In Chocolate Heaven with the Great Food Tours

Anyone who says they don't love chocolate is lying. There is a kind of chocolate for every palette: milk chocolate for traditionalists, dark chocolate for romantics, plain chocolate for purists, or chocolate with a hint of other flavors for explorers. Anything made with chocolate is a little taste of heaven, so when I found a deal for a chocolate tour of Chicago, I pretty much thought I would die from happiness.I didn't find the perfect opportunity to use the deal until I had a friend visit town who happens to be a fellow chocoholic. The tour was organized by Great Food Tours and included chocolate samples at several locations throughout the Magnificent Mile area of Chicago.

Chocolate Doughnut Photo: Glazed and Infused

The first stop on the tour was the Chicago based donut shop Glazed and Infused. The shop features a variety of specialty ‘doughnuts' made fresh daily and delivered to their locations around the city. Some of their more famous flavors include the Maple Bacon Long John (with real bacon), Blueberry-Lemon Glazed, and Red Velvet. They also include seasonal varieties on their menu. We were given samples of their chocolate donut which was absolutely phenomenal. There were some extra samples at the end, and I went back for seconds… and would have gone for thirds if I could. It was so good! Probably turned out to be one of my favorite of the day.

Triple Chocolate Cakeball Photo: West Town Bakery

The next stop was around the corner at the West Town Bakery, which uses all natural and organic ingredients in their products. We sampled the Triple Chocolate Cakeball made from chocolate cake rolled in dark chocolate and chocolate cake crumbs. The ball was moist and very rich, and I could really only eat one.

We continued our chocolate journey at Vosges Haut Chocolate shop, a luxury chocolate boutique with really interesting and different flavors of chocolate bars and truffles. The shop gave us the choice of two samples – the Naga (made from sweet Indian curry powder, coconut and milk chocolate) and the Black Pearl (made from finer, wasabi, dark chocolate, and black sesame seeds). I tried the Naga, which was exotic, with a hint of curry that was not overpowering but really quite pleasant. The shop had other samples throughout the store, and I tried their chocolate bar with bacon in it. Anything with bacon can't be bad, and this was excellent, though I am not sure I could have eaten a whole bar of it.

Don't look at me – check out those adorable chocolate boxes behind me!

After trying the exotic truffles, we made our way to Teuscher, a Swiss chocolate shop. Here we tried their Dom Perignon Champagne Truffle, made with actual champagne in the cream center surrounded by dark chocolate, then coated with milk chocolate and dusted with powdered sugar. Ummm… amazing! The sample was small, but I made it last in as many bites as I could. The center was incredibly smooth and creamy. The shop also specializes in adorable boxes that their chocolate comes in. Around the shelves were handmade boxes in the shapes of different characters and creatures that would make an excellent gift to any chocolate lover.