The Top Toffee of 2023 and Awards Winners Announced

We are proud to present the results of the 2023 TOFFEE AWARDS Competition.

The International Chocolate Salon Awards for the 2023 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.

2023 TOFFEE AWARD RESULTS

• St. Croix Chocolate Co. Chili Pistachio Toffee
• The Toffee Merchant Limoncello Toffee

• Belle Toffee Roasted Hazelnut Espresso Toffee in Dark Chocolate
• Jensen Toffee Espresso Toffee
• Rosie Rae's Toffee Peanut Butter and Jelly Toffee
• Stella's Confectionery Butter Pecan Toffee
• Tomo Toffee White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Toffee

• Jensen Toffee Espresso Toffee
• The Toffee Merchant Triple Chocolate Toffee

• The Toffee Merchant Limoncello Toffee
• Belle Toffee Roasted Hazelnut Espresso Toffee in Dark Chocolate
• Rosie Rae's Toffee Peanut Butter and Jelly Toffee
• Tomo Toffee White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Toffee
• Tomo Toffee Dark Chocolate Toffee
• St. Croix Chocolate Co. Hazelnut Coffee Toffee
• Tomo Toffee S’mores Toffee
• wildtoad toffee dark chocolate covered toffee with pecans

• Stella's Confectionery Butter Pecan Toffee

• St. Croix Chocolate Co. Hazelnut Coffee Toffee

• Rosie Rae's Toffee Peanut Butter and Jelly Toffee
• St. Croix Chocolate Co. Chili Pistachio Toffee

• The Toffee Merchant Limoncello Toffee

• Tomo Toffee Dark Chocolate Toffee

• St. Croix Chocolate Co. Chili Pistachio Toffee
• wildtoad toffee dark chocolate covered toffee with pecans
• Jensen Toffee Espresso Toffee

• Tomo Toffee Dark Chocolate Toffee
• Tomo Toffee White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Toffee
• Tomo Toffee S’mores Toffee
• The Toffee Merchant Triple Chocolate Toffee

• St. Croix Chocolate Co. Chili Pistachio Toffee
• The Toffee Merchant Limoncello Toffee
• Jensen Toffee Espresso Toffee
• Rosie Rae's Toffee Churro Toffee
• wildtoad toffee dark chocolate covered toffee with pecans
• Belle Toffee Roasted Hazelnut Espresso Toffee in Dark Chocolate
• Rosie Rae's Toffee Peanut Butter and Jelly Toffee
• St. Croix Chocolate Co. Hazelnut Coffee Toffee
• Stella's Confectionery Butter Pecan Toffee
• Belle Toffee Almond Toffee in Dark Chocolate
• Robinson Confections Lime Fresco Margarita Toffee
• The Toffee Habit Milk Chocolate Toffee
• Stella's Confectionery Toasted Almond Toffee
• wildtoad toffee milk chocolate covered toffee with pecans

• St. Croix Chocolate Co. Bourbon Pecan Toffee
• Jensen Toffee Milk Chocolate Almond Toffee
• Rosie Rae's Toffee Milk Chocolate Almond Toffee
• Belle Toffee Bourbon Pecan Toffee in Gold Chocolate
• Nana's Kettle, Toffee and Treats English Toffee with Almonds
• Big Al's Best Dark Chocolate Almond Toffee
• The Toffee Store LLC Mocha Toffee
• The Toffee Store LLC Signature Toffee
• Nana's Kettle, Toffee and Treats Sea Salt Dark Chocolate Toffee

• wildtoad toffee white chocolate vanilla peppermint toffee
• The Toffee Store LLC BIrthday Suit Toffee
• Virtuoso Confections Almond Buttercrunch w/Dark Chocolate
• Deep Fork Foods Karamella Toffee Coffee Almond Toffee

FAVORITES

QUOTABLE COMMENTS FROM JUDGES

INDIVIDUAL JUDGES' RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CHOCOLATIERS

