Clarine’s Florentines
Clarine Hardesty is a pastry chef and owner of Clarine’s Florentines, a Berkeley, California-based commercial operation that specializes in the Florentine: a delicious mixture of toasted nuts and candied fruit held together by a honey and sugar mixture that hardens and forms a crunchy candy-like delicate cookie. To complete the treat, Clarine’s Florentines are dipped in bittersweet chocolate. Read more 
Green and Black’s Organic Dark Chocolate
Most people have strong opinions about chocolate with the majority preferring milk over dark chocolate but times are changing. Americans consume about 12 pounds per person annually which equates to about a pound a month or 4 ounces a week. That may seem like a lot of chocolate but the Swiss consume nearly twice that amount which makes me feel less guilty when I tear the wrapper off my favorite candy bar – Green & Black’s Organic Dark 85% Cacao Bar. A 3.5 ounce bar molded into thirty small rectangles easy to break apart, this bar of chocolate is best enjoyed slowly by allowing a small piece to melt in your mouth releasing intensely flavored dark chocolate that will render you unable to speak lest the chocolate flavor subside. Read more
Cocomels
When my daughter was little, I would tell her stories that always had some kind of candy theme involved – chocolate rivers, caramel waterfalls, bedroom walls covered with edible 3-D wallpaper, red licorice tunnels, coconut snowballs – because I never outgrew my love for sweets or my interest in talking about candy. The possibilities were endless and I was never at a loss for words when it came to confections. At this stage in my life, it’s safe to conclude that I’ve tasted a lot of candy so it’s not often that a new sweet comes along and blows me away but this past week one did and they are called Cocomels. Read more
La Maison du Chocolat Confret Maison
The French chocolate house La Maison du Chocolat makes some of the most decadent, expensive and best tasting chocolate in the world. The “Coffret Maison” is loosely translated to mean the “House Box” – the signature box of chocolates which contain an assortment of praline, ganache, and mousse in milk and dark chocolate – all of which are exquisite and provide a sampling of the famous French chocolatier. Read more
Organic Candy Canes
Candy canes are as much a part of our holiday season as the festivities. We hang the red and white striped sweets on the tree, smash them up with a hammer to use as a topping on cookies or to make peppermint bark, and we eat them in their natural state. The refreshing peppermint taste and the nostalgic shape draws most kids (big and little) to candy canes even though most of these seasonal treats contain corn syrup, artificial colors, and flavorings. TruJoy Sweets makes an organic candy cane using natural colors and flavors to create a healthier and better tasting candy cane using only four ingredients: organic evaporated cane juice, organic brown rice syrup, natural peppermint flavor, and organic fruit juice. Read more
Abe’s Market
Where do you go on-line to find a wide selection of healthy foods at reasonable prices and free shipping? Abe’s Market – the newest on-line resource for consumers looking for all types of healthy foods: organic, gluten-free, vegan, tree-nut free, nut-free, kosher, sugar-free, raw, and natural. Nearly 3,000 food products are currently offered with the selection growing daily. The prices are competitive and the shipping is free (and fast) on all orders of $49 or more. Read more
Alma Chocolate
Alma Chocolate was started seven years ago by Sarah Hart who initially sold her chocolate creations at a Farmer’s Market in Portland, Oregon. In 2006, Sarah opened up a chocolate shop in northeast Portland and has been creating and selling her confections ever since. One of her specialities is toffee and she makes three kinds: Pistachio, Hazelnut Cherry, and Ginger Almond – all made with organic butter, turbinado (a natural brown sugar that looks like light brown sugar crystals), fresh nuts, dark chocolate and sea salt. Read more
Enstrom’s Almond Toffee
Almonds, butter, sugar, chocolate, and salt are the five ingredients of Enstrom’s Almond Toffee – a traditional candy that is still made by hand using only the finest ingredients available. Few candies taste as delicious as a piece of almond toffee from this Colorado-based confectionary. Crunchy and buttery on the inside, enrobed in milk or dark chocolate and sprinkled with crushed almonds on the outside, Enstrom’s Almond Toffee is positively addicting. Read more
Decorative Chocolate for Desserts
For those who never tire of decorating baked goods or pastries with chocolate, there is a website called www.pastrychef.com that provides customers with top quality decorative chocolate toppings. Opened in 1997 as an internet website, www.pastrychef.com is based out of Boca Raton, Florida with sales limited to on-line or catalog/phone. Advertised as a baking and pastry superstore, www.pastrychef.com offers a wide variety of chocolate decorative ingredients (and other ingredients and tools) to both home and professional bakers. Read more
The Lime in the Coconut
The Coconut Pattie has been redefined and reached a new pinnacle with the creation of The Lime in the Coconut – a candy bar with a chewy coconut center, chunks of toasted macadamia nuts, lime zest and a touch of white rum all enrobed in dark chocolate. For those of us who grew up devouring Mounds Bars and for those who just call themselves coconut lovers, The Lime in the Coconut is pure bliss and it all started with the culinary talents of two very talented pastry trained chefs with a vision. Read more
Paddock Post 