{"id":38543,"date":"2023-06-04T18:23:45","date_gmt":"2023-06-05T01:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/?p=38543"},"modified":"2025-01-31T17:08:19","modified_gmt":"2025-02-01T01:08:19","slug":"white-chocolate-gems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/local-chocolate\/white-chocolate-gems\/","title":{"rendered":"White chocolate gems"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2023 Best White Chocolate competition<\/a> was a smaller affair this year and for me it was even smaller because I didn\u2019t get to sample all of the entries. Unfortunately some competitors did not submit enough samples for all of the judges to try but of the ones I did get I found some to recommend.<\/p>\n

SFBA<\/h2>\n

There was only one local white chocolate contestant this year \u2014 but their entries were super good so I was delighted.<\/p>\n

aL chocoLat Boutique<\/h3>\n

First time competitor aL chocoLat Boutique<\/a>,<\/strong> Los Gatos, made quite an impression on Cacaopod and me in this competition with 3 white chocolate based truffles. The beautifully decorated pieces had interesting fillings that were just as intricate. They were delicious too.<\/p>\n

\"Karabeej
Karabeej bonbon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Karabeej was a green dome with white speckles on top and a gold and brown band around the bottom. Inside the white shell a marshmallow lay on top of a golden ganache with bits of pistachio in it which itself was on top of a layer of graham cracker.<\/p>\n

The graham cracker and pistachio gave the piece a tiny crunch which was a nice contrast to the soft marshmallow. The piece tasted lightly pistachio and mostly creamy white chocolate. It was a good subtle piece that I rated 4 stars.<\/p>\n

It racked up awards in the competition winning Gold for Best Ingredient Combinations, Best Taste, and Best Texture; and Honorable Mentions for Most Unique and Best White Chocolates. It rated 4.5 stars.<\/p>\n

\"Dulce
Dulce de Leche bonbon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Their second submission, Dulce de Leche, was my personal fav of the whole competition. It was cute: The dome was painted half blue and half white with a silver and black dotted band bisecting the dome.<\/p>\n

The dome was a dark chocolate shell on top of a white chocolate bottom full of black sesame seeds. It was filled with a marscapone cream with a dot of caramelized milk in the soft creamy cheese. I could smell the marscapone and it was the first flavor, then caramel plus the savory sesame seeds. It had a nice small crunch from the seeds. I gave it the highest rating: 5 stars.<\/p>\n

aL chocoLat Boutique Dulce de leche won Gold for Best Taste and Best Texture, and Bronze for Best Ingredient Combinations. It rated 4.5 stars.<\/p>\n

\"Lemon
Lemon Cheesecake bonbon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Their final submission, Lemon Cheesecake, had swashes of different yellows painted over the dome. Inside the white shell were 3 layers: lemon curd on top of cream cheese on top of a cookie layer.<\/p>\n

The first taste was creamy milk, then very lemony, then a little cream cheese tang, all with a soft cookie crunch. I rated it 4 stars.<\/p>\n

Like all of their entries aL chocoLat Boutique\u2019s Lemon Cheesecake got lots of recognition receiving Silver for Best Ingredient Combinations, Best Texture, Most Unique, and Best White Chocolates; and Bronze for Best Taste. It rated 4.5 stars.<\/p>\n

You can buy aL chocoLat Boutique bonbons online and at special events. Visit their website<\/a> for more info.<\/p>\n

Recommended<\/h2>\n

In addition to aL chocoLat Boutique\u2019s stunning submissions, there were a few others I thought were special.<\/p>\n

Stella\u2019s Confectionery<\/h3>\n

Competition veteran,\u00a0Stella\u2019s Confectionery<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>Milwaukee, WI, submitted a single bar to this competition and a couple of bars to this year\u2019s toffee competition<\/a> and I recommend them all.<\/p>\n

\"Stella\u2019s
Stella\u2019s Citron Blanc bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stella\u2019s white chocolate entry, the Citron Blanc bar was one of their signature square bars with the white chocolate painted in a yellow ombre pattern. The bar was filled with a light brown ganache and had a light chocolatey\/ citrus aroma.<\/p>\n

The bar started out creamy tasting then a little lemony turning slightly bitter at end. It had a very light texture that melted away quickly. I rated it 4 stars.<\/p>\n

Stella\u2019s Confectionery Citron Blanc won Gold for Best White Chocolates, and received Honorable Mentions for Best Ingredient Combinations, Best Taste, Best Texture, and Most Unique. It rated 4.5 stars.<\/p>\n

You can find Stella\u2019s chocolate bars and other confections at a few stores across the country. Check their website for locations.<\/p>\n

