly Chocolate BarsRichard Donnelly was one of the first to offer fine chocolate bars — single varietal or flavored with almond or cardamom. His milk chocolate bars with a West African cocoa blend are flavored with almond or hazelnut almond toffee. |
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Iris DeliceInspired by her love of chocolate and her passion for the Iris, Barbara Golini produces delicate bon-bons of soft, iris-scented dark chocolate called Iris Delice in Florence. |
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Tablettes Luca MannoriAward Winning Pastry Chef Luca Mannori takes the chocolate he uses for his special chocolates and forms it into bars with different themes: dark chocolate, fruit, tea, spices, air. |
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Chocolate MiceL.A. Burdick's tiny mice come in 3 flavors: dark chocolate mouse with orange and dark chocolate, milk chocolate mouse with coffee and dark chocolate, and white chocolate mouse with cinnamon and dark chocolate. |
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Nibby Chocolate BarScharffen Berger Chocolate Maker's Nibby Bar has been a favorite of mine for years. What could be better — 62% Cacao Semisweet chocolate and roasted cacao nibs. A crunchy delight that is good and good for you. |
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Coeur FramboiseWhen I first saw this chocolate, it looked like a jewel in Pierre Marcolini's boutique window. I thought the raspberry flavor would be sweet under its white chocolate (tinted deep red) coating. But I was delighted to find the shell hid a bitter chocolate. |
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Apple White ChocolatesNorman Love's chocolates made with fine Swiss white chocolate are as tasty as they are jewel box beautiful. We especially love the bright green apple chocolates made with Granny Smith apple purée and a pinch of cinnamon. |
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CreminiDaniele, Stefania and Leonardo Vestri of Cioccolaterie Vestri produce the classic Italian cremini in three layers from light to dark - emulsifying hazelnuts and chocolate until they become one. |
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Carenero Superior 70%Domori's chocolate bars are always interesting but this is my favorite made with cacao from the Barlovento area of Venezuela with its dried fruit and nut flavors and long finish. |
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Aromatica BarriqueWe love Simone De Castro Aromatica Barrique bar with its spices of mace, ginger, red peppercorns and Caribbean pimento infused into 60% cocoa dark chocolate. |
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California BrittleOne of my favorite chocolates since childhood, See's Candies’ California Brittle is a rich hard toffee full of roasted almonds and covered in just the right amount of milk chocolate. This candy balances the perfect ratio of crisp, sweet toffee to nuts. |
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Drew Elementary Garden Mint TruffleJohn and Kira Doyle infuse mint leaves (grown and picked by the student gardeners at local schools) in their cream and then blend with Valrhona milk chocolate to create the careful balance of chocolate and mint in one smooth mint chocolate truffle. |
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GiandujaVestri Cioccolate produces bars of the classic Italian Gianduja following the traditional method of refining the hazelnuts and chocolate together until the two are indistinguishable. Resulting in a smooth chocolate infused with hazelnut flavor. |
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Divine 70% Dark ChocolateDivine Chocolate's 70% dark chocolate bar made from beans from Ghana was the winner in a recent tasting of five dark chocolate bars at 70% cocoa. Everyone voted it number 1 and loved the rich 'chocolate' taste. |
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Key Lime ApplesThe first time I tasted these crisp, dark chocolate-coated apples from Recchiuti Confections I was amazed. So much flavor packed into a wafer-thin confection. Protected in its chocolate shell, the sweet and tangy apple slice retains a crisp bite. |
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Les PavésLes Pavés are tiny squares of dark chocolate ganache cut into perfect 1/2 inch squares and coated with cocoa powder. The ultimate in melt-in your-mouth bonbon is a specialty of Michel Chaudun and protegé Jean-Charles Rochoux. |
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Amadei ChuaoIl Cioccolato Amadei, located in the countryside outside of the small town of Pontedera, in Tuscany, sources their own beans to produce varietal solid chocolate squares and bars. Their Chuao bars are grown only for them in the rain forests of Venezuela. |
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Amaretto AlmondIf you are an almond lover like I am, you will appreciate Woodhouse Chocolate's ode to the nut. Take a chocolate dipped almond and then nestle it in a milk chocolate shell surrounded by Amaretto-flavored milk chocolate ganache. |
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Cambur CaramelChuao Chocolatier takes its name and inspiration from Venezuela, the home of one of the owners. This fruit caramel definitely reflects that part of the world with banana and brown sugar caramel tucked inside a Venezuelan milk chocolate shell. |
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Patrick Roger Trinidad 75%Paris chocolatier Patrick Roger has a wall of bars in single origin or chocolate blends in a range of percentages - the Trinidad a particular favorite for munching on long walks. |
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Maya GoldGreen & Blacks original organic bar and its homage to the Mayan peoples of Belize, delivers a slight crunch of exotic citrus and spices that takes you back to the tropics. |
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Macaron PlénitudeOk, Ok — macarons are not bonbons but when they are tiny chocolate and caramel macarons with dark chocolate ganache from Pierre Hermé in Paris, I think they need to be on our list of the best tiny confections we've ever tasted. |
