Ah, Malibu, California. A land of endless summer, where twenty-seven miles of ancient rocky coastline collide with crystalline ocean. Where rock-hard beach boys and beautiful surfer girls ride the waves just moments away from hillside manors of the rich and famous. Home of elite equestrian clubs, five-star detox resorts… and fine, European-style chocolate.

If that last item came as a surprise to you, you’re not alone. Malibu is, after all, starlet territory, and as we all know the it-girls around these parts prefer to subsist on water, air and salad. Thus, it was through pure luck and coincidence that, on my way toward a non-candy related venture in Oxnard, I discovered the splendid K Chocolatier by Diane Kron.

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There’s a definite trend right now towards small but rich chocolate candies that are packaged to appeal to women and marketed as little indulgences that won’t break your diet. Cadbury has officially entered the arena with Moments, which are essentially two-bite truffles in bar form. With Moments, Cadbury seems to be aiming for the same upscale demographic as Dove and Hershey’s Bliss. And like Dove and Bliss, they don’t come cheap – I paid $3.50 CAN for the pack. That’ll buy you a bar from some pretty upscale chocolate companies. So how does this higher-end product from a lower-end candy company stand up?

First, the specs: Moments consist of little sticks about the size of a fun-sized Kit Kat, tucked into a cardboard “envelope” that opens from one long side, like a box of cigarettes. (Hmm, somehow I doubt that’s what Cadbury was going for with this product.) Each stick has only 70 calories, which puts it well within range of that whole 100 calorie thing that’s so big right now.

Of the three flavors on the store shelf, I selected Deliciously Dark, the other two being milk chocolate and praline (the hazelnut kind, not the toffee kind.) Under the wrapper, the bars consist of two little segments, attached end to end, and they sure don’t look very dark to me – it seems that only the truffle filling is dark chocolate, which was kind of a letdown to a dark chocolate junkie like myself.

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It’s not often I find a candy maker in my neck of the woods. North Carolina isn’t exactly exactly the candy-making capital of the world. One of my wife’s co-workers found out about Candy Addict and convinced his friend, who has a business making chocolate truffles, to get a batch to me to review. This friend runs Azurelise.

The story of Azurelise is an interesting one and well worth a read at the Azurelise website. Basically, a tenured associate professor in Philosophy abandons teaching and decides to make chocolates (there’s more to it than that, but that’s the basics). What I have before me now are Azurelise chocolate truffles, made by this former Philosopy professor.

The truffles aren’t your ordinary fancy, embellished truffles. These look, in fact… ordinary. They are approximately 1.25″ x 1.25″ x 0.5″ – they have no fancy flowers on them or swirly-q or anything else. Just a simple plaid pattern and the word AZURELISE diagonally across them. I received five dark chocolate truffles and four milk chocolate truffles.

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One of my favorite things besides candy is coffee, so I couldn’t believe my luck when I received a huge, beautifully packaged box of Starbucks Chocolate to review! Yes, folks, Starbucks Coffee Company is now in the chocolate business. Starbucks has partnered with Hershey’s, whose subsidiary Artisan Confections Company, itself comprised of Joseph Schmidt Confections, Scharffen Berger, and Dagoba Chocolate, manufactures the Starbucks Chocolate. Did you get all that? Basically, Starbucks Chocolate is being made by people who know their chocolate.

I have to confess that while I was wowed by the attractive packaging, I was prepared to be underwhelmed by the chocolate. Starbucks coffee is not quite full-bodied or flavorful enough for my taste, so I figured the chocolate would be geared toward a similar palate. I am happy to say that I was wrong. Starbucks chocolate, with just a few exceptions, is rich, full flavored, and thoroughly enjoyable.

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Ferrero Rocher. Ferrero Rondnoir. Ferrero Garden Coco. They just sound fancy, don’t they? And make no mistake: they certainly are.

The Mercedes-Benz of drugstore candy, the Ferrero Rocher is a dreamy ball of chocolate-hazelnut bliss; a porcupine of deliciousness with a crunchy hazelnut heart and a gooey chocolate center, all wrapped up in a golden wrapper that says, “I am something very special.”

The golden wrapper signifies something very special, indeed. You have to be special to rock a golden wrapper. In fact, you can’t get away with wearing a golden wrapper unless you are:

a. Awesome
b. In a dance recital
c. Someone’s wacky Great-Aunt Helen on Christmas Eve
d. Ferrero Rocher

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