Panache Chocolatier<\/h3>\n

Veteran competitor,\u00a0Panache Chocolatier<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>Leawood, KS, submitted 2 of their big round bonbons to this competition.<\/p>\n

\"Spring
Spring Mint bonbon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The one I liked best, Spring Mint, had a white chocolate shell drizzled in white chocolate and finished with some red and green sprinkles. Cacaopod said it looked like a cake pop \u2014 maybe he was exaggerating a little but Panache bonbons are definitely on the large side.<\/p>\n

The white chocolate ganache infused with rose, lavender, and mint was interesting, tasting a little like toothpaste but better. It wasn\u2019t overly floral instead it started lightly fruity \u2014reminding me of strawberry rhubarb \u2014 then ending as mint. If it had been less sweet I would have given it my highest rating. As is I rated it 4 stars.<\/p>\n

Panache Chocolatier White Chocolate #1 Spring Mint received an Honorable Mention for Best Texture. It rated 3.5 stars.<\/p>\n

\"Warm
Warm Vanilla Grapefruit bonbon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Warm Vanilla Grapefruit was a pretty light pink bonbon with golden sugar sprinkles. The pink came from ruby chocolate mixed into the white chocolate which I thought was a good use of ruby chocolate \u2014a little ruby for color and maybe a little berry tartness (ruby on its own<\/a> looks more gray and the taste is not chocolatey at all to me).<\/p>\n

Inside was a white chocolate ganache infused with vanilla and grapefruit. It smelled and tasted mostly vanilla. A too sweet grapefruit flavor came second turning a little bitter. I liked the grapefruit and vanilla aftertaste, and rated it 3 stars.<\/p>\n

Panache Chocolatier White Chocolate #2 Warm Vanilla Grapefruit received Honorable Mentions for Best Texture and Most Unique. It rated 3.5 stars.<\/p>\n

Panache Chocolatier has an online store. You can also visit their store in Leawood.<\/p>\n

MFG Toffee & Bark Co.<\/h3>\n

New competitor MFG Toffee & Bark Co.<\/a><\/strong> of Baltimore, MD, made a good impression on me with their Breton Salted Caramel Latte Toffee. It was a thin, pretty toffee with marbled dark and white chocolate on both sides \u2014 it would make a good gift for your coffee toffee lovers.<\/p>\n

\"Breton
Breton Salted Caramel Latte Toffee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Breton Salted Caramel Latte Toffee had a good coffee aroma and immediate coffee taste. It was a crunchy toffee that ended a little chewy and a little salty. I rated it 4 stars.<\/p>\n

MFG Toffee & Bark Company Breton Salted Caramel Latte won Gold for Best Ingredient Combinations and Best Texture, Silver for Best Taste, and Honorable Mentions for Most Unique and Best White Chocolates. It rated 4 stars.<\/p>\n

You can buy MFG Toffee & Bark Co. confections online.<\/p>\n

Delysia Chocolatier<\/h3>\n

My final recommended entry came from competition veteran, Delysia Chocolatier<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>Austin, TX. While they submitted 3 truffle entries, I liked the Praline Peanut Spiced Chocolate Truffle best.<\/p>\n

\"Praline
Praline Peanut Spiced Chocolate Truffle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like all Delysia truffles, it was a square bonbon packed in a square red box tied with a white ribbon. \u00a0The package is simple but attractive and the white chocolate square looked pretty too with a brush mark decal in colors on the red side of the spectrum.<\/p>\n

Also like most Delysia truffles it had a super thick top shell but this time the bottom was whisper thin. I understand that sometimes shells need to be thick \u2014 like when they have a liquid filling you don\u2019t want leaking out, or you need the outer chocolate to be in a different ratio with a stronger filling \u2014 but Delysia seems to just always make thick shells. To me it\u2019s along the lines of taking a bug and making it a feature.<\/p>\n

\"Delysia
Delysia truffle cross section<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since this time they made the bottom shell thinner I\u2019m hoping they\u2019ve got religion and will start thinning out the rest of the shells because whoee! Those shells are thick. Okay, end of rant <\/p>\n

The Praline Peanut Spiced Chocolate Truffle smelled like peanut butter so it was off to a good start in my book. It had a little caramelized crunch at first and started off with a sweet peanut taste. The peanut praline filling had good sized pieces of roasted peanuts which helped balance the sweetness. A little heat appeared after the sweet peanut then a creamy white chocolate flavor. The whole time the heat built up and lingered afterwards but it was never hot.<\/p>\n

