Gift For The Chocolate Fanatic In Your Life

If you or your boss needs a gift for someone that is fixated on chocolate, you might want to order them the chocolate cacao beans above from Moonstruck Chocolates They are made of a chocolate that was thought to be extinct, but was recently rediscovered, so the gift will seem special and unique

Chocri Customized Chocolate Bars

If you or your boss wants to get someone a fun sweet treat, chocolate bars you can customize seem like a unique and fun idea.

Fudgetastic

I keep hearing about this local fudge with sea salt from John Kelly Chocolates. I guess I'm going to have to try it at some point soon. If you live in LA, you might want to check them out as well.

Chocolates On Riverside Drive

If you work at Disney or Warner Bros. and you have a sweet tooth or your boss needs a quick chocolate gift for an actor coming by at the last minute - you're now in luck. I just found out last week that there's an artisanal chocolate place right on Riverside called Amber Chocolatiers. People in my office had them last week and seemed to think they were quite good.

The Sweets of San Francisco

I can't take credit for the good post title because my cousin Leah (a wine & food expert and blog post title genius) came up with it. When I recently did this post about yummy sweet things in NYC, she said if you do a post like that regarding San Fran, I have the perfect title! Since I spent a bunch of years living up near San Francisco and still have many friends and family who live there, I figured that I would share a few chocolate and sweet treat ideas that I like from that area. They all ship, so you can order them no matter where you live. I have tasted most of these or they have been highly recommended to me by someone who lives in SF.

Recchiuti - They make a variety of different chocolates, but the Fleur De Sel Caramel I had was unreal. I also noticed on the site today that they have these smores bites that look really delicious.

Elbow Chocolates - I have not tasted these artisanal chocolates, but Food & Wine magazine gave them the #1 ranking of their top 10 Chocolates and I know a friend that did get them and said they were amazing. The flavors are also really unique.

Coco-Luxe - How can you go wrong with a place that has a Shoo Pie Fly Caramel that has rich, deep black strap molasses caramels enrobed in dark chocolate and complimented with Salish Smoked Salt.

Charles Chocolates - I have had chocolates from here before and they are really good, but I'm most enchanted with an item that I saw on their site recently. They do chocolates that come in a beautiful box made of chocolate that I'm dying to send to someone.

All of this sounds so good, I'm wishing I had some chocolate right now.

NYC Sweet Tooth

Today the focus is yummy treats in NYC to send to those you love with a sweet tooth. Here's a few of my favs:

Eli Zabar Pound Cake - This comes in a few flavors, but I think the marble loaf one is best. They also have other sweets and gift basket ideas.

Levain Bakery Cookies - I know more than one person who thinks they are the best cookies they have ever had. I think they are pretty good and they sure look fantastic in the pics.

Chocolate Bar NYC Retro Bars - These come in insane flavors like Key Lime and are really delicious.

I'll Have One Of Everything

I guess this is the week for mostly food themed blog posts. Just one semi short post today, because I'm job searching, writing and I have a Passover dinner to go to at a YUMMY deli (formal seder was last night). In the last day or so I came across a couple of new food gift ideas/sites that I thought seemed pretty unique and well, ummmm Delicious!! Here they are:

Charles Chocolates in a Signature Chocolate Box - This is truly one of the most beautiful chocolate gifts I have ever seen. The box that holds the chocolates is EDIBLE and there's a beautiful design on the top. I know someone who got this and she said they were delicious.

Igourmet - I read about this website a few days ago and was impressed by the extensive collection of higher end gourmet foods that they sell. They seem to also have an amazing amount of cheese related items as well. This might be my next go to place for a gourmet gift basket, if I'm not doing it locally.

Berkshire Bark Pretzelogical Chocolate Bar - These are somewhat hard to find (which of course makes me want to try it more). They have milk and dark chocolate, homemade caramel, pretzels and peanut butter in them. I was only able to find them online by the case, but the case isn't that expensive and it might be a fun thing to order to add to a wrap gift, a gift bag or a birthday gift.

Now Your Face Will Melt In Your Mouth, Not In Your Hand

If you have never sent custom M&M's to someone, you should. It's a great little gift and it isn't insanely expensive. I did them last year for my sister when she got married (I put Soon To Be Mrs. and her new last name on them) and she adored them. It's just a nice little way to put a twist on a classic and make it more surprising. Now you can even put any image onto an M&M. Imagine it, instead of your name up in lights, you can have your face on a piece of candy. At least until someone eats your face. I swear there's a movie idea in there somewhere -Chocolate Zombies From Hell, maybe? My writer friend Jordan came up with something better, not a movie title, but more of a tagline for the candy - Feed Your Inner Cannibal and Eat Your Face. Okay, he wins.

Oink If You Like Chocolate

Hopefully the title didn't scare you off. This is the thing, for some reason bacon and chocolate together is getting more popular by the day. At some point last year I read about this chocolate bar that had bacon in it and it's really in demand. You can order it online, but I have actually seen the bars at Whole Foods. Joel Stein, a humorist/satirist/journalist who has also dabbled in the sitcom world, that I love (seriously if you have never read his columns in Time or the Los Angeles Times, you're really missing out) did a video piece to accompany an article he did all about bacon and chocolate where he watches two guys from a local restaurant cook a bacon and chocolate dessert! Yesterday I read about another place in New York that sells something they call Pig Candy - not the best of names, but basically it is just chocolate covered pieces of bacon and it ain't cheap! Most people I mention this to are grossed out, but for the right person who loves the sweet and savory together it could be a hit.

Choctastic Ideas

If I ever do a gift that is something not so out of the box - like chocolate, for instance, I want to purchase something that is still a bit different or special. I could spend all day listing the difference chocolate resources in my files, but instead I will pick out a few and single them out:

1) John and Kira's - John and Kira are a married couple who own a chocolate company. They utilize local ingredients to support their community. The chocolates are very hand-crafted and they taste great. The chocolates come in simple, but beautiful wood boxes. They have unusual flavors like Coffee Whiskey and Honey Lavender. The new salted caramels that look like bees are also a unique choice. You can order from them online.

2)Edelweiss Chocolates is located in Beverly Hills at 444 North Canon. You can also buy from them online. They have all sorts of amazing chocolates, but by far my most favorite item they make is the Toffeemallow. It is fresh chocolate marshmallow with toffee and chocolate (they come light or dark). They are one of my most favorite treats in the world. I have gotten people who don't love chocolate to try them and even they are blown away.

3) If you really want to go crazy and buy something really unique, purchase one of these (you have to click to find out what it is).

As with all other gifts I have mentioned in previous postings, the key still is to keep in mind who is receiving the gift. Do they like dark or light chocolate, something rich or a bit lighter, etc. Pick something you think they might like, not necessarily something you love or prefer.