Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Sweets from Rick Jordan Chocolatier
With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, we went looking for new ways to enjoy an old favorite: chocolate. There are, of course, the go-to favorites: Bissinger’s, Kakao, Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate…but here are three under-the-radar purveyors of sweets with which to surprise your sweet.
Rick Jordan Chocolatier in Chesterfield has created a molasses puff–style confection in which honey is balanced by ginger and soft caramel; the whole thing’s enrobed in chocolate. As if that’s not enough to please anyone’s sweetheart, Jordan infuses the pure Missouri honey with Dominican cacao nibs.
To make Mom’s Originals Gourmet Pretzels—a treat that she first developed for her own family—chocolate wiz Jody Hensley combines the sweetness of caramel and chocolate with the salty taste of crunchy pretzels. She hand-wraps soft caramel around rod pretzels short or long. Each piece is then enrobed in chocolate, rolled in chopped nuts, or simply drizzled with white chocolate.
Jennifer Libbra’s shop, The Chocolate Affair, shares space with her bed and breakfast in Highland, Illinois. Though you needn’t be a guest at the B&B to buy the candies, wouldn’t it be doubly romantic to wake up to the scent of chocolate? And consider Libbra’s chocolate-dipped wine bottle service: your favorite wine, triple-dipped in dark chocolate, drizzled with white chocolate, and packed in a clear sleeve with a bow.
