Priscilla Candies

Dig it. Today I went to Priscilla Candies in Lawrence, MA (not to be confused with Priscilla Candy Shop, in Concord and Gardner, Massachusetts) with my parents, in search of a type of candy that was gifted to them by a former neighbor. Turns out foodie-ism is genetic, but judging by my brother, may be sex-linked.

ANYHOO, we were on a bit of a schedule, so I didn't get to spend as much time browsing as I'd like to have. Thus, most of my observations are bound to revolve around the .52 lb. of chocolate we bought. As you may have already noted, the photo is not of candy. We were stuck on the highway in the snow for an hour, and the chocolates didn't make it.

However, I must say, the " Milk Toasted Coconut Clusters" were FANTASTIC! Most places call them "haystacks", and they are nothing but toasted coconut and milk chocolate. At Priscilla, they use tons of coconut, which is brilliant. We also bought two different types of "Swiss Fudge". I'm as of yet unsure if "Swiss Fudge" is just something that people call fudge that defies the fudge norm, or if it is, in fact, a type of candy. Nonetheless, in this case, it is a chocolatey candy sold in blocks like fudge, but which has a different texture. Rather than being sugary/grainy, its texture is almost identical to the inside of a milk chocolate Lindor truffle. We got one version with nut (walnut?) chunks in it, and one dark/light striped version. The nut option was good and chocolatey, though the nuts were almost imperceptible. The striped version, to my surprise, was hazelnut flavored. I like Nutella as much as the next person, but I felt it was unnecessary. I was looking forward to seeing how the light and dark chocolate intermixed. We also bought "Pecan Patties", which were lumps of pecan, caramel and chocolate. They were good, but the caramel was maybe a little subpar for a chocolatier. It tasted like the turtles you could buy at Walgreens.

This subject matter has inspired me to compile a list of the Dream Team of the types of chocolates found by the pound at little chocolate shops. I fear this will be an ongoing list. To begin with:

• Coconut haystacks (from Priscilla Candies, for example)
• Almond buttercrunch (they do this pretty well at Trader Joes too)
• Raspberry Flame chile truffles (from Mainely Gourmet)

I need to learn how to tag entries...