The description said it had caramelized white chocolate infused with a shot of espresso and a white chocolate\/roasted peanut spread topped off by cayenne pepper. I didn\u2019t taste espresso \u2014 maybe it needed 2 shots \u2014 but I got the other flavors. I rated it 4 stars.<\/p>\n

Delysia Chocolatier Praline Peanut Spiced Truffle won Gold for Most Unique and Bronze for Best Ingredient Combinations and Best Texture. It rated 4 stars.<\/p>\n

Delysia chocolates are available online and at their shop in Austin.<\/p>\n

Good<\/h2>\n

While not my favs, the following 2 entries were interesting, well made, and worthy of mention.<\/p>\n

The Toffee Merchant<\/h3>\n
\"Limoncello
Limoncello Toffee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Return competitor, The Toffee Merchant<\/a>,<\/strong> Phoenix, AZ, submitted a white chocolate toffee in both this competition and the toffee competition. I reviewed it in the toffee article<\/a> so I won\u2019t repeat here except to say their Limoncello Toffee was a very good toffee \u2014 if you like bitter lemon. I\u2019m more of a Meyer lemon person so I can\u2019t give it my strongest recommendation but it\u2019s good and I rated it 3 stars.<\/p>\n

The Toffee Merchant Limoncello Toffee received Bronze for Best Ingredient Combinations and Best Texture. It rated 4.5 stars.<\/p>\n

While the Limoncello Toffee isn\u2019t available for sale yet, you can order their other toffees including ones from a previous competition<\/a> on their website.<\/p>\n

Baetz Chocolates<\/h3>\n

Finally repeat competitor, Baetz Chocolates,<\/strong> Edmonton, AB, submitted a single truffle, but it was a worthy entrant. Baetz tends to win awards for most unique in these competitions, and this latest one is a good example of why.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the visuals: The Mango Monument was a tall triangular cone \u2014 I haven\u2019t seen that shape before \u2014 Cacaopod said it looked like a cone of incense. It was brightly painted in pink, red, orange, and yellow splashes.<\/p>\n

\"Mango
Mango Monument\u2019s ingredient list<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Inside the white chocolate shell was a filling with a long ingredient list including shea butter?! Like moisturizer? Illipe butter? I had to look that one up. Also a moisturizer! I think Baetz should submit an artist statement like you see at art exhibits explaining what their intent was in creating the piece and shedding light on decisions that went into the piece because this feels like some sort of modern art that requires some understanding to appreciate.<\/p>\n

\"Baetz\u2019s
Baetz\u2019s Mango Monument \u2014 notice the visible cacao nibs at bottom left<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other ingredients were more usual: Mango, mango powder, cacao nibs, passion fruit powder, coconut oil, citric acid \u2014 all recognizable foodstuffs. And it was kinda cool that I could see some nibs under the white chocolate shell.<\/p>\n

Inside the piece were 2 layers: a solid yellow orange and a cream colored one studded with nibs. It smelled like passion fruit which was the bottom layer. The top layer was mango and by itself it tasted like mango sherbet.<\/p>\n

When eaten together the whole piece had a good tropical flavor. I liked the nibs at first but there were too many so they tasted a little bitter. I rated the piece 3 stars.<\/p>\n

Of course Baetz Chocolates Mango Monument won Gold for Most Unique. It also received Silver for Best Texture and an Honorable Mention for Best Ingredient Combinations. It rated 4 stars.<\/p>\n

Baetz Chocolates doesn\u2019t currently have a website or storefront. Visit their Facebook page for the latest info on how to try their chocolates.<\/p>\n

Want more?<\/h2>\n

You can see the full list of this year\u2019s winners<\/a> on the Chocolate Salon site. Since some of the entries missing from my box didn\u2019t make it onto the winners list I don\u2019t mind that I didn\u2019t get to try them. But I do wish I could\u2019ve tried Phillip Ashley\u2019s entry \u2014 I\u2019ve been liking his chocolates more and more<\/a> and was interested to see what he\u2019s been doing lately. In fact even without trying his entry I\u2019m going to recommend at least checking out his online shop<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few little delights were discovered in this year\u2019s competition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":38810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,1404,15,38,131],"tags":[1543,1112,1217,1552,1021,1237,274,1238],"class_list":["post-38543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-chocolate","category-canadian-chocolate","category-local-chocolate","category-chocolate-recipes","category-south-bay-chocolate","tag-al-chocolat-boutique","tag-baetz-chocolates","tag-delysia-chocolatier","tag-mfg-toffee-bark-co","tag-panache-chocolatier","tag-stellas-confectionery","tag-tastetv","tag-the-toffee-merchant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38543"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45407,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38543\/revisions\/45407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}