There's lots of delectable chocolate in Philly, the suburbs, and New Jersey, including old-school and modern, single-origin chocolate bars, intricate buttercreams, hand-painted truffles, and more.
LessAt this Society Hill confectionery, pastry chef Aurora Wold makes exceptionally stunning chocolates. Her specialty: hand-painting dark-chocolate-encased bonbons, which can take days. Layers of flavors hide inside these one-bite desserts, including strawberry and balsamic; chocolate, tahini and shortbread; and peanut butter and praline. Also popular are her chocolate barks, available with toppings like raspberry pistachio.
This 150+ year-old shop got a makeover in 2011, when it was reopened by the Willy Wonka-esque Berley brothers, owners of nearby Franklin Fountain. The Old City shop takes a bean-to-bar approach, sourcing cacao from around the world then processing it in house. Their wide selection of fare includes creamy bonbons, peanut butter cups, buttercreams, caramels, and chocolate bars with up to 90 percent cacao. Be sure to try a cup of their drinking chocolate.
Many of the chocolates in this 50-plus-year-old, family-owned store are made in the former Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews factory, where co-owner Tony Walter Sr. worked for a time. But don’t expect the sweets here to resemble those iconic, molasses-y candy bars. In addition to caramels and handmade marshmallows covered in milk and dark chocolate, the Washington Square shop offers the classics, like solid chocolate hearts, sea salt caramels, buttercreams, and toffee.
Anthony Anastasio opened Anthony’s Italian Coffee House in 1995 in an Italian Market storefront that had been in his family for generations. Today, the combined coffee and chocolate house is known for its chocolate-covered figs, chocolate-caramel apples, tiramisu and dark chocolate truffles, and chocolate-dipped biscotti.
Tucked inside the jewelry and gift shop Verde is Marcie Blaine Artisanal Chocolates, a confectionery run by Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran, a duo known for their restaurants Barbuzzo, Little Nonna’s, Bud and Marilyn’s and more. Here, Chef Turney makes chocolates in a studio kitchen in the back of the 13th Street shop. And while they sell classics like truffles and caramels, Marcie Blaine’s Philly chocolates, printed with local landmarks or something quintessentially Philly, are most popular.
Joseph and Antonie Amrani own this sunny Ardmore cafe and shop. French-born and Georges Perrier-trained, the brothers turn out delicious macarons and croque monsieurs, but you won’t want to leave here without chocolate. Find truffles filled with ganache, hazelnut praline, and Delice’s own take on Ferrero Rocher, featuring a layered interior of Italian coconut wafers, rice crispy, caramel, and dark chocolate.
Christopher Curtin spent more than a dozen years studying pastry and confectionery in Belgium, Switzerland, France, Germany, and Japan. He opened his small shop in West Chester in 2005 and has garnered national recognition in the years since. Bars come spiced with flavors like coffee and cardamom, green tea and roasted rice, and porcini and thyme; other treats, such as Peruvian truffles rolled in Venezuelan cocoa powder, are available, too. Look for Éclat products at shops like Di Bruno Bros.
Three generations of Giambris have helmed this chocolate business, founded in South Philadelphia in 1942. Chocolate-covered pretzels are their biggest seller, but the family doesn’t shy away from dipping more unusual things — such as potato chips and Oreos — in dark and milk chocolate. Classics like nonpareils, buttercreams, and caramels sell year-round, while other treats are more seasonal, including chocolate eggs and hand-pulled lemon sticks (staples of the Devon Horse Show).
This family company started crafting chocolates more than 70 years ago in France, not far from Paris; it opened the New Jersey outpost in 2012. Find bars studded with roasted pralines and figs, truffles with dark chocolate ganache, chocolates topped with cocoa nibs, nougatine, and hazelnut paste, dairy- and gluten-free brownies, and more.
This old-school South Jersey candy store has been in business for more than 100 years, staying in the same family for four generations. They make the candy on the second floor of the Merchantville sweet shop. Go-to candies include nonpareils, chocolate-covered pretzels, cashew crabs and caramels.