Despite the winter season keeping us extraordinarily busy in November and December, we’ve been scheming for months to come up with something new and exciting to offer for this sweetest of holidays. We love creating festive and swoon-inducing vegan chocolates for Valentine’s Day and this year, along with our new line of Artisan Truffles and Caramels, we’re also very excited to introduce you to our latest creation: Vanilla-Kissed Strawberry Bark. As gorgeous and delicious as it sounds, this smooth and creamy vanilla-strawberry bark will have you dreaming of strawberry fields.

Don’t wait to order your own unique valentine gifts for all the most important and chocolate-loving people you hold dear. Other February favorites include cherry chocolate organic brownies, double chocolate chunk organic cookies, and our elegant Chocolate Lover’s Gift Set. Order now!

I love chocolate, but until recently my love affair extended only to tasting and enjoying chocolate in its many forms. Over the past 15 years, as Allison’s Gourmet has grown from a simple vegan bakery to a complete confectionary and gift boutique, I have delighted in creating new decadent goodies to add to our repertoire. The only thing that seemed beyond my patience to master was chocolate. Although I am a supertaster and an accomplished chef and baker, when it came to the realm of the chocolatier, I was intimidated. It’s true. You see, chocolate is complex and temperamental; it needs to be treated with great care and respect to allow for the fullness of its beauty to unfold. Perhaps that’s why women adore chocolate so–it’s our mirror! There are numerous subtleties involved in chocolates and one false move could land one in the dreaded territory of seized chocolate. The exactitude of the craft make it pretty much impossible to create quality vegan chocolates exclusively by trial and error, and in the past I wasn’t prepared to learn everything I needed to know to be a true chocolate expert. So, in 2005, when I decided to add chocolate gifts to our Allison’s Gourmet family of sweets, I turned to a professional chocolatier to create our products.

This worked well for some time, but as the years passed, I continued to dream about offering chocolates of my own creation with varied flavors and ingredients that matched my predilection. I have a well-developed palate and had eaten enough chocolate in my years of business that I could taste something and tell you what I liked about it and what I would change. I had even helped a friend perfect her chocolates, but still, I hadn’t experienced the art of making chocolates myself. So what’s a perfectionist to do in this scenario? Obey the nagging of my palate and take a Chocolatier course, delve into volumes of research, hours of practice, and weeks of recipe testing of course! And like a good palatal (of or relating to the palate) slave, that’s just what I did.

The chocolate course I embarked on proved immeasurably useful, and the sheer scope of information I learned about chocolate was astounding. It’s been months in the making and I’m pleased to announce my new line of vegan chocolates, lovingly handmade with only the highest-quality ingredients in the exact flavor profiles that delight my palate.

Throughout the last couple of years we’ve sampled a lot of vegan chocolates in our quest for chocolate greatness, and in my opinion, the truffles and caramels she’s created are by far the best I’ve ever had. If you loved our chocolates before (or even if you didn’t) you simply must try these new versions of our classic favorites and some exciting new flavors that we’ve had so much fun experimenting with. Our abundant 20-piece chocolate assortment includes eight alluring varieties. Four truffle flavors: Coconut Joy, Orange Blossom, Peppermint Snow, Raspberry Blush and four caramel flavors: Pure Vanilla, Salted Chocolate, Butterscotch Pecan, Mocha. We’d love to know what you think of our new formulas for luscious vegan peanut butter cups and peppermint creme patties, too.

Welcome to the AG Chocolate Revolution!

This week Allison also announced a very special limited edition Halloween candy: Hard Caramels. They come in four ghoulishly good flavors for your little vegan monsters: Vanilla, Chocolate, Mocha and Butterscotch Pecan, and make the perfect Halloween treat for tricksters of any age. The all organic ingredients are a much healthier choice than the corn syrup laden junk sure to be the predominant option as door bells are rung across the country by costumed kids this year.

We announced this week that we’ll be officially moving from our Facebook friend page to our Facebook fan page. Many of you already “like” us there, and we hope many more of you will join us! The shift happens officially on November 1 and will allow us to better manage our time and interactions with you in one Facebook home. We look forward to seeing you there and on Twitter! Until next time….

