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Some of the world’s most decadent and intricately designed confections are found at Aurora Grace Chocolates in Philadelphia.
Chocolatier Aurora Wold learned her craft on the job. She didn’t go to culinary school, and instead honed her skills in restaurants around New York City, eventually finding her true passion — making chocolate — in the kitchens of Jean Georges and Eleven Madison Park.
After moving to Philly, she helped develop pastry programs for Di Bruno Bros. and other local restaurants, and also launched an Etsy shop for her own hand-painted treats. At the beginning of 2019, she opened the doors to a retail storefront at 517 S. 5th St., just above South Street in near Society Hill.
With careful attention, Wold follows a precise method in fabricating her bonbons, which includes monitoring room temperature and humidity.
After the candies are formed, they’re filled with a variety of fruit, nut and caramel fillings both sweet and savory. Think cherry pistachio, salted honey tahini, pumpkin cheesecake, and dark chocolate orange, just to name a few. They are then hand painted with vibrant cocoa butter paints in a dizzying array of colors — each its own tiny work of art.
In addition to the bonbons, which come in gift boxes of varying sizes and themes, Aurora Grace makes chocolate barks. These come in flavors like spicy smoked sea salt, lavender bee pollen sea salt, and white chocolate pink peppercorn rose petal. These are beautifully packaged in miniature cellophane bags, perfect for gifting (if you can control the urge to devour it yourself).
Also on offer are flavored chocolate bars, marshmallows, French style macaron, cookies, scones, and more. To complement the candy, there’s daily housemade gelato, as creamy and as flavorful as some of Italy’s best. To top it all off, there is granola made in house — which has a cult-like following for good reason.
In-store pickup, delivery, and nationwide shipping are all available. Take a closer look in the CravePhilly video below.
