Looking for a lovely Advent calendar to kick off your countdown to Christmas? Or maybe you just like chocolate, sweets, and great design and want to bring home a great gift for someone special in your life? Or a way to brighten two dozen days for a chocolate lover no matter what holiday they happen to celebrate? We’re here to help. Right now, as I write, we have half a dozen varieties of delicious and demonstrably beautiful confectionery Advent calendars at the Deli (which also has a non-candy one, the tea calendar pictured). These delights can sell quickly. I know the holidays may feel like they’re a ways away still, but these calendars come in only once a year and almost always sell out super fast, so here’s your official notice that they’ve arrived.
Kate and Jason McCrea started making these amazing artisan caramels in Massachusetts back in 2009. Their commitment to craft and to using only really high-quality butter make for some of the tastiest caramels in the country. This is a 24-day calendar with two pieces each of Black Lava Sea Salt, Classic Vanilla, Chocolate Peppermint, Cape Cod Sea Salt, Tapped Maple, Deep Chocolate, Rosemary Truffle Sea Salt, Ginger Fusion, Dark Roasted Mocha, Cafe Noir, Cinnamon Clove, and Anisette.
This is one of my favorites—the box is beautiful and it’s got a lovely Rilke poem handwritten on the inside of it. Inside you’ll find a little of nearly everything that the Dubai-based, craft chocolate maker Mirzam makes, 24 pieces in total, including two new recipes—45% Milk Chocolate with Ginger as well as White Chocolate Chai! Kathy Johnston and the crew at Mirzam really do do remarkable work! What an unforgettable way to delight any craft chocolate lover! The amazing artwork is by Emirati-born artist Rawaan Alkhatib.
The Venchi family started crafting confectionery in the chocolate capital of Italy, Turin, all the way back in 1878. As Paul and I did when we opened the Deli in 1982, it started small. Silviano Venchi spent everything he had to get his little business going. He bought a couple copper kettles to start cooking confectionery in, and the story all unfolded from there. Today, Venchi’s beautiful retail shops and gelaterie are spread throughout Turin. If you walk in this week, these Advent calendars will surely be displayed! Two dozen bits of classic Venchi chocolate in a beautifully decorated box!
