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Sweet spots

A search for great Valentine's treats leads to some unlikely places.

Now that money no longer grows on trees, it’s time to boycott the $4 truffle.

Who pays that? Not me. But lots of people have been suckered into thinking high prices mean high quality. Witness the success of the “Belgian’’ chocolates sold by Godiva, which was owned by Campbell Soup of New Jersey from 1967 until 2007, when Campbell sold it to a Turkish holding company.

“My husband and I were in Madison, and we picked up a box of Godiva chocolates that wasn’t even a pound, it was 14 ounces, in a beautiful box, and when I looked at the price — $65! — I about fell on the floor,’’ says chocolatier Lynne Marie Lindquist of Hayward, Wis.

Lindquist charges 70 cents apiece for her molded truffles, which she makes with fresh, local butter and cream like any other artisan chocolatier — not that she uses fancy words like “artisan’’ or even “chocolatier.’’

She's one of many candy-makers who sell high-quality sweets in unpretentious shops across the region; hers occupies a modest storefront across from Hayward's National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame and its 143-foot-long muskie.

Here are a few places where you'll find great chocolate for common-man prices. Many are in unlikely places — think road trip! — but they also ship.

Lynne Marie's Candies, Hayward, Wis. Hayward native Lynne Lindquist has been running the shop founded by her father and uncle since 1988, and she and her husband, Kelly, sell hand-molded and hand-rolled truffles for $18.50 to $21 a pound, using cane sugar, Milwaukee's Ambrosia milk chocolate with 60 percent cacao and fresh ingredients bought in small quantities.

Her favorite sweet is her buttery almond toffee, however, and her top seller is her turtle. She also sells 16 flavors of homemade fudge. She doesn't have a web site, so call 800-873-8343.

Gabriele's German Cookies & Chocolates, Ashland, Wis.: In this town on Chequamegon Bay, Gabriele Heldrich-Block makes her tiny chocolates with homemade liqueurs, fresh cream and ingredients her mother brings back on yearly visits from Nuremburg, Germany, her hometown.

Try the white-chocolate cassis, made with currants she grows herself, and her popular drunken cherries, soaked in vodka, covered in dark chocolate and rolled in sugar. She sells them for just $7 a dozen.

"My husband says that's way too high,'' she says with a smile. "He says you can buy a Snickers bar for 45 cents and get four times as much.''

Heldrich-Block was a home-ec teacher when she met David Block, a native of nearby Mellen, Wis., but she attributes her success partly to her sister, who taught her how to make a good ganache, or chocolate filling, and her parents, who love Christmas and always filled the house with dozens of different kinds of cookies on holidays.

Actually, her cookies are even better than her chocolates. They're tiny, delicate masterpieces you can't find anywhere else, especially for $6 a dozen. My favorites are the florentines and hazelnut stars, a cutout filled with her homemade currant jelly and dipped in homemade vanilla sugar.

Her shop in downtown Ashland, 413 W. Main St., is open regular hours Monday-Friday but only 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and not at all Sunday, so plan ahead. She also ships; a heart-shaped box of three dozen chocolates is only $25. Call her at 715-682-2114.

Knoke's Chocolates, Hudson, Wis. Knoke's is perhaps the most-loved shop in this town on the St. Croix River. It's candy for the eyes as well as taste buds, lined with glass jars full of gummies, licorice, pastel malted-milk balls and old-fashioned penny candy.

Owner David Knoke makes European-style molded truffles by hand, filling them with ganaches flavored by Grand Marnier, espresso and amaretto. They come in couvertures of 58 percent or 72 percent cocoa and sell for a bargain $1 apiece. 715-381-9866.

Legacy Chocolates in Menomonie, Wis.: Mike Roberts can only be called a chocolate wonk. The cocoa couvertures, or covers, on his small truffles come in four degrees of intensity, from a sweetish 41 percent to a super-dark 99 percent, and each one is segregated from the others in tiny plastic cups, to preserve its aromatic integrity.

He also has a European sensibility about preservatives — there aren't any — and freshness; a best-quality filled chocolate lasts only about two weeks. He imports cocoa beans are from small, sustainable farms in South America, and the butter and cream come from local farms.

Regular flavors include raspberry, almond and espresso; specials include merlot and Pama, made with pomegranate liqueur. A box of six is $11.

The flagship store in Menomonie is downtown at 643 S. Broadway (when I was there one Mother's Day, it was giving away free sundaes made with Cathy Roberts' Potion No. 9 chocolate sauce), 715-231-2580.

Beerntsen's Confectionary, Manitowoc, Wis. The shop in this town on Lake Michigan has been operating since 1932, and a constant stream of people files in and out for their chocolate fixes even when the rest of downtown is shut tight — Beerntsen's is open for business from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

It looks like a jewelry store, with its polished wood booths and glowing sconces, and the candy is as lovingly displayed as diamond bracelets. Owner Dean Schadrie makes European-style molded truffles with a dark couverture of 70 percent cocoa, but supplies often are low, and customers need to ask for them. They're $22.95 a pound; regular truffles go for $18.95.

The shop also sells turtles, almond toffee, Door County cherry bark and many kinds of molded solid-chocolate novelties, 920-684-9616. It also has a store in Cedarburg, Wis.

Leonidas Pralines in Chicago: In Belgium, where filled chocolates are called pralines, Leonidas is known as the  "every day'' chocolates because they're mass-produced rather than made in the back of a small artisan shop.

Leonidas pralines may be ordinary in Brussels, but they're near the top of the heap in this country. The delightful pieces — tiny by U.S. standards, but much more satisfying — are laced with fine liqueurs and flavorings and imported from Belgium, where praline-making is high art.

Go for the creams, which are hard to find here (eat within two weeks). They sell for $36 a pound, about $1 apiece. A downtown Chicago store, two blocks west of Michigan Avenue, at Chicago Avenue and Rush Street, should open by Valentine's Day in 2010. There's also a shop in Wilmette, Ill., 847-256-5250.

You also can stop by Vosges Haut Chocolat boutiques on Michigan Avenue at Grand, near the river in North Bridge Mall, or in Lincoln Park. A box of nine truffles, with such flavors as Sicilian sea salt, Tuscan fennel pollen and ancho chilies, goes for $26. 888-301-9866.

Three stops in the Madison area: Chocolatier Gail Ambrosius is among the new breed of candy-makers who like to use such ingredients as curry, cayenne and tea. That's not my taste, but her other chocolates are very good. A box of six sells for $11. Ambrosius has a shop at 2086 Atwood Ave., near the northwest corner of Lake Monona, 608-249-3500.

I've never had Candinas chocolate, but Consumer Reports routinely rates them very highly. They're made in the southern Madison suburb of Verona by Swiss-trained chocolatier Markus Candinas, who sells a 16-piece box for $21.90. Shipping adds $7.50-$12.50. 800-845-1554.

And there's another don't-miss stop in the Madison area. Whenever I can, I swing by Clasen's European Bakery in Middleton, on the corner of U.S. 12 and Donna Drive, and pick up such Old World pastries as Bienenstich and Linzertorten, which are hard to find elsewhere. Call 608-831-2032.

Last updated on February 11, 2010