Pumpkin chocolate from Christopher Elbow Chocolates. This is one of the more delicious holiday treats I will eat this year. If Elbow could ship me one of these the size of a pumpkin pie, I wouldn’t have to do any baking this week for Thanksgiving.

I discovered Christopher Elbow on a trip to Kansas City and liked their chocolate so much that I placed a sizable order during the holidays last year. A few months ago Dean and Deluca started carrying a small assortment which was very welcome. Unfortunately they don’t stock the turtles, but still, I’ll take what I can get.

Chocolate dipped potato chips with Fleur de Sel from nunu chocolates. I found these tasty treats at nunu’s booth at Madison Square Eats. Crispy, salty, and chocolatey, these are a wonderful food.

Hot chocolate from the nunu chocolates shop in Brooklyn. This is really delicious hot chocolate, better than most others I’ve had in the city. Rich and chocolatey with just the right amount of frothiness. The shop is fun, you can enjoy hot chocolate, draught beer, coffee, and of course all of their wonderful chocolates. I’ve mentioned nunu before, but they deserve another mention. The salt caramels are my favorite, but all of the different confections have been great. I even picked up a bacon-something-or-other to bring to a soon-to-be-blogged about pigfest next week.

A small haul from Chuao Chocalatier in San Diego. I stopped into one of the cafes to pick up a Spicy Maya hot chocolate (a wonderful beverage) and couldn’t help walking out with a few other treats. The Origins bar is a great dark chocolate that recently picked up a Good Food Award. The most interesting of the truffles is the Firecracker truffle, which is a little spicy and loaded with pop rocks. As weird as it sounds, it’s really good and a lot of fun. This is will be the first post in a handful of San Diego -centric posts I’ll make from a recent brief trip.

Christmas chocolate bounty. Right now I’ve got my Flannery prime rib in the oven, so I’m trying to keep out of this collection of my favorite artisan chocolates. In there we’ve got Spicy Maya and Firecracker from Chuao, reminders of my San Diego days. Then there are salt caramel chocolates and honey chocolates from Nunu (see a video about Nunu on Food Curated), a new but happy discovery. Finally, my favorite chocolate creations, Fleur de Sel Dark Chocolate Turtles from Christopher Elbow (see my earlier post about Elbow).

Christopher Elbow chocolates. I don’t think I can praise this place enough—it might be the best chocolate shop/ confectioner I’ve been to in the US. Pictured is a fleur de sel turtle, which I thought was the best of the best. Also, the Venezuelan Spice “liquid chocolate” is the best cup of hot chocolate I’ve ever had, down to the homemade vanilla marshmallows. My previous favorite had been Chuao’s Spicy Maya hot chocolate, but this was a whole new level. Thanks to Hrönn and David for the tip!

Jacques Torres chocolates. While his chocolates are highly regarded, I thought these were just OK. The best were the signature “Wicked” chocolates with various chiles, but they were nowhere near as good as Spicy Maya from Chuao. The hot chocolate wasn’t as good as Chuao’s either.

Wonderful Valrhona Dark Chocolate Pudding. The secret, besides using well over a pound of Valrhona, is the addition of red wine. Also in the photo is Shafer Firebreak, a Cabernet-based, Port-style dessert wine. It’s distinctively Shafer and quite enjoyable with a dessert like this.