The Best Gourmet Swiss Chocolate Is Hiding in … HomeGoods?
I’m not a chocolate snob. In fact, I’m not even a dark-chocolate-lover, which is a very unpopular opinion among my social circle of sweet tooths. Give me a fruit-based dessert or a scoop of ice cream before I’ll stick a fork in a slice of chocolate cake. And yet I’m all about milk chocolate, which is what Lindt — based in Kilchberg, Switzerland, and founded in 1845 — specializes in.
So imagine my surprise when I recently shopped for pillows at HomeGoods, and also walked out with chocolates — and not just bars sold by the registers. No, these are imported from the motherland of chocolates: Switzerland.
Unlike the clothing lines at HomeGoods and T.J. Maxx (the company’s sister store), where products are often sold out of season, these will be perfect for Valentine’s Day and Easter, the next two major holidays coming up. Here are the five chocolates I picked up on my last trip — all but one is less than $5 (!).
1. Lindt Chocolate Tulips, $3.49 for 1.9 ounces
These four little chocolates would be fun to put next to each place setting at Easter, as they are very ornamental, with shimmery hot-pink foil on top and a yellow plastic flower sticking out. (Spoiler alert: This doubles as a skewer as you munch on this melts-in-your mouth, soooo-good milk chocolate!)
2. Lindt Little Chick, $3.49 for 1.7 ounces
Sold in a compact set of five, each little chick-shaped chocolate is lined up horizontally in the packaging (pictured above), which weighs only 1.7 ounces, to give you a sense of how cute and adorable this is. The hollowness is not a disappointment, as the outer shell is sweet enough.
3. Lindt Lindor Milk Chocolate Truffles, $9.49 for 36 truffles
These iconic truffle balls (each individually wrapped) are a balanced pairing, with the outer shell being not too hard to crack and the truffle-y middle being, well, just like heaven.
4. Lindt Gold Bunny Dark Chocolate, $3.49 for 1 bunny
As mentioned, I’m not a huge fan of dark chocolate, but I can totally get behind this one because it features coffee notes and has a lot of robust flavors going on (none of which translate to bitterness on the palate). Note that this is not solid chocolate; instead, it’s hollow inside, as most bunny-shaped chocolates tend to be.
5. Lindt Gold Bunny White Chocolate $3.49 for 1 bunny
Those who don’t like milk or dark chocolate might find this white chocolate bunny (also pictured above) appealing — it’s not bland or overly sweet at all, but I would still like to see an added flavor layer, such as lemon, to cut through all the sugar. This approach works well for winter-holiday chocolates (adding peppermint to the white chocolate in, say, this bark recipe).
Ever shop for groceries at HomeGoods? Tell us about your favorite finds in the comments below.