Happy Holidays dear readers!

December is here and I am super excited to start living in the present again! Since as early as September, I had been calculating usage and placing pre-orders for this gift-giving and cheer-filled month. Without a calendar in front of me, I’d often believe we were several weeks further into the future than we actually were. Now, however, I get to slow down, step back, and take it all in. Last Friday, I quietly sat by myself in the Next Door basement tying bows and tags on our Hammond’s candy canes. It wasn’t long before I had an insuppressible smile creeping across my face. I was transported back to my parent’s bedroom floor where I spent countless December evenings chomping on candy canes and wrapping gifts (For the record, this was a task not taken lightly in our household; I had been trained at young age by my mom who had spent some of her teenage years as a gift wrapper in a large Texas department store. Perfect creases, tight folds, well-placed bows).

The Next Door shelves are absolutely bursting at the seams with goodies begging to be wrapped up and gifted to friends and loved ones. Please stop in, look around, and taste a thing or two (or more!). Let us help make your holiday season a little sweeter.

Below are some items I am most excited about this holiday season – but, of course, only the tip of the iceberg! If you believe I can help you in any way to find the perfect gifts, please don’t hesitate to drop me an email (mmillerzingermanscom  (mmillerzingermanscom)  ). I always love hearing from y’all.

Yours in Chocolate,

Pralus Organic Pyramid
This attractive stack of organic chocolate bars from Francois Pralus in Roanne, France is sure to please the chocolate fanatic and/or eco-conscious person on your shopping list. It is a fantastic way to showcase the variety of flavors and aromas offered by the wide world of chocolate. Because each bar is a consistent 75% cacao, the collection illustrates how bean variety and origin, not just the ratio of cacao to sugar, play a big role in our experience of chocolate. Taste your way from Ecuador (espresso! toast!) to Madagascar (red berries! jam!).

Hammond’s All-Natural Candy Canes
Nothing says holiday cheer quite like colorful, hand-pulled candy canes! Our canes come from Hammond’s Candies in Colorado, which has been making them since 1920. Founder Carl Hammond stressed the importance of high-quality ingredients and the Depression only reinforced this guiding principle. If people found the money to buy candy, he wanted it to be the best they could buy. Ninety years later, these candy canes continue to be the perfect addition to holiday stockings everywhere!

Askinosie Peppermint Bark
Design geeks and sweet lovers alike can cheer for this holiday treat. Great packaging meets great food. A birch wood box, branded with a jaunty reindeer, encases full-flavored, handcrafted peppermint bark: a foundation of single origin dark chocolate is layered with Askinosie’s buttery, not-too-sweet white chocolate and then topped off with a slew of festive, crushed natural peppermint. This may be the gift you buy for someone else, but end up keeping to yourself. Don’t worry – I won’t tell.

D. Barbero Crema Torroncino
I absolutely could not resist the charming illustration of a small boy sneaking a taste of Crema Torroncino when I saw it over the summer at the Fancy Food Show. One taste and I knew why this little boy would risk getting caught with his fingers in the jar! D. Barbero in Asti, Italy has produced heavenly artisanal, hard torrone for five generations and this is the latest form through which to enjoy their handiwork. Simply put, imagine tossing hard torrone in a food processor: a couple of WHRRRR-WHRRRS and you’ve got Crema Torroncino. Piedmont hazelnuts, acacia honey, sugar and egg white in spreadable form. Forget visions of sugar plums – I’m dreaming of this stuff on toast, between layers of puff pastry, ribboned through gelato, and shamelessly eaten by the spoonful.

Poco Dolce Toffee Square Tins
If you’ve been keeping up with my recent Chocolate News & Notes, you’ll know I’m pretty gaga for these chocolate-covered toffee tiles from San Francisco. Don’t let the unassuming round metal tins fool you. Inside is a whopping half-pound (!!!) of buttery toffee enrobed in bittersweet chocolate. ‘Double Shot’ features toffee infused with housemade espresso while ‘Popcorn’ is just that – freshly popped popcorn folded right into the sea salt toffee.

Flora Pate de Fruit
When it comes to confections, a perfectionist is just who you want in the kitchen – and Flora Lazar of Flora Confections in Chicago fits the bill. Enamored with French pastry and confection since she was a young teen, Flora is a veritable force in the kitchen. Her pate de fruit sources fruit from Chicago’s Green City Market and the soft, almost-melt-in-your-mouth pieces burst with flavor. We sell her pate de fruit by the piece in our truffle case, as well as in clear 7-piece and 17-piece sleeves, which are a particularly stunning way to showcase the pate de fruit’s lovely jewel tones.

