As the autumn leaves give way to the chill of winter, there’s nothing that warms the heart more than gourmet chocolate delivery right to your ront door. Whether you are treating yourself to some delectable chocolates or buying them as a gift, a chocolate gift package is a wonderful (and delicious) way to ring in the holiday season!

Chocolate comes in a nearly infinite number of varieties - from rich, milk chocolate to exotic, spicy flavors to deep, dark chocolate - and there are specialty candy companies such as ourselves that will deliver the exact taste you are looking for. While many people have grown accustomed to store-bought chocolate, the pure delight of hand-made, specialty chocolates will put a smile on nearly anyone’s face.

Even more, you don’t have to worry about “guilty pleasure”, as dark chocolate is replete with heart healthy, antioxidants that can be beneficial to your health in moderation. With a higher level of cocoa purity from gourmet chocolates, you get better taste, finer texture and improved presentation, along with improved health benefits.

With the wealth of chocolate varieties available, you may find it hard to decide on just one. Rather than confounding yourself, however, consider a chocolate delivery of a gourmet chocolate assortment so that you can savor each of the flavors from pure darks to caramel-filled truffle, all in a single box. No matter what the occasion may be, a refined gift of gourmet chocolates delivered to your home is sure to make this holiday season a bit sweeter.

Sugar free chocolates with a taste of Belgium!  We’re very excited here at the Ultimate Chocolate Shoppe!  Then again, it doesn’t take much for that to happen with us, afterall, we deal in chocolate everyday!  It’s a pretty fun thing to be working with! 

But seriously, we are delighted to have added to our gourmet sugarfree chocolate collection!  As an addition to our gourmet sugar-free chocolates, we’ve added a touch of Belgium!  We now have sugar free Belgian chocolates available in two different sizes which make perfect chocolate gifts for a chocolate delivery or simply to keep and enjoy yourself.  Beautifully wrapped and with a handtied ribbon, it’s a chocolate treat that you are sure to enjoy!

Without a doubt, our sugar free chocolates are incredible.  They truly are so good that you don’t even realize that they are missing sugar.  Sweetened with Maltitol or Sorbitol, they are delicious chocolate choice!  My seven year old has yet to realize that there is any difference with them.  And more than just my saying so, from customer response and comments, we know that they are incredible!  It is definitely a top selling line -

So we’ll stay excited here and you go and give this new addition to our sugar free chocolates a try! Order some online and have these sugar free Belgian chocolates delivered fresh to your door!

Cookie Dough:

2. c flour

2 c. light brown sugar

1 t. baing soda

1/2 c unsalted butter pieces

1 egg

1 t plus vanilla

1 c. sour cream

1 tbl. whole milk

1 1/2 c chocolate chips

Filling:

1/2 c. heavy whipping cream

2 tbl. unsalted butter

8 oz. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper(or wax paper) and grease.

Mix flour, brown sugar and baking soda - Add butter and mix until butter pieces are size of a pea.  Scrape bowl and add in egg and vanilla.  Add sour cream and milk until batter is moist, add chocolate chips. 

Drop by heaping spoonfuls approx 2-3 inches apart onto baking sheets.  Bake approx 17 minutes per sheet until edges are slightly brown and crispy.  Top should still be soft! Cool and transfer to wire rack. 

In a medium saucepan heat cream and butter over low het until butter melts.  Hot cream should be having tiny bubbles but should NOT boil!  Remove from heat and add chocolate chips.  Let sit for half a minute and then whisk until smooth. Pour into bowl and cool until thick and firm enough to coat and frost the cookies.  About 45 minutes.

Take one cookie and frost the bottom side leaving edge unfrosted, top with second cookie to form a sandwich.  Place back on wire rack.  Repeat with all the cookies -  They can be individually wrapped and stored in sealed container for up to three days. 

 Are you a chocolate lover?  Are you a tea lover?  If you answer yes to both of these then we have the perfect mid-day or afternoon break!  Give yourself a few minutes and relax with a hot cup of tea and some scrumptious chocolate -

Now you don’t want any ordinary, ho-hum chocolate - you want the perfect combination of tea and chocolates to give you just the right combination of flavors and taste.  So here are a few that we think might hit the spot:

Dark Chocolate pairs well with these teas:

• Assam
• Darjeeling
• Earl Grey
• Gyokuro
• Oolong
• Pu-erh

Milk or white chocolate pairs well with these teas:

• Darjeeling
• Dragonwell
• Oolong
• Sencha
• Yunnan

So take a few minutes and sit back, relax and savor the ultimate combination of rich, delicious gourmet chocolate and a cup of hot tea!  Cheers! 

