Things We Like: Ethel M Chocolates

We were introduced to Ethel M chocolates, a West Coast specialty, by our good friend Adrienne, who hails from Nevada. After tasting Ethel M's legendary Lemon Satin Cremes at Adrienne's house, Carl and I were hooked. Carl got me a box of lemon and raspberry cremes for my birthday, and we recently ordered two mixed boxes just for the hell of it. So far, every flavor we've tasted is delicious, but the standouts are really the lemon and raspberry cremes, which pack a wallop of honest-to-goodness real fruit flavor (imagine Haagen Dazs sorbet covered in dark chocolate). As I am generally opposed to the adulteration of chocolate with fruit, the fact that I swoon over Ethel M's chocolates is truly a ringing endorsement.

I highly recommend designing your own box at the Ethel M website, where you can purchase almost all of the flavors they make. While they currently can't ship their chocolate liqueurs to every state, I can only hope this will change shortly, given the Supreme Court's recent ruling on interstate shipment of out-of-state wines. Hooray for the Commerce Clause! [But boo for Pennsylvania, which bars all direct delivery of alcohol, whether originating in-state or out-of-state. Unfortunately, this practice is still constitutionally permissible.]