Watch the Creation of EHChocolatier's New Mother's Day Chocolates

Elaine Hseih, left, and Catherine Sweeney, right, with their signature chocolates. All photos by Jennifer Rompre.

While everyone thinks of Taza when it comes to local chocolates, there’s another, newer, local company that deserves some attention, too: EHChocolatier, a Cambridge-based joint project from former Harvard admissions counselor Catharine Sweeney and physician Elaine Hseih. After working at their respective jobs for years, the two were both craving something else from their lives, and when they were introduced in 1999 to co-create a mutual friend’s wedding cake, they realized they had both been craving something sweet (“It was the edible luster dust” that bonded the two women, Sweeney jokes.)

In the fall of 2009, the two left their jobs and started a trial monthly chocolate shop exclusively available for their family and friends, and they honed their skills at the Cambridge Culinary School. EHChocolatier launched in November of last year—and almost a year later, their chocolates are being snapped up at Formaggio Kitchen, at farmers’ markets throughout New England, at gourmet shops spanning from Maine to North Carolina, and online.

Hseih and Sweeney are both mothers, and in honor of Sunday’s impending holiday, the duo decided to launch a new line of flavors: lemon curd, strawberry balsamic, lavender/vanilla, varietal milk, ceylon cinnamon, and earl grey. We stopped by their Cambridge workshop (which they rent from Taza) to watch the duo create their signature sweets.

Chopping up soon-to-be melted bars of chocolate for the candies.

An unfinished batch of Ancho Bars (which contain spiced nuts, pretzels, Balvenie Scotch caramel, and 65% single varietal chocolate), wait to get enrobed in chocolate.

Finished Ancho Bars. All of the chocolates at EH are dipped by hand.

Pecans for turtle-like pecan clusters get a good toss in a mixture of maple syrup and sea salt.

Finished clusters, topped with Knob Creek bourbon caramel and a layer of 65% dark chocolate, cool on the racks.

New chocolates for Mother’s Day are filled with everything from lemon curd to lavender (right).

Others include fillings like ceylon cinnamon (right) and strawberry and balsamic.

Hseih and Sweeney pose with a finished batch of chocolates. In addition to giving chocolate as a gift, you can book a Beyond the Bar class, a $40 introduction to the art of chocolate making and tasting (check online for more details).

—Hannah Lauterback

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