Doesn’t everyone have a favorite memory of biting into a delicious S’more right off the campfire?  I know that I do!  But sometimes you want the taste without the hassle of having to go camping or even make a fire to get that delicious taste -

3/4 c. unsalted butter room temperature

1/2 c. sugar

1 egg

1 t vanilla

3 c. graham cracker crumbs

1/4 c. flour

1/4 t. salt

 1 1/2 c. plus milk chocolate chips

1 1/2 c. mini-marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  Mix butter and sugar until smoothly blended.  Add egg and vanilla until well blended.  On low sped mix in graham cracker, flour and salt.  Hand mix in chips and marshmallows. 

Chocolate Coating:  Melt 6-7 oz. of milk chocolate candy bar or milk chocolate chips in double boiler or microwave.

Scoop about 1/4 c.  of dough and press slightly to flatten.  Keep about 4 inches between cookies.  Bake each sheet until top feels firm and marshmallows are melted about 15 minutes.  Cool for 5 minutes and transfer to wire rack. 

Drizzle chocolate coating over each cookie so that it drips over edges.  Let cookies sit until chocolate coating is firm. 

And for those times that you don’t want to make these, we at the Ultimate Chocolate Shoppe also want to mention that you might want to try some of our chocolate S’mores as well - 

Now you have two options for those times that the campfire just isn’t available!

With all that we have to do each day, it’s always helpful to find one or two things that you can do more quickly and easily each day!  Each minute you save can be put to one of the other thousand things that need doing or better yet, towards a few extra minutes just for you to sit and savor and relax!  I know that I do not get enough of that in each of my days.  In fact, each year I feel like I have less time for that!

One thing that can be done to gain yourself a few minutes and save yourself the gas and time of going to a store is order chocolates online.  You also get the luxury of sitting at home (or even the office) while you peruse through delicious chocolate offerings!  How fun is that?  Let someone else take on the time and effort of packaging, packing shipping and the chocolate delivery!

Here are our top tips for buying chocolates online, each one is chosen to help you make sure that you have a great and easy shopping experience!

1. Do they have a phone number on the front page for contacting them?  You shouldn’t have to dig around for it.
2. Is there a Contact page with all the necessry information easily accessible?
3. Does the site look like there’s “someone home”?  By that I mean, does it look like they are active and really creating a great shopping experience and regularly updating and adding to their site and their business?  Theres no need to bring your business to a shop that only deals with their online business as an afterthought! 
4. Is there a variety of products?  And are they presented well - If they care enough to do that then it is more likely that they will care for your gift or order!
5. Do they show that the site is secure by having some of the security systems on the pages that check and verify sites each day? 
6. Can you get what you want?  Because you should be able to!  That’s one of the joys of online shopping - access to products and treats that aren’t necessarily down the street from your house!
7. Freshness of products - Look at the products, see what they say - You can buy a box of chocolates at the grocery store or drug store that has sat on a shelf for months, or choose fresh, gourmet chocolates that were just made prior to shipping.  There is a huge difference!
8. Do they wrap if it’s a gift?
9. Do they give a gift message?  Some sites will charge, some will not -
10. Is it a fun site to order from?   Because afterall, that’s the bottom line - enjoying the experience and saving yourself some minutes in your day!

Good luck on your next shopping and chocolate delivery and let us know how it went and how much time you think you saved yourself!

Gourmet chocolate pretzels and chocolate covered pretzels are HUGELY popular!  We find people getting them as birthday gifts, I’m sorry gifts, thank you gifts, thinking of you, get well and wish you well treats, good luck on exams, welcome home and just about everything else one can think of!  Whew - that was quite the list to come up with! 

Now our gourmet chocolate covered pretzels are truly incredible!  I have yet to meet someone that has had one and hasn’t thought it’s one of the best chocolate treats that they’ve ever had.  But we have something else that is really, really fun and unique!  It’s a giant zany chocolate pretzel! 

