The Inspiration Collection
We were fortunate to go to Paris at the end of 2025. What did we do? We went to chocolate shops, of course. Paris abounds with small chocolate shops, too many to comprehend. We focused on ones that were smaller in size (although many had multiple locations) and artisan in nature. We focused on shops that sold pralines and bon bons rather than bean to bar but we managed to visit a couple of those too. If you would like to see where we went, reference the map below. For good measure a Madeline and a Macaron shop are also listed. Let me know if there are any you think I should add for next time.
Sin Confections Guide to Paris Chocolate
What has struck me with each visit to the chocolate shops of Paris (yes, we have gone on this pilgrimage multiple times), is that the chocolates for the most part are slabs of ganache cut on the guitar cutter and then placed through the enrober to be coated in chocolate. There are few molded pieces, and even less use of color. For those of you who are familiar with the chocolate case at Sin Confections, this is a polar opposite of how we make chocolates.
Jed Johnson, chocolatier at Denver Williams in Paris' 10th offered me excellent insight into why that is. The French, he explained, consider color on chocolates "too much". Likewise large pieces of chocolate; too much. Use of color is considered to verge to more of a Belgian influence. And he pointed out, titanium dioxide, a white coloring approved in the USA has been outlawed in Europe. Without a white backing to cover the inherent brown of chocolate itself, vibrant colors are difficult to achieve.
In short, Sin Confections chocolates would flop in Paris.
Paris' small squares and rectangles of different flavored ganache are distinguished by their coatings: dark, milk; and the pattern embossed into the still fluid chocolate as it emerges from the enrober: a circle, a line. Some may have cocoa nibs or salt on top. Some a line of chocolate on top. Small, subtle pieces are the norm.
Visually they strive for elegant simplicity. Wherever we went, the almost unerring commonality among shops was the small rectangle. Notable exceptions were with C. Grolet and J. Genin whose pieces were molded and in the case of J. Genin, had some color.
The interiors varied, with each house having it's own spin on dark, caramel, etc. Again, because of the size (small) and perhaps the Paris preference, it was a single flavor revealed in each piece. There just was not room for multiple layers in the majority of the chocolates.
We came away from the trip with many boxes of chocolates (for professional research, of course) and a profound sadness at what we considered a lack of visual and sensory stimulation with Paris' chocolate offerings.
And yet...
So many chocolate shops thrive there and stay in business and have customers come back again and again. Customers agonize over the five specialty boxes they were gifting, and what flavors to put in each. Stopping into the local chocolate shop was a weekly or daily routine (and as easy) as stopping into the local boulangerie. People made having chocolate a part of everyday. It isn't just for special occasions. A simple end to a day that was tasteful and elegant and simple. An affirmation that life was special and could be celebrated in this small way, every day.
And that was our ah-ha moment. The epiphany. The inspiration to not to use color and multiple flavors, but create a collection of elegant simplicity. A collection that was affordable for everyday.
The Inspiration collection consists of nine small pieces, a bit of joy for each day of the week, and a couple left over to share. It's affordable elegance. No pieces are colored, but quite a few are molded. We could not restrain ourselves to only squares and rectangles. The squares are lovingly hand dipped in 73% dark chocolate, and the molded ones in both 73% and 61%. Fillings run from white to 73% dark, depending upon the flavor.
We'll keep making the multi layered painted molded beauties. That's our passion. But Paris taught that is not the only way or the best way. And the highly painted pieces we are know for certainly do stand out when surrounded by the elegant simpler ones.
