Valentine's Day / Lupercalia gift ideas: Artisan chocolates
Ladies and gents, if you have::
-- a significant other,
-- someone you want to be a significant other,
-- a significant ever-ready fuckbunny,
-- a significant fellow Veronica Mars watchin' couchpotato,
-- a significant punctual personal assistant,
-- a significant unspoken same-sex crush,
-- a significant random-cute-girl-on-the-internet,
-- a significant shy-guy-who-refuses-to-make-eye-contact,
-- a significant peppy morning coffee jockey,
-- a significant tarty MILF-next-door,
-- a significant stuck-up mother-in-law,
-- a significant PMSing teenaged daughter,
-- or perhaps just a significant dog-walker,
...and a chunk of change to kill, you will want to check out these gourmet chocolates.
They all look so good.
Passion Fruit: (A carmelized green heart.) An appropriately named heart-shaped fine dark chocolate confection that opens to a burst of fruit infused dark chocolate ganache for an island style taste sensation.
Cinnamon: (A hand-painted bon-bon.) Aromatic Saigon cinnamon lends a come-hither note to a milk chocolate ganache wrapped in milk chocolate with an elegant, hand-painted finish.
Five Spice: (A ribbed square.) A fusion of flavors - Asian five spice powder and velvety milk chocolate ganache fill this fluted beauty, creating a luscious and lasting taste.
Pumpkin: (A gorgeous multi-colored bon-bon.) It's like taking that first bite of Pumpkin Pie on Thanksgiving Day. Fabulous fall flavors enveloped in a creamy filling.
Strawberry: (Looks just like a glazed strawberry.) A heavenly Belgian couverture saturated with ripe strawberries make a creamy filling that will make you feel like summer all year long.
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Speaking of Godiva, the G Collection includes handpainted pieces, like a key-lime chocolate shaped like a heart with tiny green hearts printed on it. The Passion Orange piece looks like jewelry, not chocolate. There's Mexican chocolate, Salted Caramel, and Italian Espresso, too.
The Godiva Platinum Collection is just one step down, but also has some beautiful painted chocolates, too. If you want something really fun, though, I've had the Pop Chocolates, which are both delicious and really fun to serve at parties to unsuspecting victims. They fizz like Pop Rocks, and the raspberry ones hardly taste like chocolate at all.
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There's also Chocolate Sushi if you have a sense of humor. Some of these come inscribed in stylized kanji. Kooki Sushi has the same idea, and has some gorgeous gift boxes. These are cookie-based and absolutely stunning.
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Z Chocolat delivers gorgeous gourmet chocolates from France. You want romance? The Carmen chocolate is made of "a velvety caramel hinting of the very essence of red rose, clad in fiercely luscious dark chocolate." Oui, oui.
___________________________
Recchiuti Confections has artisan chocolates as well, including solitaire-inspired chocolates and a jasmine tea ganache. The ginger heart chocolate is also beautiful, and topped with edible gold leaf. The Valentine Box has the best selection.
___________________________
The DeBrand Connoisseur Collection features hand-decorated chocolates, including Mayan Gold with gold leafing, jasmine tea with candied violet, and art-deco inspired cassia and honey.
___________________________
Jacques Torres Chocolates features a Valentine's Heart with a kissing game included as well as kitschy little chocolates like a key-lime truffle with a ladybug painted on. There's a port wine piece, too. They're beautiful, and of the artisan chocolates, they're definitely the cheapest.
___________________________
Rococo Chocolates has wonderful-looking Valentine's chocolates. Check out the pink champagne truffles, or the mixed box of Venus nipples and bright red lips. So adorable.
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Plaisir du Chocolat's collection is without a doubt the most beautiful. Every piece is hand-designed, and the flavors are incredibly unique (there are lavender, orchid, Szechuan pepper and pear, and Hibiscus selections). If you're in the UK, great for you, because shipping from Edinburgh might be a tad pricey for us Americans.
___________________________
L'Artisan du Chocolat makes chocolate pearls that are visually beautiful. Again, they'll be shipping from the UK, but I've never seen anything like this before. If you download the PDF, you can see a full range of the artisan chocolates, including tea-based chocolates, flower-based (rose and violet!) chocolates, and chocolate grown on volcanic soil with a distinct leather note. Oh my gosh.
___________________________
I think that I will probably be ordering from Vosges Chocolate this year. They sell a truffle called Black Pearl in their exotic truffles line, and it contains ginger, wasabi, sesame seeds and dark chocolate. This has Skyler written all over it. I'm personally dying to try the Viola, which contains candied violets.
The other gorgeous set here is the Gatsby Truffle Collection, which just looks visually stunning. These are truly romantic chocolates, all trussed up in rosepetals and champagne. Of course, if you've got a ton of extra dough, you could always go for The Marchesa, Luisa Casati Collection, which comes "crowned with real edible pearl dust."