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Bianchini Cioccolato BarrettesAndrea Bianchini blends deep, dark flavors of South American chocolate in his 85% cocoa bittersweet barette and enriches milk chocolate with dark tones in his 43% cocoa milk chocolate barette. |
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Raspberry TrufflesFran's Raspberry Truffle ganache is infused with red raspberry purée and a splash of Clear Creek Framboise from Portland Oregon (where it takes up to 80 pounds of raspberries to make one bottle). Then she protects that flavor with dark chocolate! |
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Vestri Gran Cru BarsDanielo Vestri is proud of his Dark Chocolate Gran Cru bars from the Caribbean, Venezuela and Madagascar. We particularly liked the red fruit flavors in the Madagascar. |
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Guanaja 70%Valrhona's line of Grand Cru bars started the interest in single origin, high percentage chocolates - Guanaja has the smooth, creamy mouthfeel we expect from Valrhona combined with a deep intense chocolate flavor. |
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Donnelly Chocolate BarsRichard Donnelly was one of the first to offer fine chocolate bars — single varietal or flavored with almond or cardamom. His milk chocolate bars with a West African cocoa blend are flavored with almond or hazelnut almond toffee. |
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Long ChocolateIt is very difficult to choose when you are standing in a Jean Paul Hevin chocolate boutique but these chocolate bars in deep, dark chocolate are easy to munch during your walking tour of Paris. The perfect chocolate in a perfectly easy to use form. |
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Fruit CaramelsPatrick Roger's fruit caramels combine fine caramel with fruit puree such as pear or Brazilian lime then creates sparkling one-of-a-kind multi colored shells to hold the soft caramel. But don't let the good looks fool you, this is a seriously good tasting bonbon. |
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Lindt Excellence 85%Yes, I've included a bar that you can buy at your local drugstore. The chocolate makers at Lindt have created a dark bittersweet bar that rivals any other high cocoa content bar. |
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Dark Gray Salt CaramelsFran's Chocolates' butter caramels are hand-dipped in dark chocolate and sprinkled with Brittany gray sea salt. Sweet and salty has always been a favorite since my childhood when my Dad bought chocolate-covered Spanish peanuts as a treat. |
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Raspberry CordialThis is the Lillie Belle Farms bonbon that knocked me off my feet at the Fancy Food Show. The raspberry taste was sweet and tart at the same time and just melted in your mouth along with the dark chocolate shell. |
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Los AnconèsMichel Cluizel's Los Anconès bar made from cacao from Santa Domingo has an earthy fruitness that lingers - not to be missed as it is one of the great flavors in dark chocolate. |
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Chocolate Covered BlackberriesBissinger’s special treat that is only available in late August and early September each year — Chocolate Covered Blackberries. Fresh blackberries from the Pacific Northwest are hand-dipped in fondant and then dipped in either milk or dark chocolate. |
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Fresh Fruit ChocolatesThomas Haas Fresh Fruit Chocolates combine a layer of fresh fruit gelée with a layer of chocolate ganache and come in five flavour combinations. Our favorite is Passion Fruit with Tahitian Vanilla Gelée. Hand painted plaquettes indicate the flavor. |
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French CherryMartine's favorite bonbon is mine too as it brings back memories of her childhood in France and my time spent there. French Cherry is the chocolate covered cherry for chocoholics — a cherry marinated in brandy is nestled in dark chocolate ganache and encased in a perfect chocolate shell. |
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Red Fire Chocolate Truffle & BarVosges Haut-Chocolat makes both a truffle and a bar with dark chocolate, ancho chili powder and Ceylon cinnamon. The hot and cinnamony flavor of Red Fire brings back memories of hot chocolate but with the grown-up zing of chilis. |
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Hazelnuts in ChocolatePaul De Bondt of DeBondt Cioccolato Originale, taught me how to make chocolate covered hazelnuts by hand - a specialty of Tuscany. What could be better than fresh roasted hazelnuts, rich dark chocolate and a tiny bit of sugar for crunch. |
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Chocolate ToolsRoberto Catinari was the first truly artisan cioccolatere in Tuscany who as a young man studied in Switzerland. He perfects the technique of creating chocolate versions of mundane items – yes, everything in the picture is chocolate. |
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Taittinger Champagne TrufflesJacques Torres' Taittinger Champagne Truffles combine milk chocolate, fresh cream and Taittinger Brut La Française and are enclosed in a milk chocolate champagne-cork-shaped shell. Real champagne, not flavoring, gives the ganache its melting texture. |
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Chocolate Bar Criollo 70%Along with his tiny chocolates and pastries, Christian Constant in Paris offers chocolate bars including a Criollo 70%. Less than 5 % of the cocoa beans grown are the criollo which when expertly dried and fermented produces a complex flavor. |
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Mon Cheri BarEven though I'm not a huge fan of dried fruits and chocolate, Frederick Schilling at Dagoba creates such darn healthy and good tasting bars that I succumbed to this combination of bittersweet chocolate, sun dried cherries and cranberries. |
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Dark Chocolate Classic TrufflesFritz Knipschildt celebrates the classic deep dark chocolate truffle using France's smooth, creamy Valrhona 70% Grand Cru chocolate. This is the confection to satisfy your cravings for rich dark chocolate flavor with nothing else getting in the way. |
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