33 Of The Best Chocolates In The U.S.

Fran's Chocolate

For more than 30 years, Seattle-based owner Fran Bigelow has been setting candy trendsshe was selling miniature chocolate bars and elegant truffles before they became ubiquitous. Her sweets also have a very high-profile admirer: As a lover of salty-sweet desserts, one of President Obama's favorite indulgences is Fran's Smoked Salt Caramelsbuttery caramels coated in milk chocolate and sprinkled with smoked sea salt. franschocolates.com

Vosges Haut-Chocolat

Owner and chocolate visionary Katrina Markoff flavors chocolates with unexpected ingredients (curry powder, bee pollen) and packs them in boldly designed boxes. Markoff is also a pioneer of the bacon-and-chocolate trend and now has glamorous boutiques in Chicago, New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. vosgeschocolate.com

Christopher Elbow Artisanal Chocolates

Pastry chef Christopher Elbow worked at the American Restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri, until the demand for his chocolate petits fours convinced him to launch his own candy business in 2003. His beautiful hand-painted chocolates come in creative flavors like bananas Foster and caramel apple. Elbow also makes fantastic chocolate bars, including the favorite among F&W editors, No. 6 Dark Rocks, made with dark chocolate and popping candy. elbowchocolates.com

L.A. Burdick Chocolates

After gaining recognition for the adorable almond-eared chocolate mice he provided to New York City's Le Cirque and Bouley in the 1990s, chocolatier Larry Burdick moved to Wapole, New Hampshire, where he opened a cheery yellow cafÃ©. Today, there are L.A. Burdick locations in New York City, Boston, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, serving his fantastic handmade chocolate candies, from ganache-filled truffles to the chocolate bunnies Burdick makes each spring, an Easter variation on his famous chocolate mice. burdickchocolate.com

Recchiuti Confections

San Francisco chocolatier Michael Recchiuti creates market-driven confections like chocolate-dipped pear slices flavored with Key lime juice, and homey chocolate desserts such as Quadruple Chocolate Brownies. F&W editors also love Recchiuti's dark chocolate-covered burnt caramel almonds and the seasonal peppermint patties. recchiuti.com

François Payard

Third-generation chocolatier and genius pastry chef FranÃ§ois Payard creates outstanding homemade chocolate confections, superb fluffy macarons and beautiful cakes at his elegant bakeries in New York City, Las Vegas, Japan and Korea. payard.com

Godiva Cake Truffles

The chocolatier's new cake truffles, created with celebrity baker Duff Goldman, come in four Ace of Cakesinspired flavors, including Cookie Dough (cookie dough-flavored ganache with a milk chocolate shell topped with dark chocolate chips) and Goldman's favorite: Butterscotch Walnut Brownie, a ball of caramel and maple walnut cream, surrounded by milk chocolate and molasses. godiva.com

Valerie Confections

In 2004, Los Angeles chocolatier Valerie Gordon started creating her impeccable, handmade small-batch chocolates and crispy chocolate-covered toffees topped with almonds, fleur du sel or candied fruit. Favorites of F&W's Tina Ujlaki include the outstanding milk chocolate-dipped nougat and caramel squares. In 2011, Gordon created a line of new tea blends, cookies and petits fours. valerieconfections.com

Kee's Chocolates

Chocolatier Kee Ling Tong opened her flagship store in New York City's Soho in 2002 as a combination flower and chocolate shop. Today she has three locations, offering superb handmade chocolates in 40 flavors, including F&W's Tina Ujlaki and Kate Krader favorite, pyramid-shaped Champagne truffles, made with dark chocolate ganache and Champagne. keeschocolates.com

See's Candies

The flagship store of this classic American chocolate company opened in 1921 in Los Angeles. Today there are more than 200 locations across the country offering delicious chocolate candies filled with nuts, marzipan and nougat. F&W's Kate Krader gets nostalgic for See's Milk Bordeaux, candy filled with brown sugar cream and topped with crispy chocolate puffed rice. sees.com

Jacques Torres

Pastry chef Jacques Torres left Manhattan's Le Cirque in 2000 to open his own chocolate factory. Torres now runs a chocolate empire that includes two production facilities, six NYC outposts and one in Atlantic City. F&W editors Kate Krader and Tina Ujlaki, resident chocolate experts, especially love Torres's milk chocolate-covered Cheerios and caramel chocolate popcorn, an addictively salty-sweet snack. mrchocolate.com

Lindt

The 170-year-old Swiss chocolate maker's Excellence line includes bars like silky dark chocolate flecked with crunchy caramel pieces and Fleur de Sel. lindtusa.com

My Sweet Brigadeiro

Christina Bhan and Paula Barbosa of My Sweet Brigadeiro make 20 different versions of these chewy Brazilian truffles, including traditional Rich Chocolate and Pecan-Cinnamon. mysweet.com

Xocolatti

Xocolatti's globally-inspired truffles and slates (very thin versions of chocolate bark with layers that recall slate rock) come in seven exotic flavors like mango and paprika with white chocolate. "In India, we usually eat fruit with spices on it, and one of the most popular combinations is mangos with paprika on top," says founder Shaineal Shah. xocolatti.com

Christopher Norman Chocolates

American chocolate pioneer John Down has been creating gorgeous and delicious hand-painted chocolates in New York City since 1994. Down started Christopher Norman Chocolates to support his other career, painting, and his candies are like artwork. Many are even finished with delicate brush strokes of gold leaf or cocoa. christophernormanchocolates.com

Hudson Valley Chocolates

Stephanie Glaisek's bonbon boxes include pieces with fillings like almond butter, candied tangerine or peppermint tea. hudsonvalleychocolates.com.

