The Best Toffee of 2021 and Awards Winners Announced

We are proud to present the results of the 2021 TOFFEE AWARDS Competition.

The International Chocolate Salon Awards for the 2021 TOFFEE AWARDS are based on the combined total number of votes received by each entrant from the Judging Panel.

The Judging Panel consists of National and Regional Magazines, Newspaper and Blog Editors, plus Topic Experts, Local Chefs and Food Gurus.

The award winners below have the honor of being able to display and use the Official Award Winner title and award logos, as well as use items (such as the Award Product Stickers, Award Winner lapel pin), as well as use Custom Award Certificates, and logo award merchandise.

Belle Toffee Bourbon Pecan Toffee in Gold Chocolate
Belle Toffee Roasted Hazelnut Espresso Toffee in Dark Chocolate
Toffee Traditions LLC Traditional~Dark Chocolate with toasted pecans and sliced almonds
JensenToffeeCo Signature white chocolate toffee
Karamella Toffee Company Pecan Toffee
Kwoka Caramel Milk chocolate toffee with almonds
The Toffee Merchant Key Lime Toffee
JensenToffeeCo Signature milk chocolate toffee
Karamella Toffee Company Spicy Almond
SELEUSS Chocolates Eileen's Butter Toffee
Sweet-A-Licious Gourmet Toffee and Nuts Sweet-A-Licious Espresso Almond Toffee Bark

FAVORITES

It's a virtual tie between DGZ Toffarazzi and The Toffee Merchant's Mexican Hot Chocolate.
Tomo and The Toffee Merchant had excellent flavors and textures
Good competition this year. A lot of favs: Tofferazzi, Stella's, The Toffee Merchant, Toffee Traditions, and Tomo
Belle Toffee Bourbon Pecan
Sweet-A-Licious Espresso Almond Toffee Bark
Naked toffee cacao bourbon and tomo white chocolate macadamia toffee
Karamella Spicy Almond Toffee
sweetalicious espresso almond
The Toffee Merchant Bourbon Pecan English Toffee “Very tender, balanced and complex with real bourbon being immediately obvious making this the best bourbon- flavored entry.”

QUOTABLE COMMENTS FROM JUDGES

The Toffee Merchant Bourbon Pecan English Toffee
Tomo has complex flavors, after tastes that linger and textures that rest a long time on the tongue and remain in the mind.
I found that The Toffee Merchant's key lime just made me want more. It would be easy to enjoy this with a nice Pinot Noir.
The shape and flavors of Belle Toffee's Dark Almond made me think of the old ad campaign of a potato chip company, "Bet you can't eat just one."
The Nantucket Faraway Chocolate made with chocolate from the Dominican Republic was such a enticing blend of flavors.
The Toffarazzi box was just old fashioned good.
It was also important to know that Cracked Chocolate donates some of its proceeds to non profits.
Toffee Merchant might want to rethink key lime;
Tomo white chocolate Macademia should lose the coconut
All Belle Toffee is excellent, keep up the good job!
Toffarazzi has a great taste, nice feel and even packaging (which is not a part of this judging:).
Crack'd Dark Chocolate Toffee is simply delightful.
The Toffee Merchant very creative with ingredients, and all combinations successful.
Karamella nutty and good.
EHChocolatier great high quality Brown Butter Toffee with creamy milk chocolate.
Tomo Toffee made with love, you can feel it. Moser Roth consistently good.
Karamella Spicy Almond Toffee: Exceptional! Outstanding!
Toffee Merchant Bourbon Pecan tasted like hot buttered popcorn that swerved through a Kettle Korn shop. Savory and fantastic!
Stella's Confectionary - choosing to place such large (whole or almost whole) almonds on top makes the almond-hazelnut toffee especially tempting. Those nuts really "jump out" at the eyes.
So many great toffees this year, really enjoying the different styles and approaches to the category
Belle Toffee Roasted Hazelnut Espresso Toffee in Dark Chocolate – best of the three, tender and crisp texture, complex, balanced, subtle expresso flavor
Crack'd Toffee Company Dark Chocolate Toffee – simple, sweet, vanilla dominant
Tomo Toffee White Chocolate Macadamia Toffee – “The richest tasted with the perfect pairing of white chocolate and fresh macadamia nuts, making it both opulent and slightly savory.”

INDIVIDUAL JUDGES' RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CHOCOLATIERS

I like toffee to shatter when bitten, due to high butter content. Some of the toffees - particularly Naked's offerings - wanted to shatter my teeth instead! A couple of toffees tasted too burned, with an unpleasant molasses note. Two of the offerings with coffee/espresso let coffee grounds overpower the flavor and texture of the toffee - but Belle Toffee got the toffee/coffee combo just right.
The level of quality of the Toffee has increased. Most were good, but in this case one has to elevate expectations. I found that citrus and chocolate make for an appealing flavor combination.
Crunchy is not a requirement t be called toffee.. A few exceeded my sweetness requirement, but none of them were cloying sweet. it is always difficult to pick the best and I had a tie. I just could not decide which was the best.
Belle was superb
Nantucket Faraway Chocolate would benefit from a little less burnt sugar taste. It might overwhelm all the good stuff that's already on the ingredient list.
I know its about the toffee but there still needs to be a decent amount of Chocolate on it to work in a chocolate store
Toffee Merchant Mexican Hot Chocolate - delicious, balanced spices, but a bit too much sugar that overshadowed the other flavors.
Toffee Merchant Key Lime - good lime flavor, but a bit in conflict with the extreme sweetness. Such good base toffee from this company!
Karamella - Spicy Almond Toffee is wayyy too hot (for me, at least). Its hotness distracts from the rest of the (delicious) flavors. I would tone that hotness down just a touch.