(This is the second installment of our Valentine’s-Day-and-Chocolate series. Read the first at https://theberkshireedge.com/decadence-all-day-part-1/. Two more still to come!)
The Day Begins
You open your eyes. There on your bedside table is an exquisite hand-dipped piece of chocolate from one of the chocolate makers on our list! Either your Valentine left it there for you or… you put it there yourself before you went to bed. Real lover or dream lover, it doesn’t matter as long as the chocolate is real. Go ahead, savor the intense aromas as your wake-up bonbon begins to melt in your mouth. Then bite through the shell and into the sweet, soft center. When the last bit slides down your throat, lick your fingers (or ask someone else to). Now, overwhelmed as you will be by sensuous enjoyment, stagger happily out of bed.
Make yourself a cup of hot chocolate or head to Chocolate Springs in Lenox, where Joshua Needleman presides over a cozy chocolate shop and café where you can immerse yourself in a steamy mug of the shop’s signature rich, creamy hot chocolate. Chocolate contains caffeine, so you will leave Josh’s establishment energized to undertake whatever work or adventures your day has in store.
Petit déjeuner au chocolat
But of course you need sustenance too. How about a chocolate croissant, with a flaky crust that shatters at the first bite and is tender, buttery, and of course chocolaty inside? Why would you microwave something you purchased online or from the frozen food aisle when you can get your chocolate croissants fresh from your friendly local pâtissier on this day of all days? You could pick one up at the Patisserie Lenox in Lenox, Great Barrington, and Hudson, New York. In Lee, indulge in a “chocolate addiction” crepe at the Starving Artist Café and Creperie (you can get one free with two savory crepes this week). Or venture up to the Bakkerij Krijnen in Bennington and have a “sweetheart” puff pastry, filled with frangipane and raspberry preserves and drizzled with dark chocolate ganache.
If you are a home pastry maker, this is your chance, although (as you know) croissants demand special care at various stages of preparation. King Arthur Flour of Vermont has a highly rated recipe, and also one for French children’s favorite, pain au chocolat. However you procure them, the nice thing about chocolate croissants is that a single one of them has calories enough to get you through the morning.
If you have been given a box of chocolates, or picked one up on impulse because Valentine’s Day comes but once a year – and because the individually decorated pieces looked like jewels in the glass case where you saw them, each one snug in its bed of pleated dark paper – you are allowed to have one now. One or two. But pace yourself! You don’t have to eat them all at once! Share the chocolate you’d like to see in the world.
Tomorrow: Chocolate lunch, chocolate cocktails, chocolate dinner and dessert…
Chocolate shops of the Berkshires
Chocolate Springs
55 Pittsfield Rd
Lenox, MA 01240-2123 USA
(413) 637-9820
H R Zeppelin Fine Handmade Chocolates
Stockbridge, MA 01262
(413) 559-0275
Catherine’s Chocolates
260 Stockbridge Road
Great Barrington, MA 01230
1-800-345-2462
Peace Love & Chocolate
36 Main St
Stockbridge, MA 01262
413-298-0020
Robin’s Candy
288 Main Street
Great Barrington, MA 01230
413-528-8477
Lindt Chocolate Shop & Beverage Bar
60 Premium Outlet Boulevard
Space B060 Suite 17
Lee, MA 01238
(413) 243-0637
Chocolate without borders
New York
Oliver Kita Artisan Chocolate
18 West Market Street
Rhinebeck, NY 12572
845-876-2665
Verdigris Tea and Chocolate
135 Warren Street
Hudson, NY 12534
(518) 828-3139
Connecticut
Thorncrest Farm, LLC & Milk House Chocolates
280 Town Hill Road
Goshen, CT 06756
(860) 309-2545
Vermont
The Village Chocolate Shop
471 Main St
Bennington, VT 05201
(802) 447-3789
Vermont Confectionery
1541 West Rd
Bennington, VT 05201
802-447-2610
The Chocolate Barn
5055 Historic Route 7A
Shaftsbury, VT 05262
(802) 375-6928
The Chocolatorium
261 Old Mill Road
East Arlington VT 05250
(802) 375-6037
Mother Myrick’s Confectionery
4367 Main St
Manchester Center, VT 05255
(802) 362-1560
