Greetings, Chocolate Lover!

As you count down the days to unwrapping packages and savoring meals and goodies, permit us to lend our hand and suggestions and help guide you through last-minute possibilities certain to serve your needs -- and their wants. You can find everything on our Web site here.

We hear three words above all others from customers during this final week of shopping: Truffles, and Stocking Stuffers.

Our trays of truffles thin out nearly as fast as we can craft new batches overnight, each night, long past yo ur bedtime. The Truffle of the Month is a great example -- "Snow White,"  the White Chocolate Poppyseed Amaretto, another of our unique creations (video). 

We can still get truffles to you by Priority Mail in time for Christmas ('til 21st, or 22d to some locations) or New Year's.

OK, then, let's address other 11th-hour needs -- Stocking Stuffers, and Menu Planning....

STOCKING STUFFERS

Two great ways to go:

1. Holiday themes
   
2. Personal themes

In the Holiday category, one of the newest on the shelf is an adorable Elf ($8.50). And, there's a good story behind it. Whether you use it as a display or an unusual gift, your guests or recipient will enjoy a one-of-a-kind surprise. The form for making Elf is rare and hard-to-find, and Kevin carried it in his luggage across Belgium to bring it home to his workshop.

For creative chocolate gifting, fill up one of the decorated wooden houses ($5) with storage spaces. One is labeled "Santa's Workshop" above the door. And, we have a variety of themed collector tins you can fill with chocolate favorites.

Holiday theme pieces to fill a house, a tin, or a stocking:

• Danish St. Nick ($2.75)  or Pine Cones ($2), brightly-wrapped in foil of silver, gold, green, red.
• Assortment of Santas and Snowmen, and other holiday shapes. We have a few of the white chocolate snowmen left.
• Golden-foil wrapped Yule Logs ($6).
• Larger holiday, artisan creations incl. Santa w/bag of gifts, Old World Santa, Gingerbread Man, Santa Bear, an amazing Nativity Scene, and Angels in different poses (one w/ a candle, one w/ a baby deer, and even one on a motorcycle!).

Personal themes add to your fun in shopping.  For example, one associate here has a daughter who (a.) collects penguins, and (b.) has received chocolate-covered cherries as a stocking stuffer every year since she was a child. Score! The box of Amareno Cherry Truffles, filled w/ a scarce import from Italy, will be like nothing she's ever experienced. And, a son-in-law who is an avid golfer will enjoy his chocolate golf clubs & golf balls. Marzipan will remind family of their time of living in Germany many years ago.

Perhaps you have someone on the gift list for whom the following would be appropriate:

We have some sugar-free choices, too -- bark, holiday shapes, bars, and year-round popular 18 boxed chocolate roses.

MENU PLANNING

Cooking for the holidays, especially baking, starts with the finest-grade cocoa powder (Dutch processed) and our wide array of chocolate chips from the best suppliers in the world. For making desserts or snacking, some ideas to add unparalleled succulence to your table:

• Chocolate Cheesecake, w/ pure bittersweet genache, 8 or 16 slices
• New, original, extra-dark/low-sugar Cocoa Mix (just add hot milk, non-dairy such as soy milk, or even water).
• 100% cocoa mass chips or cocoa powder
• Dark chocolate dessert cups ready for your chilled filling
• Chocolate Bars in 1 oz., 2 oz., 2.8 oz., 3 oz., or box of 80 bite-size mini-bars
• Sensational new Macadamia Nut Bars
• Chocolate Bark w/ nuts or  w/ coffee beans (the Nut Bark Sampler Wheel is excellent for a group setting)
• Sensational chips or 4-piece shapes from Vanuatu, a milk chocolate you won't believe (44%)

Finally, here are a few can't-miss bargains:

• 36 oz. bag Callebaut of Belgium semi-sweet chips (52% cocoa), just $14!
• A world-renowned Savory Pyramide by Pralus, a giant in French chocolate, just $25 (usually $42) or the Pralus Sampler Pyramide, $9 -- featuring bars of the very best milks and darks from various regions around the globe
• The gift of gifts, for that chocolate lover who has everything -- a 5.5 pound chocolate bar, just $29!

Bon Appetit from your personal chocolatier....