Looking to spread your gourmand ways this Easter holiday? This coming Sunday, skip stuffing your baskets with mass-produced chocolates and opt instead to shop local and support the suburbs’ talented lineup of chocolatiers.
We’re lining up our top five small-batch favorites below, each of which are presenting high-quality, hand-crafted creations that go well beyond the hollow chocolate bunny.
Master chocolatier Christopher Curtin and his West Chester artisanal shop Éclat Chocolate have been held on a pedestal for years, but it’s his sleek, sophisticated Good & Evil chocolate bar produced in collaboration with heavy hitters Eric Ripert and Anthony Bourdain that’ll make you the star present-giver this Easter holiday. A side helping of Eclat’s milk chocolate caramels, infused with Tahitian vanilla bean and accented with fleur de sel, is never a bad idea. Eye-catching chocolate eggs and bunnies are also available.
Whether you’re looking to impress guests with seasonally-themed truffles or you’re itching to whisk away your friends with the ultimate salty and sweet treat (sea salt chocolate drops), chocolatier Gail Warner is here to help. She’s been busy at Phoenixville-based Bridge Street Chocolates especially for Easter, whipping up fresh batches peanut butter eggs, organic jelly beans, malt balls, chocolate-covered strawberries and espresso beans, and much more. Appropriately, white, milk and dark chocolate bunnies are available
Philly-based artisan chocolate company John & Kira’s takes gourmet chocolates to a whole new level. Chocolatier John Doyle develops hand-painted truffles dressed as whimsical ladybugs, honeybees, apples and more, providing the most adorable chocolate box in the region. Garden-fresh infusions (lavender, mint, rosemary) are also thrown into the chocolate-making mix. Never skip the Spanish chocolate figs pumped with a whiskey ganache—ever.
One bite into any of Bevan’s Own Make Candy’s arsenal of chocolates and it’s clear why they have remained a mainstay in Media for over a half-century, now owned and operated by the third generation of Bevans. The buttercream chocolates are sinfully good, as are the champagne truffles, and the coconut cream eggs…well, you should probably buy two dozen. Click here to explore their full army of Easter options, featuring chocolate bunnies, ducks, eggs and more.
Any Easter basket would be complete with an Iron Chef Jose Garces chocolate bar, appropriately available in chef-infused flavors like white chocolate dashed with porcini powder and organic thyme; milk chocolate blended with peppers and roasted sesame seeds; and roasted Spanish almonds with the chef’s favorite spice, Pimentón de la Vera. Visit Philadelphia’s Garces Trading Company for your share or snag them online here.
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