Kate Kassin
The Original Williams Sonoma Peppermint Bark
The Original Williams Sonoma Peppermint Bark
It doesn’t get more classic than this once-a-year classic Williams Sonoma peppermint bark, so much so that the brand claims it’s the original. Each red tin is packed with layers of white and dark chocolate perfumed with peppermint oil and topped with crushed peppermint candies. The only real question: Should you order one, two, or three (yes, three) pounds of it?
Hu 6 Pack
Hu Chocolate has become the poster child for better-for-you chocolate. Sure, it’s made with coconut sugar and no palm oil or emulsifiers—but more importantly, it’s really, really good. I have a few squares of one of their fair trade organic chocolate bars, which come in flavors like crunchy mint or hazelnut butter, almost every night I’m at home, but I also can’t refuse their hunks (a.k.a. almonds and cashews dipped in dark chocolate). I’ve never met a Hu product I don’t love.
Beyond Good Microbatch Collection
Beyond Good Microbatch Collection
When you taste Beyond Good chocolate side by side with most conventional brands, you’ll immediately notice how fruity and, well, chocolaty it tastes. The brand sources and then produces chocolate right at the source in Madagascar and Uganda, partnering with Direct Trade farmers. You can taste that commitment to quality in the Microbatch Collection with four bars that boast 70% or 72% cacao. There’s candied ginger for those who want something on the sweeter (and spicier) side and sea salt and nibs for a well-balanced, well-textured option.
Tony’s Chocolonely
Tony’s Chocolonely bars scream festive year-round: They’re colorful and vibrant. And it doesn’t hurt that the brand has the powerful, important mission to end all exploitation in the cocoa industry. If buying chocolate means supporting a great cause, why not gift chocolate to everyone in your life this holiday season?
For the bakers
Stellar Eats Grain-Free Fudge Brownie Mix
Stellar Eats Grain-Free Fudge Brownie Mix
Stellar Eats makes baking mixes that fit almost every dietary restriction, whether gluten-free or plant-based, and they’re also really, really good. One of my go-tos is the brand’s fudge brownie mix, which has only six ingredients (plus oil and water) and is sweetened with coconut sugar. For an amateur baker like me, this mix makes it easy to have a pan of the fudgiest brownies (with chewy edges, of course) on the table in just 30 minutes. And if you’re not looking to feed a crowd, the brand’s instant treat in a cup means the answer to your craving for a single-serving brownie is just 60 seconds away in the microwave.
Guittard Chocolate Lovers Bundle for Baking
Guittard Chocolate Lovers Bundle for Baking
Guittard Chocolate has been in the game for over 150 years, which means it makes a superior product. It’s particularly a favorite of our Test Kitchen team, who love to bake with it. This bundle is for your friend who has a lot of holiday baking ahead of them, with everything from 66% cacao organic baking wafers to cocoa rouge Dutch-process cocoa powder, plus a chocolate tote to carry it all.
Everything in between
Levain Bakery Cookie Box
Levain Bakery’s signature cookies are thick, gooey, and weigh a third of a pound each. The iconic bakery, which started in New York, now has locations across the country. But for those of you without one in your home city, you’re in luck because Levain delivers nationwide. All the cookies are baked and shipped the same day, which means you’ll get the bakery experience delivered right to your doorstep. Its signature is the chocolate chip walnut cookie, but I save a special place in my heart for the dark chocolate peanut butter chip. There’s also a vegan and gluten-free option so that nobody is left out of the cookie party.
Ghia The Sweet Tin
Why slather Nutella on everything when you could slather Ghia Ghianduja? My favorite nonalcoholic aperitif brand makes a grown-up chocolate condiment with organic extra-virgin olive oil, organic vanilla, and organic sugar (and a lot less of it than the traditional). The sweet tin gift pack comes with one jar of smooth gianduja and one jar of its new crunchy variety, which is laced with crushed almonds and puffed quinoa, plus a sleek, red Opinel spreader.
Kosterina Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar
Kosterina Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar
We’ve written about Kosterina’s cold-pressed Greek extra-virgin olive oil and fruit vinegars, but I have a soft spot for its dark chocolate balsamic vinegar. It’s made with dark cocoa concentrate and is a tangy, slightly sweet treat made for pouring over ice cream like chocolate syrup, baked into brownies, or drizzled over a cheeseboard. It’s a great gift for your friend who can’t choose between savory and sweet.
