Today is National Chocolates Day, and since it's not chocolate but chocolates, I can only assume that it's referring to individual confections. While it seems a bit clichéd, sometimes the best thing is a box of mixed chocolate treats. You get the gooey caramel centers, the flavor infused truffles, and everything in between. I like the places where you can pick out exactly what you want in the box, as well as how many. If you're lucky enough, you can even find a chocolate factory that sells their chocolate individually. One of those places is Charles Chocolates.
I recently had the opportunity to view their facilities and sample their new products. If you're not familiar with Charles — they purposely have a small retail presence due to handling reasons — you should really remedy that. Their Caramel Almond Sticks ($11) are fabulous and their peanut butter butterflies ($27) are simply delicious, however it's their edible chocolate boxes ($45-$60) that blow me away. The entire box, lid and all, is edible. You can eat the chocolates inside and then chomp down on the box. They have a holiday collection filled with their most popular pieces, but I personally love the tea collection. The truffles are infused with five different teas and the edible lid features a painting of Chinese tea mountains. Whichever you fancy, they'll make great gifts for the chocoholic on your list, but if I were you, I'd go ahead and treat yourself.
