I’m an avowed supporter of Valentine’s Day — not as a result of I’ve a very rosy-eyed view of affection and friendships, though I’m additionally professional these issues. However I’m actually right here for the chocolate, which on Valentine’s Day, deservedly takes delight of place, dialog hearts and luxurious vegetable bouquets however. That is the time to request and provides actually fancy chocolate, the sort of chocolate that instantly telegraphs luxurious and decadence. There’s nothing that matches that invoice fairly like a good looking field of bonbons or truffles.
Historically, bonbons are made with molds and include all kinds of fillings, from fruits and nuts to caramel and marzipans, in contrast to truffles which usually include ganache. Each generally is a canvas for a chocolatier’s creativity, typically painted to resemble glistening gems. And in contrast to the bar you choose up at grocery retailer checkout, these containers of goodies are all the time a celebration. Right here, an inventory of confectioners from throughout the nation with appropriately festive choices (all of them ship nationwide).
That is the place that satisfied me there’s completely nothing extra pleasant than sitting round and consuming bonbons all day. On the New York Metropolis store, Susanna Yoon manages to pack all of the flavors of different elaborate desserts — like kalamansi meringue pie or shortbread cookie — into a good looking field of heart-shaped goodies. You’ll be able to’t choose particular person flavors if you order to ship on-line, however belief, they gained’t disappoint.
New Jersey-based Vesta Chocolate is a bean-to-bonbon chocolate manufacturing unit, that means chocolatiers Roger Rodriguez and Julia Choi Rodriguez begin the chocolate-making course of with complete cacao beans which they then course of to kind the premise of confections starting from scorching chocolate to bars to bonbons. These gooey, salted caramel truffles are encapsulated by a skinny darkish chocolate shell in a really Valentine’s Day-ready shade of sunshine pink.
In Miami, bean-to-bonbon Exquisito Candies prides itself on moral sourcing (you possibly can see precisely how chocolate maker Carolina Quijano turns cacao into chocolate on this episode of Eater’s “Handmade.”) For Valentine’s Day, you possibly can order a 19-piece, heart-shaped field of its ingenious confections that may arrive wrapped in a crimson ribbon.
Piety and Need Chocolate
New Orleans bean-to-bar store Piety and Need sells containers of its fairly bonbons in units of 4 to 24, and whereas the flavors are a thriller (they’re a mixture of Piety and Need’s seasonal and signature bonbons), there may be the choice to decide on nut-free units. As the positioning explains, the entire single origin chocolate bars and consuming chocolate are vegan.
Eater SF as soon as referred to as Topotgato San Francisco’s “most audacious on-line chocolate store.” Its hand-painted confections include taste mixtures like brandied eggnog, blood orange amaretto, and spiced scorching chocolate. This Valentine’s Day, why not deal with the one that you love to its chocolate batons stuffed strawberry jam and toasted almond nougat?
Sugoi’s Elle Lei makes bonbons in small batches out of Chicago. You’ll be able to select from the newer collections (with flavors like beer pretzel, Chicago corn, and milk tea) or the unique assortment (flavors equivalent to blueberry lavender, coconut almond, and cotton sweet pop rock).
Houston-based Cacao and Cardamom acknowledges the jewel-like attraction of the bonbon, which right here are available in quite a lot of shapes, packaged in festive containers. Because the store’s identify implies, spices take a starring position in chocolatier Annie Rupani’s flavors: there’s strawberry spiced cajeta, hazlenut cordiander praline, and pink peppercorn and raspberry, simply to call a couple of.
The Valentine’s Day choices at Dallas-based chocolatier Kate Weiser mix my want for high quality, fancy chocolate with the kitsch Valentine’s Day particulars (the gold field lining!) I unironically love.
In Tucson, Monsoon Chocolate places collectively containers of bonbons that showcase quite a lot of aesthetic types with flavors that mirror the southwestern setting, equivalent to chiltepín pepper, prickly pear caramel, and Sonoran sea salt darkish chocolate. The chocolatier’s creations promote out continually, so snag one among its gift-ready, customizable snack stacks whereas they’re out there, and mix two cubes from its seasonal assortment of chocolate coated fruits, nuts, and confections in your sweetie.
For over a decade, San Francisco-based Dandelion Chocolate has been creating a number of the most considerate confections you could possibly hope to obtain, and never simply because they’re made with single-origin chocolate; the bonbons normally include a written element that may make a Humanities main swoon, just like the Love Letters Assortment, which riffs off the romances of well-known historic {couples} (assume, Fanny Brawne and John Keats; Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning) with its trio of confections.
Atlanta-based Jardí Candies is especially properly suited to the fruit lover with flavors equivalent to salted blueberry vanilla and mango with mezcal. Nevertheless it’s the massive, darkish chocolate and brown sugar marshmallow hearts by chef Jocelyn Gragg which are the true Valentine’s Day stand-out.
At andSons in Los Angeles, second-generation chocolate makers stick with it the household custom with elegant bonbons and different chocolate confections. The 2026 Valentine’s Day assortment is available in a limited-edition graphic field made in collaboration with husband-and-wife artist duo DabsMyla, and consists of bonbons equivalent to Strawberry Rosé, German Chocolate Cake, and extra.
Bon Bon Bon’s bonbons may not have the everyday domed form, however the flavors take full benefit of the anything-goes spirit of the bonbon. The Detroit store’s Valentine’s Day assortment is learn for pre-order, and options flavors like Paw Paw Panettone (candied citrus panettone ganache with paw paw confiture) and Buck Bare (buckwheat cookie with milk and darkish chocolate).
Vosges Haut-Chocolat is a luxurious chocolatier from Chicago, Illinois, and it actually delivers on not solely style however presentation with its choices and collaborations; in the future, I’ll carry residence its elaborate wreathe of bonbons for the vacations. The confectioner’s extravagant Valentine’s Day store is worthy of a Baz Luhrmann set, and its butterfly wing-inspired Aurelia coronary heart field is stuffed with goodies that it says, “[offer] a stability of delicacy and depth that unfolds with each chew, just like the wings of a butterfly in movement,” just like the Blush Flutter bonbon, a strawberry confection made with mascarpone, yuzu, and pink cocoa butter white chocolate.
Compartés has been making luxurious goodies from its Los Angeles, California hub for practically 75 years, and its tackle the standard heart-shaped Valentine’s Day chocolate field is pleasant; as a substitute of the traditional fake satin-lined field, Compartés presents a inexperienced crocodile-print coronary heart containing chocolate-dipped fruits, chocolate coated nuts, cookies, and extra.
This Santa Barbara, California-based confectionary sources its cocoa beans from single origin estates and co-ops, and it’s possible you’ll acknowledge it from collaborations with the likes of Flamingo Property. Founder Mike Orlando began Twenty-4 Blackbirds with a DIY mindset — even making a number of the tools himself — and the ethos that choosing prime quality, bean-to-bar goodies ought to really feel enjoyable and accessible. This present field will spherical up a dozen truffles chosen by employees equivalent to lavender blossom caramel and a seasonal pâté de fruits bonbon.
For individuals who need to forgo the frills of conventional Valentine’s Day chocolate containers, attain for Wonderful & Uncooked. The Brooklyn, New York-based chocolatier focuses on uncooked, natural bean-to-bar chocolate that’s all dairy-free and packaged in low-key graphic containers.
Etsy is residence to many small-scale chocolate slingers, however it’s also a purveyor of edible bouquets that lean into the kitsch joys of the vacation with preparations of Ferrero Rocher, Butterfinger bars, and extra Huge Sweet classics.
