Trick or treat: it’s Halloween week. Kids’ mouths are already watering with the promise of Thursday’s sugary bounty. Adults—we’re kind of missing out on the door-to-door treasure hunt. It’s up to us to treat ourselves.
Which is the reason for this week’s round-up of the Northwest’s best coffee chocolates. They’ll satiate our candy cravings better than past Halloweens’ endless Tootsie Rolls and fun-sized Twix ever did, and the bittersweet espresso flavors will keep the kids out of them. Buy a box to hand out to chaperoning parents on Thursday night, or to surprise a friend—just be sure to keep your own stash safely hidden.
- Moonstruck Chocolate Co.’s Espresso Caramels—Caramel in chocolate usually stands alone, but its sweetness can be overriding. This Portland product is balanced by stirring espresso into chewy caramel and enveloping the mix in smoky dark chocolate, resulting in a sweet fix you just can’t have too many of. Topped with toasted dark cocoa nibs. $45/box of 20
- Fran’s Chocolates’ Espresso Truffles—Boldly flavored with everything from single malt whiskey to oolong tea, Fran Bigelow of Northwest success story Fran’s Chocolates strikes the perfect combination with the Espresso Truffles in her Fall Seasonal collection. In her own words, “the combination of coffee and chocolate is one of the foolproof marriages of the dessert world.” Available in milk or dark chocolate. $30/box of 20 (fall seasonal assortment)
- Theo Chocolate’s Coffee & Cream Bar—The chocolate bar is the classic Halloween jackpot, and the one-ounce Limited Edition Coffee & Cream bar is a perfect treat for your visiting friends. This one marries longtime collaborators Theo and Caffé Vita in “a deliciously coffee-centric Café Mocha in bar form.” Insider tip: pair it with Caffé Vita’s Theo Blend, the product of months of collusion between the two Seattle merchants in developing a luxuriously smooth coffee to go best with chocolate. $4/bar
- Cowgirl Chocolates’ Spicy Cappuccino Truffles—Famed for her comingling of spice and chocolate, head cowgirl Marilyn Lysohir has been adding kick to cocoa since she founded Moscow, Ida.-based Cowgirl Chocolates in 1997. In Spicy Cappuccino Truffles she daringly brings dark and milk chocolate together with spice and espresso and manages a controlled intensity in the final product. $10.95/box of 9
- Cocoa West Chocolatier’s Sumatra Truffles—From Bowen Island, BC come several Certified Organic espresso-based truffles whose names could just as easily be orders at a coffee bar. But none hold as true to form as the Sumatra truffle, where the dark earthiness characteristic of the best Pacific island coffees radiates through a creamy chocolate casing. $12/box of 6 (assortment)
