Growers and Grocers

I’ll be the first to admit it, we were spoiled. In the town of Port Jefferson, about a 15 minute ride from my home I could buy freshly made truffles, caramels, toffee and other handmade confections anytime I wanted from Sans Souci Gourmet Confections. My family and I stopped at this shop for our chocolate fix at least once a week. The chocolates are still available, but alas, the product is getting so much positive press that the owners needed to relocate to a larger facility in upstate New York to keep up with the demand. This year alone San Souci received mention in Saveur Magazine and Chocolatier Magazine. The Saveur article named them as one of America’s top ten chocolatiers.

What makes these chocolates so special? Each chocolate is handmade. They use no preservatives or machines to make any of the products. They use fresh cream, fresh butter, fruit purees, Fleur de Sel sea salt and Madagascar vanilla beans. Most of the chocolates are made with bittersweet chocolate. They recommend that the chocolates be consumed within two weeks of purchase. This has never been a problem for us.

These are some of our favorite products (quotes from the product website):

Truffles - The truffles at Sans Souci are hand shaped and then dipped in bitter sweet chocolate. They are then rolled in ingredients such as cocoa, coconut, nuts, wafer cookies, crushed peppermint or powdered sugar. My personal favorite is the champagne truffle. In this truffle “vintage champagne is used to enrich this delicate ganache composed of both milk and dark chocolates for a truly luxurious and celebratory truffle.”

Marquis Bar - My husband and son are big fans of the marquis bar. On first glance it just looks like a regular brownie, but this bar is “more of a cross between a flourless chocolate cake and a truffle.” It literally melts in your mouth. They have an original bar and 4 other creations: mocha fudge, mint chocolate, chocolate raspberry and creme brulee. Lucky for us, I found the recipe for the bars, originally published in Martha Stewart Living in July, 2003.

Toffee - The toffee is made with butter, sugar, nuts and sea salt. I enjoy the pecan toffee which is “loaded with luxurious pecan halves, coated with milk chocolate and studded with toasted chopped pecans.”

Chocolate Elixir - The is the most decadent hot chocolate I have ever tasted. It is said to be “more like a molten chocolate dessert than hot chocolate.” You can have the drink in the shop or you can buy an 8 ounce jar of the mix to take home. In the jar you will find chopped bits of 64% dark chocolate.

The new location will be in the Poughkeepsie area of New York. Currently their products are available online.