Today is a review! I'm reviewing a company that not only blew me away with there website but customer service. I, being the blond that I can be at times, contacted a chocolate company in August. Silly me....thinking that chocolate could win a fight with Georgia's summer temperatures. I got a e-mail right away from Marcy and she was just the sweetest! No pun intended ;)
She told me that the temperatures in August were too high to send some samples my way but that when it cooled off a bit she would be more than happy to send me some goods. I gotta say, I think Marcy was watching the weather channel for about three weeks because I got a e-mail the exact day the temperatures broke here and it was 75 out. Shocked, I opened the e-mail to find her telling me that she thought it was possible to send some sweet treats my way. I, of course, agreed and had her send it to my work address to ensure that it wasn't delivered and sat on my porch for hours.
It was my birthday oddly enough and the mail guy came zipping around the corner to hand me my package. He said "I am sorry but we are going to have to check this." I laughed and agreed. He was kidding though. He told me that he was just saying that because of where the package came from. That's when I looked and sure enough it was from Chocolate Inspirations!!!
YAY! I got a birthday gift and just in time. It was right after I had seriously hunted for something sweet to nibble on. I immediately opened the package and what I found was a TON of samples! I mean, everything from cashew brittle to peanut butter pillows. THANK GOD, I was at work so that I could share this madness. I swear if I would have gotten this at home I think that I would have had a panic attack. I have to say, there are two things in this world that is just not allowed in big quantities as far as I am concerned. That is cashews and chocolate. I am a total freak to the cashiers I am sure when I go to the Co Op or Earth Fare to buy one serving of cashews. I have tried and tried again to have a bag in the house and just only eat that one serving. I have time and time again, bought a whole pound and ate the whole pound in one day. Yes, even I folks have weaknesses. Chocolate (and dark chocolate especially) is the other. If I buy a bar I usually break it up and divide the thing. Try to pawn it off on the cashier or a friend. If I get home with the whole thing, it's gone. Don't get me wrong, there is a time and a place for a whole chocolate bar my friends but it doesn't agree with me these days and I do have to be careful with my love.
Let me do a little show and tell about some of the most amazing chocolates and more sold today. Don't say I didn't warn you!!! Despite what the name might have you believe, Chocolate Inspirations offers much more than simple chocolates. This Illinois-based company offers a wide line of toffees, brittles, caramels, seasonal chocolates, and nut- and pretzel-based treats for sale online. Recently I had the opportunity to taste samples of their toffees, vegan toffees, and pretzel bites. I cant show you all that I got but I can tell you I (and my coworkers) were blown away at the very first bite! Here is about how Chocolate Inspirations all started!
Pam Vieau, owner and resident chocolatier of Chocolate Inspirations, Inc. is a culinary artist with eighteen years of practical experience developing and marketing specialty chocolate products. She is an accomplished chocolatier with a solid knowledge of confections and pastries, having trained under American, Swiss, Belgian and French Master Chocolatiers.In college, Pam originally wanted to become a teacher. However, this idea was put on hold to raise a family. In 1992, her children now grown, Pam was searching for a new beginning. For fun, she attended a chocolate class taught by a well-known chocolatier, Elaine Gonzalez, and she was hooked. Pam traded a batch of cookies for her first chocolate machine and launched her own specialty chocolate company, Chocolate Inspirations, Inc. In her seventeen years in business, Pam has received a national award and high accolades for her homemade English toffee. She specializes in customizing original chocolate creations for clients, including a chocolate birthday cake for Mayor Richard M. Daley and a chocolate Space Shuttle box for Senator John Glenn. In August 2002, Pam's teaching career began when she was offered an opportunity to develop and instruct the chocolate course at Triton College. An additional offer to teach at the Wilton School of Cake Decorating and Confectionary Art came during the same year, as well as an opportunity to facilitate the practical applications for the AACT Candy Tech Course. Although there are now many classes for chocolatiers to master their craft, Pam's has discovered there is a lack of basic theory applications missing in confection training. Pam's teaching focuses on learning the basics and then advancing to higher levels. Pam has also been contracted for on-site training, consulting and research and development for various small and large chocolate, flavor and confection companies.
Toffees
The English toffee from Chocolate Inspirations is generously coated with milk chocolate and covered with crushed pecans on both sides. One of the most notable aspects of the toffee was how thin it actually was: while the slab of toffee was close to a ½" thick, most of that seemed to be chocolate and nuts. The toffee itself was quite thin, at most points between 1/8-1/4" thick. I actually enjoyed this ratio, because I like my toffee with a hefty dose of chocolate and nuts, but it did make it difficult to taste the toffee on its own, and for those who are toffee purists, they might wish for more toffee in the center. The toffee itself has a great crunch and a nice smooth buttery flavor.
I also tried the Cinnamon Toast toffee, which is a cinnamon-infused toffee coated with milk chocolate and sprinkled with large-grained sugar crystals. Cinnamon is one of my favorite candy additives, so I loved this flavor combination, and I thought the sugar crystals gave the toffee an unusual but deliciously crunchy texture. AMAZING!!! It really tasted like cinnamon toast crunch. This was the birthday girl picked to try!
Vegan Toffees
I'm not vegan myself, but I have a number of vegan friends, and I know that it can sometimes be a struggle to find quality vegan treats, so I appreciate that Chocolate Inspirations has adapted a number of their recipes to be vegan-friendly. Among the vegan offerings are vegan toffees, nut brittles, chocolate-covered nuts, and caramel cups.
My favorite vegan treat was the vegan English toffee. The toffee itself has coconut milk and coconut oil in place of the traditional butter, and it's coated in dark chocolate and chopped pecans. The thick coating of nuts on both sides of the toffee provided great texture and flavor, and really elevated this toffee from the realm of "good because it's vegan" to good in its own right. Although I might stick with regular toffee for myself, I wouldn't hesitate to give this as a gift to vegan friends.
They dont just sell chocolate either! They have candied pecans and soooooo many other things.
They also have Vegan coco dusted pecans! Yum! 
Perfect for the intense dark chocolate lover! Our Cinnamon Sugar pecans are coated in an imported Swiss dark chocolate couverture and dusted with Swiss cocoa. Packaged in our beautiful gold box accented with “chocolate’ brown metallic gold ribbon.
A new artisan confection you will love! Our NEW Peanut Butter Pillows are OUTSTANDING! After one bite you will be hooked. This light flaky confection with a melt in your mouth peanut butter flavor is reminiscent of a favorite candy bar. Our new Peanut Butter Pillows is our very own recipe that was created by a mom that just happens to be an artisan chocolatier. Made by hand in small batches with a smooth fresh homemade peanut butter taste. Also available topped with our imported Swiss dark chocolate couverture. Our Peanut Butter Pillows is great for Vegans and Non-Vegans.
I would have to do 20 posts to go over all the amazing samples that I got. All in all one thing you need to know. IT IS FANTASTIC! I didn't have all of them. I shared with all of my co workers and every single one of the samples were gone in just three hours (just to let you know....there are only 8 of us down here). So needless to say, everyone LOVED every bite! THANKS SO MUCH to Chocolate Inspirations for making my birthday so memorable!!!
If you would like to see all that they have to offer please go to their site! You will be drooling in about 2 seconds after seeing the site!
Hope you all have a great night (or day if your reading this first thing). See you tomorrow!
-Heather