Here’s a little peek behind the scenes:
Allison and I seem to be ridiculous perfectionists in similar ways, which makes us perfectly matched to work together. Everything we produce is absolutely top quality whether it’s corporate food gifts, heavenly confections or monthly cookie flavors, so we want the photos of these things perfect too. This photo shoot of just one image took us several hours. That was partly because we’re breaking in a new camera and had to learn how to use it. But seriously, the process goes something like this. We take a few photos, go look at them on the computer, go back to the studio table, make minute changes, take a few more photos… And the process continues with tiny changes in angle, number and spacing of salt crystals, plumping up and balancing of caramels and carefully melting chocolate with a heat gun.

Luckily, we’re great friends and we love the work. We also have similar tastes in chocolate (which really keeps us going). Between the chocolates on the side, and the peanut brittle and caramels that were lying around everywhere, we were pretty loopy by the end of it all. In looking through the final photos, we had a fit of hysterics over this photo, see if you can figure out why…

Something new and exciting has been brewing for several months here at Allison’s. Ever since we began adding new tantalizing confection flavors to our inventory last year, we’ve been meaning to make a new collection to show them off. Well, we finally got around to creating the new Salted Confections Gift Set this week, in perfect time for the winter holidays, which, believe it or not, are just around the corner! This fabulously delicious collection takes confection perfection to a whole new level.

Now, I know this whole salted sweets thing is still kind of a newfangled idea to many people. But I say it’s important to try new things and expand your taste horizons. In this case, you certainly won’t be disappointed. These confections are sweet and a little saltier than their classic counterparts, but they’re also more peanut-y, caramel-y and chocolate-y, too. You see, salt is a flavor enhancer, which is why it is an ingredient in many foods, both sweet and savory. So, for our salted confections all we’ve done is added a little more of the very best pink Himalayan salt to our already exquisite sweet treats.

Want to try some salted confections, but think a whole set might be too much for you? You’ll also find our salted confections making new appearances in several of our vegan gift baskets along with our vegan cookies, brownies, chocolates and organic coffee.

And now for a small confession. While cleaning up after the photo shoot for this new collection, I ate some of the Salted Brittle that was left over. (Eating delectable treats every day is just one of the many perks of this job.) I hadn’t had our Salted Chocolate Brittle in a while, probably since I first tried it when it was a new product, and I had actually forgotten just how outrageously yummy it was! It has now become my new favorite, all over again!

Now the time has come for Phase One of the voting process. Beginning today, you can vote for your favorite designs once every 24 hours until September 30^th. Your votes are so important! They will help us narrow down the entries to the top ten designs that will then be voted on by Allison and our dream team panel of judges to determine the winners.

The Grand Prize winner receives $500 cash and a 3-month membership of Allison’s Gourmet goodies; the Second Prize winner will receive a 6-month membership of Allison’s Gourmet treats, 6 containers of So Delicious Dairy Free Ice Cream and an autographed copy of Kathy Freston’s book, Veganist; and the 3^rd Prize winner will receive a 3-month membership of Allison’s Gourmet goodies plus a 1-year subscription to VegNews Magazine!

Good luck to our entrants and a BIG thanks to our panel of  judges: Gene Baur from Farm Sanctuary, Nathan Runkle from Mercy for Animals,  Colleen Holland from VegNews, Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart from Vaute Couture, Troy Farmer and Katie Frichtel from Raven + Crow Studio and Chloé Jo Davis from GirlieGirl Army.

So whether you submitted a design or just have a great eye for aesthetics, we hope you’ll get clicking, spread the word on Facebook and Twitter, and help us determine this contest’s winners!

Vote here, vote often!

After those 10 finalists have been chosen, Allison will sit down with our panel of celebrity judges to choose the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place designs. Who are these celebrity judges, you ask? I’m here to tell you… we are so grateful to the following talented and dynamic individuals for helping us with this contest! In case you’ve been wondering about them, here’s a little bit about each of our amazing all-star judges:

Colleen Holland, one of the masterminds at VegNews Magazine, is an expert in marketing and brand-building who also studied at the Natural Gourmet Institute. She loves our chocolate almond toffee and vanilla chai fudge.

