Yes, I'm going to take advantage of just about every opportunity to try new foods in every place Keith and I journey to. Some will be good, some will be bad. I will do my best to give you the real.
Chocolate is a subject I happen to be a fan of. In culinary school I can remember getting into the tempered chocolate every chance Chef wasn't watching.
When touring downtown Annapolis over the weekend, I insisted we try one of the two chocolate shops I noticed. This one was hard to pass up thanks to the 9 foot tall Moose scaring little children outside. Nothing says good chocolate like a huge moose. But I digress...
Kilwin's Chocolates and Ice Cream started back in 1947 in Northern Michigan by Don and Katy Kilwin. Since those days, Kilwin's has grown to over fifty shops across the country. This outpost in the heart of Annapolis certainly felt Mom and Pop, down to the local high school kids working the counter.
The chocolate display was artfully arranged with a huge selection of truffles, confections and slabs of fudge. We didn't get close enough to see the ice cream as the crowd was just too much. So was the wait.
After finally being waited on by a reluctant Kilwin's staffer, we placed our order. He must have been distracted because over half of the chocolate we received wasn't what we ordered. Too bad. I was looking forward to those Vanilla Buttercreams.
The caramels dipped in milk and dark chocolate were decent. I tend to like a hint of caramelization in my caramel which was missing in these. The Bavarian Creme chocolates were ok. Good execution, but a hair too sweet. The hazelnut was fairly good, although it didn't need the chunks of hazelnut inside. Unfortunately, we couldn't quite place the last mystery chocolate. I got to sample a bit of Kilwin's pumpkin fudge which was very pumkin-y and melted pleasingly.
The square offering you see in this photo was Kilwin's take on s'mores. Two graham crackers sandwiched around marshmallow cream, dipped in milk chocolate and drizzled with white chocolate. That was the best of the bunch, although it could have used more marshmallow.
Kilwin's is on par with Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company; decent, but nothing to write home about. Out of 5 forks, I'd give Kilwin's 2 forks. Just make sure you see the chocolate before they bag it. If it doesn't look like what you see in the counter, you might not get what you ordered.
UPDATE: The lovely owners of Kilwin's sent me my missing buttercreams! Plus a few surprises. Got to love that kind of customer service. Read all about Kilwin's Chocolates Part 2 here.
Dear Robin,
No excuses for getting the wrong bag! Boat Show weekends are always crazy, but NOT a good reason for you not to get the goodies. I'm so sorry to hear that you didn't get your butter creams. Those are my favorite, and I, Molly, owner of Kilwins would like to send you some! Please feel free to e-mail at molly@kilwins.com with your contact info.
We would appreciate the 2nd chance.
Thank you,
Molly
Posted by: Molly Pastermack | February 23, 2009 at 06:57 PM