Log Cabin Chocolates

I started a new part-time job this week all the way up in Bel Air (I live in Towson - yay, commute from hell). I passed a few times by Log Cabin Chocolates, a Fallston business that held the intriguing promise of homemade chocolates. But only today did I have the opportunity to stop in. I'm happy I did, because homemade chocolate does something for me that regular chocolate just, well, doesn't.

The big, wooden outside of the building belies the bright and friendly interior of the candy showroom, which opens on to what appears to be a gigantic chocolate-making workshop. The friendly little old lady behind the counter greeted me and asked what I would like. Sionce I can't make a decision to save my life, I had to just look around for a minute, and take it all in. The offerings were fairly typical of most homey candy shops: gummy candies, butter creams, nuts and sponges and brittles and truffles and all manner of things covered in milk and dark and white chocolate. Rheb's did indeed come to mind. The prices were fairly typical as well: a pound of assorted chocolates (your pick) was $15. Half a pound will only cost you $7.50. A quarter pound is half of that. I went for the middle and got the half-pound box.

The woman helped me in a most friendly way, reminding me constantly that there were more chocolates along the entire span of the display case. But I'm more of a buttercream fanatic, so I found myself lingering there. A few I got: vanilla, chocolate, maple and lemon buttercreams, peanut brittle, white chocolate-covered nuts, an orange jelly, and something called a "nougatine" which I had never heard of before. She may also have slightly undercharged me, as I technically ended up with about .53 lbs but still paid the 1/2 lb rate. Hey, it's just a few hundredths of a pound. I didn't need it gift-wrapped, but she tied a neat green bow around the box anyway - to keep it from falling apart in case I dropped it.

Of course, I couldn't wait the extra 40 minutes to get home, so I made quick work of that green ribbon and before I knew it one of the vanilla buttercreams was in my hand. Just the smell made me crazy (in a good way, of course). The taste was such a rich, chocolatey taste that I just don't experience from a Godiva or another big-name chocolatier. Of course, I went for the maple, then the orange jelly (such a luscious candy, that orange jelly), and before I knew it, I had eaten a good quarter of the box before I even made it into Baltimore County.

I had to hide them so I wouldn't eat the entire box. And I have to drive by there and back three times a week for the next 15 weeks! Ah, poor me. Poor me and my chocolate-lovin' waistline.