• This was a challenging judging because the general quality of the submissions was outstanding! So many delicious, well-made toffees!
• Some of the entries failed to balance the flavors (or used less than optimum ingredients) and the ideas outshone the results.
• The idea of eating frozen toffee at first seemed to rub counter to my thinking, but I really enjoyed the flavor and texture of the frozen wildtoad toffee
• Stella makes fun eye-catching toffees that are also delicious. Big Al’s thin toffee was a big bite of nostalgia. I like that repeat competitors like Tomo and Bella continue to improve their toffees.
• Many of them were too sweet, too hard, or too sticky. The best ones had a crumbly texture that didn't stick in your teeth.
• For St. Croix, Nana's Kettle and Jensen: The plastic boxes in which the toffees are packaged are not fully sealed, so they leak tiny crumbs. I would recommend using better-sealed (or completely sealed) packaging. And for Belle Toffee: The opaque bag seals in flavor, but obscures the product. Customers will want to see the delicious candy inside!
• Some of the toffee tasted stale, salt helps to balance the sweetness
• The use of citrus was exceptional as it provides a contrast with the richness; the double-coated products prevent the toffee from sticking in your teeth and they have made me a toffee fan, ingredient purity is vital to perfection, the use of hydrogenated fats and ingredients that don't emulsify do detract from the perception of quality, producers that take their toffee to the darker stages are creating complexity and downplaying sweetness.
• Belle Toffee Almond Toffee in Dark Chocolate almond pieces in toffee, chocolate has more flavor, softer bite, sweet M intensity Belle Toffee Bourbon Pecan Toffee in Gold Chocolate no evidence of bourbon flavor, more like butterscotch, vanilla, commercial tasting chocolate Belle Toffee Roasted Hazelnut Espresso Toffee in Dark Chocolate tender, coating falls off, covature chocolate doesn't have great flavor, Tomo Toffee Dark Chocolate Toffee tender, delicate, M intensity Tomo Toffee S’mores Toffee sweet Tomo's White Chocolate Macadamia Nut rich, fatty Rosie Ray's Churro quite sweet but nice cinnamon toast quality Rosie Ray's Chocolate dark chocolate nice almost burnt complex flavor, balanced tender Rosie Ray's PB & J tender, best use of powdered raspberry, balanced double-sided coating, exactly like the sandy Virtuoso almond buttercrunch just OK, not intense, buttery, atrificial tasting Robinson Lime Fresco Margarita tastes artificial, citric acid, not enough flavor, single note The Toffee Merchant Milk very fresh, tender, M intensity, balanced The Toffee Merchant Triple Chocolate chalky texture from cocoa powder, M intensity The Toffee Merchant Limoncello White Chocolate superb flavor and balance, M++ intensity, rich and light Big Al's Best Dark Chocolate Almond thin, single coat, sticky Wild Toad Dark tender, buttery, good nut coverage, rich M++ intensity Wild Toad milk tender, buttery, coating detaching, fresh nuts Toffee Store Signature roasted salted, crushed, fine nut coating, very nice! Thin, tender, very rich, unasuming look, wow taste due to salt balance, ratio of toffee to topping superb Toffee Store birthday suit purist, good balance of sweet and salt, tender Stella's Confectionery Toasted almond Toffee chopped nuts embedded in the toffee, crushed nut topping, bit sweet not as complex or rich Stella's Confectionery Butter Pecan pecan halves in toffee, delicate, richer crushed nut topping Nana's Kettle English toffee very tender, chocolate not intense, has hydrogentaed fats Nana's Kettle Sea Salt Dark Chocolate very tender, sweet/salt contrast, has hydrogenated fats St. Croix Chili Pistaschio great combo, perfect intensity for chili, honey adds complexity to sweetness, H intensity, double sided St. Croix Bourbon Pecan tender, honey and bourbon nice pairing, M intensity, double sided St. Croix Hazelnut Coffee light on the coffee, glazed hazelnut topping, tender double sided Jensen espresso thin, single-sided, dark roast espresso, more bitter than sweet, nice finish Jensen milk thin, tender, on the sweeter side, crushed and chopped nut topping rather sparse Karamella marble gritty, grains of sugar texture Karamella coffee almond tasty coffee ground topping, gritty texture, finish, too sweet Karamella Macadamia finely chopped macadamia nut topping, too salty, gritty toffee still shows through the white chocolate