Veruca Chocolates

Handmade in Chicago, Veruca's sea salt and burnt-caramel candies are covered in dark chocolate. verucachocolates.com.

Mast Brothers Chocolates

At their Brooklyn, New York, factory, the bearded brothers Rick and Michael Mast create fantastic single-origin dark chocolate bars that are wrapped in custom-printed paper and named after the sources of the cacao beans, such as Papua New Guinea, Moho River, Sambirano Valley, and La Red de Guaconejo. "They're interesting, and certainly showcase the tangy, tropical, terroir-driven flavors of chocolate," says F&W's Kristin Donnelly. mastbrothers.com

Cacao

At her beautiful Atlanta boutique, owner Kristen Hard refuses to use anything but dark chocolate in her amazing bean-to-bar chocolates and playful desserts, such as a chocolate faux salami flecked with biscotti. To win over milk chocolate lovers, she says she "slowly ratcheted up the cacao percentages, and no one noticed." Many chocolate artisans spend years training with masters, but Hard is almost completely self-taught. "It used to make me feel insecure," she says. "But it's also why I'm unique." She now spends six weeks abroad each year sourcing beans directly from farmers, creating outstanding bars like one with Venezuelan cacao and raw sugar. cacaoatlanta.com

Chuao Chocolatier

F&W's Tina Ujlaki calls Venezuelan American brothers Michael and Richard Antonorsi's Potato Chips chocolate bar "brilliant. It's two of my favorite things: salty, crunchy chips contrasted with creamy milk chocolate," she says. chuaochocolatier.com

Theo Chocolate

Launched in 2006, the Seattle-based Theo Chocolate was the first chocolate manufacturer in the US to be both 100 percent organic and fair-trade. (The Fair Trade Certificate goes only to eco-friendly products made by workers who are paid enough to cover their basic needs and reinvest in their operations.) Theo's conscientious chocolates are delicious: nuanced and intense, like dark, single-origin bars from nations such as Ghana and Madagascar. Founder Joseph Whinney is so passionate about chocolate that he hired a biologist to genetically map Theo's beans. Not all of Theo's endeavors are so serious: 3,400 Phinney bars, named for the factory's street address, come in whimsical flavors like the salty-sweet Bread and Chocolate, featuring dark chocolate mixed with bread crumbs; it's perfect with afternoon coffee. theochocolate.com

Li-Lac Chocolates

Since she was a little girl, F&W's Kate Krader, a New York City-native, has looked forward to this classic 1923 chocolate shop's perfect homemade milk chocolate balls, wrapped in colorful foil, and available only during the holidays. "They remind me of my childhood," says Krader. Another nostalgic favorite is the super-rich old-fashioned fudge that's made daily. li-lacchocolates.com

EH Chocolatier

Massachusetts candy makers use unusual ingredients, such as passion fruit and white chocolate, in their caramels. There are also delicious bars like the Ancho, filled with spicy nuts, scotch caramel and pretzels. ehchocolatier.com.

French Broad Chocolates

The creamy flavor in these malted-milk chocolate bars comes from local malted barley grown on a North Carolina farm. frenchbroadchocolates.com

Suzanne's Chocolaterie

The understated wrapping gives little hint of what's inside: rich chocolate bars in varieties like caramel with honeycomb. suzanneschocolaterie.com.

Max Brenner

These crunchy, waffle-cone-like cookies are coated in hazelnut cream and covered in dark chocolate. maxbrenner.com.

Valrhona

Valrhona has taken their CaramÃ©lia chocolate bar, which uses rich dairy-based caramel (made from skim milk and butter) instead of caramelized sugar, and added crunchy pearls of toasted puffed cereal coated in the same chocolate for an incredibly creamy, crunchy candy bar. valrhona-chocolate.com

Askinosie CollaBARation

Askinosie, a fantastic bean-to-bar producer in Missouri, collaborated with other artisans for their new CollaBARation line of chocolate bars. We loved the sweet, malty chocolate they created with Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams and the unexpected dark chocolate licorice bar, made with a Scandinavian licorice producer. askinosie.com

The Grown Up Chocolate Co.

These bars have names like Glorious Coconut Hocus Pocus but sophisticated ingredients like ganache and gianduja. chelseamarketbasket.com.

Dandelion Chocolate

This new San Francisco bean-to-bar producer makes artisanal single-origin bars wrapped in beautiful paper. dandelionchocolate.com.

Woodblock Chocolate

At this Portland, Oregon, shop, candy is made with cacao from small roasters in flavors like sea salt and cacao nib. atthemeadow.com.

Ticket Kitchen

The company known for its luscious hot chocolate sticksblocks of chocolate meant to be swirled into warm milkrecently introduced a line of bars in kooky and festive flavors like waffle pecan, and milk chocolate blended with bits of roasted chestnut. theticketkitchen.com

Madécasse

Former Peace Corps volunteers launched this single-origin bean-to-bar operation, producing chocolates in Madagascar where the ingredients are cultivated. The arabica coffee bar uses beans from a small, local co-op, plus crunchy cocoa nibs. madecasse.com

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