Ravera Chocolate Torrone
I must confess, I don’t know terribly much about Ravera, a small Italian cioccolateria located in Cherasco (about 30 miles southeast of Turin). From what I can tell through poor Google translating and my familiarity with Spanish, a sister romance language to Italian, Ravera was founded in 1982 by pastry chef Arturo Walter Ravera and his wife, Margaret. What began as a weekend hobby to fill free time and the tummies of friends soon became a professional endeavor. What I do know more about is how delicious Arturo and Margaret’s Torrone di Cioccolato is. Cherasco sits in the Piedmont region of Italy, so it should be no surprise that the hazelnuts in this confection are the crème de la crème. They provide a wonderfully nutty and crunchy contrast to the velvety and rich chocolate nougat into which they’re folded. This handmade chocolate nougat spells absolute bliss. Google Translator tells me Arturo holds the title of “Craftsman Radiance” and there is perhaps something perfect about this almost certainly imperfect translation.

Antica Dolceria Bonajuto Pepperoncini Truffles
From the same producers that brought you the wildly addictive “pink and red bars” a.k.a. Vanilla and Cinnamon Bonajuto bars (which you can again find on our shelves after a lengthy vacation), come these equally traditional pepperoncini “truffles.” These petite treats share the stone ground texture of the Bonajuto bars – a technique the Sicilians adopted from the Aztecs – but are markedly darker & deeper. The addition of red pepper extends their long finish with a little heat to wake up your taste buds.

Patric PBJ OMG!
This was one of the three, top secret new Patric bars that were unveiled at our tasting with chocolate maker Alan McClure back in September. Alan takes his Malagasy chocolate (full of notes of red berries and jam) and peanut butter and throws it right in the melangeur (the mixer) along with some salt and sugar to form this jump-out-of-your-chair delicious bar! Just try to resist exclaiming “PBJ OMG!” after popping a bite of this in your mouth. A great gift for Grandpa, your young niece, your brother-in-law, or your Secret Santa recipient! This will be a seasonal bar for Patric. Alan plans to put it on vacation at the end of December, so get what you can while it is still in stock.

Charles Chocolates Nut Tins
As the Chocolate Lady I taste my fair share of confections sent by prospective vendors. Nuts and chocolate are a classic pairing, but all too often are woefully disappointing as a result of low-quality ingredients. Imagine my delight upon tasting triple chocolate nuts from Charles Chocolates in San Francisco! Chuck roasts his West Coast hazelnuts and almonds to highlight their delicious flavor and lend a satisfying crunch. Once cooled, they are dipped multiple times in a signature blend of milk and bittersweet chocolates and finished with a light dusting of cocoa powder. These adorable tins are sure to impress the nut lover (hi Mom!) on your list this holiday season.

The Truffle Case!
December is a terribly exciting month for the truffle case because I can really pull out all the stops. We’ve got a mesmerizing mix of truffles, each one a miniature work of art. Looks are only half of it though; these confections are mouthwateringly good! We can’t wait to pack you up a custom assortment.

• Chocolat Moderne’s Hazelnut Hysterie, this hazelnut praline (nuts & sugar) in a thin, dark chocolate shell chocolate exudes perfection.
• Chocolate in Chelsea’s Salted Burnt Caramel, Cathy Selin cranks things up a notch with the evenhanded addition of salt to her already outstanding burnt caramel. enclosed in a petite multi-faceted chocolate shell.
• Sweet Gem Confection’s Eggnog, growing up I was pretty adverse to the concept of egg nog. If only this treat had been my introduction! Nancy’s ganache features local Calder Dairy eggnog.
• Grocer’s Daughter’s Rosemary, Mimi infuses her dark chocolate ganache with fresh rosemary – savory and not too sweet!
• Michel Cluizel’s Caramel Mushrooms, always a hit! A stem of buttery caramel dipped in white chocolate, topped with a chocolate cap filled with almond praline. I could really go on and on… Chai Latte, Baby Bourbon, Spicy Mayan, Raspberry Caramels, Amarena Cherries…

My Personal Wish List
(Are you reading this Mom & Dad?)

• Dos Cafeteras Café au Lait Candies
• Agrimontana Fruit Gellies
• Flora Locavore (Pecans & Michigan Cherries) Nougat
• Vosges Marzipan Stuffed Bar
• Patric In-NIB-itable Bar
• D. Barbero Crema Torroncino
• Pralus Equateur (75% Cacao) Bar
• Cocoa Puro Kakawa (chocolate dipped cacao beans)
• Claudio Corallo Chocolate with Crystallized Orange
• Fran’s Ginger Thins