Gene Baur, co-founder and president of Farm Sanctuary, grew up in Hollywood and worked in commercials for McDonald’s and other fast food restaurants before going vegan in 1985 and beginning his true calling campaigning for the rights of farm animals.

Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart, the goddess behind Vaute Couture, backs up her eye for design with a background in activism. She has been vegetarian since age 10, and vegan since she was 17, when she helped push a bill into law for dissection alternatives in Illinois schools.

Nathan Runkle, founder and executive director of Mercy for Animals, has been named one of the “25 Most Fascinating Vegetarians” and one of the country’s “Top 20 Activists Under 30 Years Old.” In 2009 he became the youngest person ever inducted into the U.S. Animal Rights Hall of Fame.

Glamazon Chloé Jo Davis blogs at GirlieGirlArmy.com and loves our “orgasmic fudge and brownies.” She’s the sexist eco-goddess, vegan fashion expert, animal rights activist, and green mama we know. Among many other titles, she was recently named a “Rule Changer” by Italian Elle.

The dynamic husband and wife duo Troy Farmer and Katie Frichtel at Raven + Crow Studio do truly excellent graphic design work and also run a blog, Kindness of Ravens, where they write about design, music, fashion, and (what else?) vegan food.

Tessa broke down the benefits of our monthly clubs on Wednesday (they’re also one of the prizes in our design contest!). It’s a good read to understand the programs and why your sweet tooth can have its cake (or vegan brownie, as it were) and eat it too—without the guilt. Organic and vegan treats are so much healthier than the conventional, GMO, high fructose corn syrup stuff out there, and it’s nice to have a steady supply to treat yourself, or others, throughout the month.

So hopefully you’ll tell all your artist-minded friends and co-workers about our design contest, and maybe if they win the $500 and monthly membership, they’ll share some of their sweet treats with you!

Here’s what you do: Create a design that includes a graphic, slogan/catchphrase and optional logo re-design for Allison’s Gourmet to be used on t-shirts, tote bags, etc. and you could win one of these delectable prizes:

Grand prize: $500 cash, plus one 3-month Allison’s Gourmet membership ($596 total value)
2nd prize: One 6-month Allison’s Gourmet membership, plus 6 containers of your choice of So Delicious Dairy Free Ice Cream, and an autographed copy of Veganist by Kathy Freston ($247 value)
3rd prize: One 3-month Allison’s Gourmet membership, plus a 1-year subscription to VegNews Magazine ($117 value)

Who we are: Allison’s Gourmet is an upscale, premium brand of pure, handcrafted, artisan baked goods and confections. With our unadulterated sweets we celebrate the joys of being vegan and we hope your design(s) will help communicate our message of compassionate indulgence!

How it works: If you live in the U.S. and are 18 or older, we welcome you to submit up to three designs by September 15th. After we receive all the designs, invite your friends and family to join the fun for the first round of voting September 16th – 30th. This will help us select the top 10 finalists, after which our all-star judges and the AG Team will choose the winners!

Click here to submit your artwork. Good luck!

In other news, Apple Pie fudge is here this month, too, just in time to share at summer potlucks. I have been getting the feeling lately that maybe people aren’t quite sure if our white fudge flavors are as awesome as our chocolate fudge flavors, and I can see why someone might think that. After all, it’s pretty hard to improve on chocolate. But, that being said, you must try Allison’s white fudge to truly understand how amazing it is. The Apple Pie flavor is sweet, creamy and perfectly spiced, with luscious chunks of tart granny smith apple. It’s like having a summer picnic in your mouth! I won’t say it’s better than chocolate fudge, but it’s certainly every bite as good.

And, the summer thrills don’t end with July. August’s brownie of the month flavor will be Toasted Coconut, and I can’t even tell you how fantastically tropical these brownies are, not to mention gorgeous! So, if you’re a monthly club member this summer, consider yourself lucky, and maybe send another thank you to whoever gave you such a great gift. If you’re pouting right now because you’re not a monthly club member yet, it’s not too late to join for July! As always, monthly clubs ordered before July 22nd will have the option of receiving July’s flavors as their first month’s shipment. Plus, all club members receive 15% off all orders, including gifts!

Happy Summer!