I think I might have to buy myself some of the Bianca Cocoa, which is white hot chocolate with hints of lemon and lime. It sounds positively decadent.
-- a significant other,
-- someone you want to be a significant other,
-- a significant ever-ready fuckbunny,
-- a significant fellow Veronica Mars watchin' couchpotato,
-- a significant punctual personal assistant,
-- a significant unspoken same-sex crush,
-- a significant random-cute-girl-on-the-internet,
-- a significant shy-guy-who-refuses-to-make-eye-contact,
-- a significant peppy morning coffee jockey,
-- a significant tarty MILF-next-door,
-- a significant stuck-up mother-in-law,
-- a significant PMSing teenaged daughter,
-- or perhaps just a significant dog-walker,
...and a chunk of change to kill, you will want to check out these gourmet chocolates.
They all look so good.
Passion Fruit: (A carmelized green heart.) An appropriately named heart-shaped fine dark chocolate confection that opens to a burst of fruit infused dark chocolate ganache for an island style taste sensation.
Cinnamon: (A hand-painted bon-bon.) Aromatic Saigon cinnamon lends a come-hither note to a milk chocolate ganache wrapped in milk chocolate with an elegant, hand-painted finish.
Five Spice: (A ribbed square.) A fusion of flavors - Asian five spice powder and velvety milk chocolate ganache fill this fluted beauty, creating a luscious and lasting taste.
Pumpkin: (A gorgeous multi-colored bon-bon.) It's like taking that first bite of Pumpkin Pie on Thanksgiving Day. Fabulous fall flavors enveloped in a creamy filling.
Strawberry: (Looks just like a glazed strawberry.) A heavenly Belgian couverture saturated with ripe strawberries make a creamy filling that will make you feel like summer all year long.
Speaking of Godiva, the G Collection includes handpainted pieces, like a key-lime chocolate shaped like a heart with tiny green hearts printed on it. The Passion Orange piece looks like jewelry, not chocolate. There's Mexican chocolate, Salted Caramel, and Italian Espresso, too.
The Godiva Platinum Collection is just one step down, but also has some beautiful painted chocolates, too. If you want something really fun, though, I've had the Pop Chocolates, which are both delicious and really fun to serve at parties to unsuspecting victims. They fizz like Pop Rocks, and the raspberry ones hardly taste like chocolate at all.
There's also Chocolate Sushi if you have a sense of humor. Some of these come inscribed in stylized kanji. Kooki Sushi has the same idea, and has some gorgeous gift boxes. These are cookie-based and absolutely stunning.
Z Chocolat delivers gorgeous gourmet chocolates from France. You want romance? The Carmen chocolate is made of "a velvety caramel hinting of the very essence of red rose, clad in fiercely luscious dark chocolate." Oui, oui.
Recchiuti Confections has artisan chocolates as well, including solitaire-inspired chocolates and a jasmine tea ganache. The ginger heart chocolate is also beautiful, and topped with edible gold leaf. The Valentine Box has the best selection.
The DeBrand Connoisseur Collection features hand-decorated chocolates, including Mayan Gold with gold leafing, jasmine tea with candied violet, and art-deco inspired cassia and honey.
Jacques Torres Chocolates features a Valentine's Heart with a kissing game included as well as kitschy little chocolates like a key-lime truffle with a ladybug painted on. There's a port wine piece, too. They're beautiful, and of the artisan chocolates, they're definitely the cheapest.
Rococo Chocolates has wonderful-looking Valentine's chocolates. Check out the pink champagne truffles, or the mixed box of Venus nipples and bright red lips. So adorable.
Plaisir du Chocolat's collection is without a doubt the most beautiful. Every piece is hand-designed, and the flavors are incredibly unique (there are lavender, orchid, Szechuan pepper and pear, and Hibiscus selections). If you're in the UK, great for you, because shipping from Edinburgh might be a tad pricey for us Americans.
L'Artisan du Chocolat makes chocolate pearls that are visually beautiful. Again, they'll be shipping from the UK, but I've never seen anything like this before. If you download the PDF, you can see a full range of the artisan chocolates, including tea-based chocolates, flower-based (rose and violet!) chocolates, and chocolate grown on volcanic soil with a distinct leather note. Oh my gosh.
I think that I will probably be ordering from Vosges Chocolate this year. They sell a truffle called Black Pearl in their exotic truffles line, and it contains ginger, wasabi, sesame seeds and dark chocolate. This has Skyler written all over it. I'm personally dying to try the Viola, which contains candied violets.
The other gorgeous set here is the Gatsby Truffle Collection, which just looks visually stunning. These are truly romantic chocolates, all trussed up in rosepetals and champagne. Of course, if you've got a ton of extra dough, you could always go for The Marchesa, Luisa Casati Collection, which comes "crowned with real edible pearl dust."
I think I might have to buy myself some of the Bianca Cocoa, which is white hot chocolate with hints of lemon and lime. It sounds positively decadent.