This chocolate pretzel weighs in close to 1 pound and shaped just like a traditional pretzel but it’s chocolate!  It’s a scrumptious combination of rich chocolate loaded with pretzel pieces to make a delicious taste treat that everyone will enjoy.  And you can have them in dark chocolate, milk chocolate and even creamy white chocolate - Then we wrap them in cellophane and add a beautiful ribbon and bow. 

These are a great and unique gift to give away to chocolate pretzel lovers or treat to keep for yourself!  Enjoy one today!

Beginning on November 1st, National Peanut Butter Month gets underway!  For all those lover’s of creamy or crunchy peanut butter, it’s a great time to celebrate a favorite taste treat.  And for those that are lovers of chocolate and peanut butter combinations it a fun time to explore all the different combinations and taste treats that you can think of all month long! 

For those that have kids, it’s a fun time to come up with things to do with your kids - How about make a tasty batch of peanut butter cup cookies (Checkout October blog posts for that recipe)?  What about a fun game of which tastes better?  Chocolate dipped in peanut butter or peanut butter dipped in chocolate?

While peanut butter has been around since the 1890’s, it first hit commercial status under the brand name of Skippy in the 1920’s.  Today, over half of the US peanut crop is turned into this childhood memory.   A statistic that I read shows that in 1992 Americans consumed 857 million pounds of this delicious creamy taste treat! For more information on peanut butter, check out www.peanutbutterlovers.com!

Since chocolate and peanut butter is one of my favorite chocolate combinations, I prevailed upon everyone to put ALL of our chocolate peanut butter combinations on sale in honor of the month’s festivities!  So checkout our This Month’s Chocolate Specials page to see which one would suit your craving! 

OK, here is a common thing that you hear about eating chocolates - Oh chocolate!  That’s got so much caffeine in it, you have to be careful!  Well, really?  Are you sure about that?  I thought that I’d put this one to rest right here, right now, today!

Chocolates absolutely do contain caffeine! Chocolates, which are made from cacao beans, contain small amounts of caffeine but without the same effects of caffeine found in coffee.  Now realize, that on average there’s about 75 mg. of caffeine in a standard American cup of coffee.  But the amount contained in chocolate depends on the variety and serving size. However, the stimulating effect we get from eating chocolates, which is similar to drinking coffee, is not caffeine. The main ingredient from chocolates that give us a natural high is called theobromine. Theobromine generally has a longer effect on influencing the nervous system compared to coffee. It promotes blood flow and brain activity.

Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system and is sometimes referred to as theine in teas. It is a xanthine alkaloid found in the coffee tree’s leaves and beans. Caffeine is found in small doses in cacao and kola nut which is an ingredient in making cola beverages. Chocolate is also considered a stimulant due to its theophylline and theobromine content.

The following is a table of caffeine and theobromine contents found in chocolates:

                                                                                                Caffeine          Theobromine

• White chocolate - 3 ounce bar or 1 cup chips            0.0 mg             0.0 mg
• Baking chocolate, unsweetened - 1 ounce                 57.120 mg       346.360 mg
• Semi-sweet chocolate, chocolate chips - 1 ounce      17.577 mg       137.781 mg
• Milk chocolate - 1.55 ounce bar                                 11.440 mg       74.360 mg
• Cocoa mix - 1 envelope/3 heaping tsp                       5.040 mg         169.680
• Cocoa powder, unsweetened - 1 tbsp                                    12.420 mg       111.078 mg

Therefore, while chocolates contain a small amount of caffeine, the stimulating effect we get from eating them isn’t caffeine-based. Instead, it is a natural high from a special chemical found in chocolates. This is certainly stimulating news for anyone who feels good from eating chocolate.

We’ve found that we are getting more and more people interested in sugar free chocolates and sugar free chocolate gifts.  The people that are coming and purchasing our sugar-free products are covering a wide spectrum - Some are diabetics, some are weight conscious, others are looking for less carbs and some just want to enjoy their chocolates without the added sugar! 

Now our sugarfree chocolate assortment is delicious!  But maybe you don’t want a little of everything but rather just a collection of your favorites!  So that is why we created the Sugar Free Trio -  Three of your favorites in one trio of treats.  Simply browse our selection of gourmet sugar free chocolates to find some of your favorites.

You pick the ones that you want and we carefully package them up and have them delivered to your door!  And even better, you get to save a little money on buying three at a time!  We just thought that might make it an even sweeter deal for you!  Enjoy -