XOXO Chocolates

Is there anything we like more than receiving a box of chocolate products in the mail?



No. There is not.



XOXO Chocolates is a small, independent Las Vegas chocolatier and bakery. They make fudge and various types of bark and biscotti and brownies and just a whole host of delicious things. So we sampled some of them, as we are wont to do.



The white chocolate fudge (upper lefthand corner) was salty and sweet, with an excellent texture, the kind of soft that melts in your mouth.

The espresso fudge (upper righthand corner) was excellent if you're a coffee fan. It had a strong coffee flavor, and bits of coffee bean throughout it, to add texture.

The biscotti (lower righthand corner) was not very chocolatey-tasting. It was plain biscotti with raisins, so really the only chocolate came from the white and dark chocolate drizzled on top.

The bark (lower lefthand corner) was a little milky for my tastes, but the almonds added nice texture, and the white chocolate drizzled on top made it look pretty. I tried only this one kind of bark, but I can see on the website that they have peppermint bark (which is my favorite type) and sugar-free almond bark (which seems useful), so I think you just need to pick your flavor wisely.

The winner from my perspective was definitely the espresso brownie (in the center, with the bow). The brownie was straight-up delightful, and its frosting was what carried the coffee flavor, so you could easily scrape off some or all of it if you don't love coffee.

The prices are also reasonable. I think a package of XOXO Chocolates would make an excellent gift for someone--it certainly made an excellent gift for me!

BOTTOM LINE: An up-and-coming dessert company that clearly loves chocolate as much as we do

Super Foxy Sweets S'mores Fudge

 We like Super Foxy Sweets here.  And this isn't bad:

But there is really nothing very "S'more" about this.  There are some small vegan marshmallows (not too many), and nothing resembling graham cracker.

Bottom Line: Basically the same as their regular fudge, but sometimes there is a little vegan marshmallow that doesn't really change the taste because it's all just sugar anyways.

Super Foxy Sweets Classic Fudge and Chocolate Mint Fudge

I had never heard of vegan fudge before.  I had never thought of vegan fudge before.  But it exists, and it is actually pretty delicious.

So, as my friend Walter noted, it does not taste like butter the way non-vegan fudge sometimes does.  It has a light coconut taste, because they use coconut oil or milk or something.  But that's very mild.  It is quite chocolatey, as any decent fudge should be.  It is also incredibly sweet, as any good fudge must be.

They even have a mint flavor, and everyone knows we love mint.

I think by now you can guess where I procure this: Treehaus, of course.

Bottom Line: Vegan fudge that is delicious regardless of whether you are vegan.

Creperie

Dark chocolate crepe with chocolate fudge and chocolate brownies, covered in chocolate sauce.

From the outside:

The only downside is they didn't have chocolate ice cream.

From the everythingside:

There may be a more chocolatey crepe somewhere in NYC, but if there is, I don't know about it.

Bottom Line: My favorite crepe.

Storm Rations C1: Murdick's Plain Chocolate Fudge

Murdick's Fudge is the fudge of my childhood, so to me, it is the archetype.  It's based on Martha's Vineyard, but when I showed up at my brother's apartment as a storm refugee, he somehow had some lying around.  I didn't ask questions; I just dove in.

I know there are multiple styles of fudge, texture-wise.  The way Murdick's does it is great.  It stays firm, to the point where you can basically snap pieces of it off; then you put it in your mouth, where it melts beautifully on your tongue.

The great thing about fudge, and I don't know how they (they being the wizards, worldwide, who make fudge) do it, but it manages to have both an extremely rich chocolatey taste and be extraordinarily sweet.  Typically the higher percentage sugar, the lower percentage chocolate.  I always thought that was, like, math.  But apparently fudge wizards are not bound by math.  And Murdick's gets this exactly right.

Bottom Line: Maybe it's just my childhood talking, but this is the fudge up to which I hold all other fudge, and the standard is rarely ever met.