Choctoberfest 2015

Something Chocolate This Way Comes

September 19th was a busy day in MenuManiacs land.  Not only did we have our September lunch at Bushi Cubano Café, but we also attended the 2nd Annual Choctoberfest at the Omni Interlocken Resort in Broomfield, Colorado.  We were surprised by the number of local chocolatiers from our lovely state, and thought we would tell you about some of our favorites. 

But first, a chocolate bust of number 18 and quarterback for the Denver Broncos, Peyton Manning.

OK, everybody still with me?  Ladies, have you recovered from the shock of a handsome dude made of chocolate?  Good.  Let's soldier on.  Oh, and also, note the all chocolate golden retriever in the background. 

We love some good toffee.  Melted Sweets makes their delicious toffee by hand and they are also based right here in the Aurora, Colorado.  They offer several varieties of toffee including white, milk, and dark chocolate.  The toffee has a great crunch followed by melty creaminess as you chew.  Still waiting to for the right store front opportunity, this adorable couple can be found at select farmers markets in both Broomfield and Littleton.  You can also order their products online as well.  Be sure to check out their website and like them on Facebook!


The lovely ladies of Chic Chocolate offer fine dark and milk chocolate bars in refined sophisticated flavors with sassy names like Drama Queen and Women Who Wine.  We snagged a little piece of each at the fest.  All of their creations can be purchased online or by calling their 800 number on their web site.  P.S.  Dudes are welcome to order as well.  Just sayin'.

Finally, a Scottish culinary creation we can support!  Stewart's "Much ADough About Muffin" LLC makes this amazing sweet treat called Tablet.  Before you say, "Tablet?"  Let us explain.  The awesome guy in the kilt at the booth explained to us that it has been named Tablet for years and years.  Possibly centuries.

Can we just say, "They can take our lives, but they will never take our Tablet!"  This stuff is amazing!  It is like brown sugar and butter, crumbly yet creamy, and comes in plain (understatement), chocolate topped, pecan topped, or bourbon.  Seriously, let that sink in...Bourbon.

They also sell toffee as well.  It has an almost smoky taste to it and is extremely smooth and soft.  It is more the consistency of caramel.  According to their website, they sell a traditional Scottish shortbread, scones, and crumpets. To be honest, we are not sure if they had their shortbread at Choctoberfest because we were so enamored with their Tablet samples.  They pride themselves on small batch recipes and also do custom cakes.  We love Tablet.  There, we've said it and feel better for it.

Satchi Fudge is an award winning company that makes an amazingly creamy, silky fudge.  We tried several samples and each was amazing. The Dark and Silky confection was just that, intense dark chocolate with a smooth texture and just enough sweetness to balance the natural bitterness of the chocolate. They sell fudge in the traditional "bar" form but also in jars which makes it easy to warm up and pour over ice cream, use as a dip for strawberries, or just eat with a spoon.  Do yourselves a favor and visit their site and like them on Facebook.

Who couldn't use just a little therapy from time to time?  The Chocolate Therapist is ready to fill your prescription for the proverbial chocolate fix stat.  They offer a wide variety of products from bars to cocoa nibs.  The Chocolate Therapist hosts chocolate and wine pairings at their Littleton store and we can't wait to schedule our first outing there.  For those of you that can't make it their store, never fear!  You can purchase their 16 piece pairing collections online and have it shipped to your home.  In addition to the wine pairing collection, we also spotted a BEER pairing collection proving that chocolate really can go with anything.

There were over 70 vendors at Choctoberfest this year and these were just a few of our favorites. There are many more exciting companies out there to explore.  We are very excited.  Let us know if you like this type of post as it isn't our typical focus.  We had a lot of fun and we hope this encourages you to get out there, find an expo or festival near you, and learn about great local businesses.