Kelly the Culinarian: 2016 Naperville Chocolate Walk

Friday, February 19, 2016

2016 Naperville Chocolate Walk

Chocolate is basically the reason I run. I love all forms of chocolate - white, dark, super dark, milk. And in all forms, be it cake, donut, ice cream or cocoa. I do not discriminate. Asking me to choose my favorite is like asking a mom to choose her favorite child. I saw the Naperville Chocolate Walk benefiting Youth 360 on Facebook and hoped it was my kind of (chocolate-flavored) tea. Luckily, recently uprooted and now suburban-dwelling Rachael agreed to be my Galetine's Day date for this delicious adventure.

She purchased our tickets for $25 a piece, so my opinions are definitely my own. The short version: this event is worth every penny. The samples are generous, the concept is novel and the cause is great.

Here's what I love, beyond the obvious: The shops you visit during the walk are mostly independently owned small businesses you wouldn't necessarily stop in on a whim. I've haunted Naperville many a time and never stepped foot in at least 50 percent of the shops we visited on the walk. It's a great way to learn what's in your back yard while support both local businesses and a local charity.


The $25 fee covers all the many, many samples you pick up from 25+ participating establishments. It's not a race or competition, you can take as long as you'd like to meander around downtown, but you only get one sample per place. Believe me, that's plenty. It was a great mix of items to eat while participating and things to take home. We enjoyed countless little cups of amazingly decadent and velvety hot chocolate topped with cool and fluffy fresh whipped cream and double-churned dark chocolate ice cream, or ice cream topped with locally made hot fudge. All participants were also supplied with a cookie tin and bag to bring home truffles, cookies, cupcakes and chocolate bars.

I definitely went home full and took a few more days to work through the rest of the tin. I fell in love in the process - this triple chocolate cookie was life changing. It's super thick and chewy and I could taste hints of salt, too. I'm not sorry I finished it. We also picked up a dark chocolate bar with nerds inside, which was a surprisingly delicious combination.
I'm already committed for next year. See you then!

1 comment:

Valerie said...

OMG that looks amazing. Much better than the Wine & Chocolate Walk I did in Antioch. Super lame.