Chocolate you could eat right off of the page! These elegant delights are from Chocolaterie Wanders of Manassas, Virginia.
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STEPHANIE ZONIS is a Contributing Editor.
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February 2007
Updated March 2009
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Gourmet Chocolates From America’s Artisan Chocolatiers: Part I
Page 3: Chocolate Springs & Coco-luxe Confections
This is Page 3 of a 6-page review of gourmet chocolates. Click on the black links below to visit other gourmet chocolate pages.
Chocolate Springs
Joshua Needleman began working with food at the ripe old age of 16. He’s lived and worked in both France and the U.S., and he has a passion for  Japanese culture. Combine all of those ingredients, stir well, and you’ll have the Chocolate Springs Café in Lenox, Massachusetts. Cookies and pastries, hot cocoa, coffee and tea, and, of course, chocolates. What’s that? You don’t live near Lenox? Well, I don’t either, but fortunately many of the café’s offerings are also available online. I haven’t tried any cookies, pastries, or tea and coffee, but oh my, those chocolates! Sophisticated and stylish, they’re deeply flavored and “dressed to impress” with their beauty. If the Raspberry Love Bar isn’t the perfect Valentine’s Day treat, I don’t know what is, but if a bar isn’t your thing, you can fill up a box with your choice of chocolates. How about a Hazelnut Praline Crunch? Or maybe a Celebration—a dark chocolate ganache center with cognac, covered in more dark chocolate and streaked with gold dust? They have a lovely hot chocolate mix, as well. It’s hard to go wrong here—unless you leave your ordering until the last minute. The café, at 55 Pittsfield/Lenox Road in Lenox, Massachusetts, is open daily. Telephone 1.413.637.9820. ChocolateSprings.coms
Coco-luxe Confections
Stephanie Marcon took her initial inspiration for her chocolates from something a bit different: cake flavors! When was the last time you  saw a Gingerbread chocolate or an Angel Food chocolate? I’m not the world’s biggest fan of white chocolate, but Coco-luxe has a special way with it: That Angel Food piece is wonderful! It’s a white chocolate ganache infused with vanilla bean, covered in white chocolate—not too sweet or cloying. If you prefer dark chocolate, you’ll find plenty of it here. Try the Double Cherry, a dark chocolate-cherry ganache with bits of dried tart cherries, or the Devil’s Food (straight dark chocolate). Milk chocolate fans are paid their due with the German Chocolate and Malted Milk pieces. One of the cleverest aspects of these chocolates is the built-in flavor guide: Each chocolate has a design atop that tells you what the center is. The Angel Food, for example, has a representation of a small angel on each piece, while the Double Cherry has a little edible outline of two cherries. Brilliant! Coco-luxeConfections.com
Above: The “Afternoon Collection” with Coffee, Tea and Espresso. But you knew that, just from looking at the designs.
Read Peter Rot’s extensive review of Coco-luxe Confections.
Continue To Page 4: Coco Puro & Daily Chocolate
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