Sweet Addison’s Signature Collection
Sweet Addison’s Signature Collection
Sweet Addison’s has a cult following for their small-batch gluten-free brownies and cookies. I’m part of that following—I almost always make sure there’s a cookie or brownie, which come individually packed, in my freezer in case of emergency. The signature collection has all the brand’s best-sellers—soft and thick chocolate chip cookies, triple chocolate chip cookies, vegan chocolate chip cookies, and fudge brownies.
Jacques’ Classic Hot Chocolate Bombs
Jacques’ Classic Hot Chocolate Bombs
Jacques Torres understood the assignment of taking the process of making hot chocolate and turning it into a show. Each “bomb” has the brand’s decadent Classic Hot Chocolate Mix in a Belgian dark chocolate shell with mini marshmallows and sprinkles added in. All you have to do to start the party is pour hot milk on top.
Gato Dates Gift Box
Whenever I eat a nut-butter-filled chocolate-covered date (one of my favorite sweet treats), I like to think that I could make it myself. But I could not recreate Gato Dates’s. The Los Angeles–based brand uses organic Medjool dates that are perhaps the fudgiest I’ve ever tasted, 70% organic dark chocolate, organic nut butter and nuts, and sea salt flakes. They’re decadent and indulgent and prioritizing the use of real whole food ingredients in addition to being vegan, gluten-free, and refined-sugar-free. While I usually opt for the pouches, which come in each of Gato’s nut butter flavors (pistachio, almond, cashew, walnut, and now peanut), I dare you to splurge for a gift box for the holidays.
Diaspora Co. Hot Cocoa
Diaspora Co.’s hot cocoa is delightfully rich and lightly sweetened from jaggery, an unrefined sugar with earthy caramel-like notes. It’s not the Swiss Miss hot chocolate (no shade to them, I still crave those mini marshmallows) that you grew up with. Diaspora’s mix is made with its own Anamalai cacao, and the brand suggests adding spices like cinnamon or chili powder (both of which you can buy on its website) to amp up the flavor.
Alice Mushrooms Chocolate Discovery Set
Alice Mushrooms Chocolate Discovery Set
Alice mushroom chocolates are for the friend who tries every single wellness trend but also loves to indulge in a daily (or nightly) chocolate break. The brand harnesses the power of functional mushrooms in the form of organic dark chocolate sweetened with organic sugar. Alice now has four varieties of chocolate bites: “nightcap” for deep sleep (my personal go-to), “brainstorm” for sharp focus, “happy ending” for the bedroom, and “party trick” for social elevation. The tins, which contain 16 squares or doses of each, are also some of the more chic chocolate packaging one could dream up. If you’re looking to optimize your focus by day and sleep by night, opt for the duo, but if you’re one for experimentation, splurge for the discovery set.
Unreal Complete Variety Pack
Unreal Complete Variety Pack
Unreal can do no wrong in my mind. Unreal’s dark chocolate coconut bars got my family through living together during COVID. The brand’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups are superior to any others I’ve tried (sorry, Reese’s). And its milk chocolate gems are like M&M’s but colored with real foods like beet juice and spirulina. This variety pack is the way to go in order to try all the chocolaty delights that Unreal has on offer. Better yet, it’s all gluten-free and soy-free and made with fair trade ingredients.
Caffè Panna Classics Ice Cream
Caffè Panna Classics Ice Cream
If anyone in your life lives in New York and loves ice cream, there’s a good chance they’ve visited Caffè Panna, an Italian-inspired neighborhood ice cream shop with daily changing flavors at locations in Gramercy and Greenpoint. For anyone who can’t swing by in person to pick up a pint of Cookies ’n Panna, fortunately they can skip the line (there’s always a line even in the dead of winter) and order the Panna Classics six-pack and have it delivered right to your door.
Enzo’s Table Chocolate Almond Butter
Enzo’s Table Chocolate Almond Butter
My loyalty fell strictly in the peanut butter camp until I tried Enzo’s Table’s almond butter and chocolate almond butter. The family-run California-based pantry provisions brand makes almond butter from estate-grown California almonds, and the result is roasty, toasty, and naturally slightly sweet. The chocolate variety takes this already sublime product to the next level with added cocoa powder and just the right amount of confectioners’ sugar. There’s a rich chocolate flavor, but it’s still subtle enough to enjoy any time of day, swooshed on toast, spooned into dates, or eaten straight from the jar.
