
This time of the year chocolate is literally everywhere. Don’t waste your time getting tons of the generic stuff – here are nine chocolate bars that have their own story and will show someone you really know them.
This year we’re all about sharing an experience of thoughtful deliciousness… death by chocolate is a thing of the past!
Plus, there’s a chance to win something delicious below.
1. FOR THE LOVERS OF WILD ADVENTURES
Compartes knows wild and crazy well. This LA Chocolatier crafts flavor combinations that will make your head explode, and they look absolutely beautiful. Rosemary Olive White Chocolate, Smoked Sea Salt, Macha Green Tea with White Chocolate, Cocktail Infused Dark Chocolate, and then some. Perfect for those who love a flavor adventure and a label that doubles as a keepsake.
2. FOR THE LOVERS OF BACON
Vosges knows that bacon + chocolate will always win hearts. Love Milk Chocolate? There’s a bacon bar for you. Love Dark Chocolate? There’s a different bacon bar for you. Closing thoughts? Bacon.
3. FOR THE LOVERS OF HANDMADE / THE ETSY LIFE
Hand-scooped, bean-to-bar chocolates by Zotter have homey flavors and delicate details. Each bar is built in layers by hand with amazing ingredients. Like many of the lines we carry, the Zotter team believes in Fairtrade and sources beans from all over the world – cheers to that guiltless bite.
4. FOR THE LOVERS OF RAMEN
Weird? Yes. Delicious? You bet. This bar is perfect for that person in your life who either loves, hates, loves to hate, or hates to love ramen noodles. Started by three Californian guys who are all about savory and sweet, Komfortes, has mastered these weird, yet delightful, combinations.
5. FOR THE LOVERS OF COLLABORATIONS
Askinosie‘s line of CollaBARation bars are something truly unique. They partner with James Beard Award-winning restaurants, Jeni’s Ice Cream, Intelligentsia, Happy Hemp, and others to create beautiful, expert-driven bars. Taking a bite of one of these bars is like biting into a story – with each piece having its own tale, plastered on the front of the beautifully wrapped packaging. Need an example? CollaBARation #5 Dark Milk Chocolate, Ancho Chile & Pistachio bar with Cafe Pasqual’s certainly has a ring to it – it reads “Salt Flakes & Pistasios Play Hopscotch On The Dark Goat’s Milk Chocolate Ancho Chili Alter.”
6. FOR THE LOVERS OF A GOOD LAUGH
Hand-painted magical mushrooms from John & Kiera’s and a chill chocolate bar from Askinosi will surely make for a good laugh, and an even more delicious bite.
John & Kiera’s magical mushrooms feature a salted caramel center, with each color filled with its own caramal-y surprise. Yellow is filled with a rum-pecan caramel, red contains a caramel touched with chili, and purple features a salted caramel center. Share each shroom and experience the flavors together.
Askinosie’s most recently collaborated with Happy Hemp, a company convinced that hemp seeds will be the passport to your happiness. Described as perfectly toasted, slightly crunchy hemp seeds sprinkled on velvety Tanzania chocolate. Its name? Toasted Happy Hemp Seeds and Roasted Cocoa Beans Become Best Buds In A Chill Chocolate Bar. Need we say more?
7. FOR THE LOVERS OF HIS & HERS
We are big fans of these undoubtedly cute combos – just match any two bars for a “His and Her” set you can taste and experience together. Play it safe with Raaka’s Dark Chocolate with Himalayan Pink Sea Salt and their Porter Bar made with organic hops and malt. Or, go a little crazier and try Compartes Mexican Hot Chocolate Truffles for her and Caramel & Salt Chocolates for him.
8. FOR THE LOVERS OF THE FOOD NETWORK
Bourdain and Ripert come together to build a chocolate bar that sparks plenty of conversation. Peruvian Pure Nacional beans, the rarest and finest cacao beans thought to be extinct for the last 100 years, serve as the foundation for local Chocolatier Master Christopher Curtin (ECLAT). Make a Food Network lover happy and bring them a taste of this star-powered bar – plus, some interesting convos.
9. FOR THE LOVERS OF TRADITION
Brothers Rick and Michael Mast, known as The Mast Brothers, are true to the craft and art of chocolate making, with an absolute respect for the history of chocolate. This duo is literally sailing to the Dominican Republic in search of cacao beans and to get closer with those that grow them. Each bar tells its own story of flavors, with a distinctive purpose.
I would love to win the milk chocolate bacon lovers bar!
#6 Please
BACON! It’s gotta be bacon. I’ve had these before and they are heavenly.
#3 looks cool
The magic mushrooms sound wonderful! I love chocolate and caramel. Heaven!
Bacon bars please…can you ever have too much bacon!?
I would LOVE to win #1 because BACON is a food group in of itself, and the same rule applies to CHOCOLATE in my life. I gave up drinking 3.5years ago and sometimes what gets me through the day is one or the other of these food groups. Bacon and Chocolate bring joy to my life, so to have them paired in one would be fabulous….a little touch of the Ocean City boardwalk even….
Oh it has to be #2 for bacon lovers…..everything is better with bacon 🙂
Me and my boyfriend we are definitely lovers of his & hers 🙂
#2 Mo’s Dark. We found Vosges a few years ago when we couldn’t find Gay Odin chocolates here in the US.
I would love to win #5 this year my girlfriends and I are collaborating on a valentines day dinner that’s full of cheese chochlate charcuterie and champagne ! Everyone is brining something and we plan to eat and drink everything !
Mast Brother for life!
#6 Definitely go for the humor.
My boyfriend and I love bacon! Chocolate or salted caramel covered bacon sounds like a perfect valentines day dessert!
I don’t think anyone loves the food network more than my lovely girlfriend. To her, anything Anthony Bourdain does is perfection! I would have to choose number 8 just for my special sweetheart!
I know some loved ones who would go crazy over the Wild Adventure package. I think it’s a part of their Infinite Dream series too. Infinite dreams of wild adventures…for the times work keeps us from being out there and having them ourselves. Who wouldn’t want that?
Liz – you’ve been randomly chosen as the winner for this contest! We’ll reach out via the email address you provided. Congrats!
Those #5 Askinosie bars have my name written all over it, with wrapping almost too pretty to tear — almost. Plus, the Dark Chocolate + Coffee bar using Intelligentsia coffee makes me nostalgic for the first bakery job I had that used their coffee. Oh DiBruno Bros., you know the way to a girl’s heart!
Wild adventures? Bacon? A good laugh? Too many tough choices! I think a good laugh would win out!
The ramen chocolate bar is most like me. I eat ramen for dinner at least three times a week. I add veggies to it in a weak attempt “health-ify” the meal. I would love to try a ramen chocolate bar and share it with all my friends. They would really get a kick out of it!!
ÉCLAT! Because anything Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert do can’t be bad!
My boyfriend and I are the Lovers of the Food Network! We torture ourselves and watch the Food Network every single night before bed and sometimes.. we don’t have a snack to help us get through the night!!! I would love to win so we can have a fulfilling V-Day Night!!! <3 xox
My favorite would be the his & hers Compartes Mexican Hot Chocolate Truffles and Caramel & Salt Chocolates!! They look fantastic!
I would love to win #8 – The Good & Evil Bar because anything that Anthony Bourdain works on is brilliant! I found it fascinating watching him discover the finest cocoa in the world during his Peru episode of Parts Unknown. If I won I would enjoy it with the same friend that I watched the episode with!