ANDRE’S SALT OF THE SWISS ALPS DARK CHOCOLATE ALMONDS

Would you believe some of the finest Swiss chocolates in the world are made in… Kansas City? Well, you’ll become a believer once you taste these insanely delicious sweet and salty dark chocolate almonds — we think they’re up there with the greatest gifts a sweet tooth could ever hope to receive. Attention is paid to every detail of these almonds, even the salt. Or maybe we should say especially the salt. Because the salt which complements these addictive almonds happens to be Sel de Alpes, one of the purest salts in the world, which only recently made its way to the U.S. 

André’s has built its reputation on such granular attention to detail since 1955, when Swiss-trained confiseur (maker of sweets) André Bollier emigrated to KC with his family and opened André’s Confiserie Suisse, which pioneered the art of Swiss baking and chocolate making in the States. 65 years later, the company is still family owned and still going strong, producing a dazzling array of chocolates, pastries, tortes, and baked goods. 

And speaking of chocolate, that sinfully thick layer of luscious chocolate which enrobes freshly roasted and caramelized nonpareil almonds is André’s proprietary blend of 60% dark chocolate, using beans from Venezuela and Ghana, two of the finest cacao-growing regions in the world. Blended with vanilla, it’s a rich, creamy counterpart to the natural sweetness of the almonds. It would be a masterpiece without further tweaking. But it’s the addition of the Sel des Alpes, buried in the Alps for 200 million years before being extracted and crystallized using only environmentally friendly methods, that takes the almonds to an even higher level of greatness. 

Sweet. Salty. Rich. Crunchy. A taste bud couldn’t ask for more. Although you’ll surely be asking for more as soon as the last almond is eaten. To replenish your supply and to see all Andre’s has to offer, go to www.andreschocolates.com.