Updated for 2013 with files from Erin Stevenson, Website Coordinator

Available in the United States and Canada

Amanda’s Own Confections – This year offers an impressive selection, includng the stately Garden Bunny Box containing 17 individually-wrapped chocolate basket-holding bunnies. Also available are chocolate Passover and Easter lollipops. All products are gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free and nut- and peanut-free. Shop at www.amandasown.com or www.peanutfreeplanet.com.

Divvies – You may know them for their divine free-from cupcakes, but Divvies’ owners also produce gourmet candy and at this time of year, make that a high-caliber solid chocolate bunny who’s peanut-, tree nut-, milk-, egg-, and gluten-free. All your bases covered! Also available for your basket: delicious jelly beans in springtime pastels. Available at Whole Foods locations in the U.S. and Canada. For more stores visit www.divvies.com.

Gimbal’s Fine Candies – Liven up an Easter basket with jelly beans in 41 lip-smacking flavors – free of gluten and the Top 8 food allergens. Available at grocers throughout the U.S. and in Canada at select Shoppers Drug Mart, Walmart and London Drugs stores. Also buy online at www.gimbalscandy.com or www.peanutfreeplanet.com.

Premium Chocolatiers – Just the thing for a teen or adult gift: Premium’s dozen Egg Truffles, fashioned from exquisite fudge that’s dairy-free, gluten-free, nut-free and egg-free. (They do contain soy.) Plus, for the younger set, there’s the big bunny holding a decorated egg, free-from foil-wrapped chocolate eggs, and a box of ganache-filled white rabbits. The company also offers a wide assortment of boxed chocolates and truffles suitable for kosher pareve diets. Order at www.premiumchocolatiers.com.

Next: More great Easter/Passover treats

At holiday time, making your own chocolate goodies is a crafty and fun-filled afternoon. Following are my recipes for: chocolates, ganache frosting and chocolate clay figures and bouquets.

All are free of: The top 8 allergens, sesame and gluten. Enjoy!

Homemade Chocolates

Try whipping up some professional-looking chocolates. You’ll need store-bought molds in designs such as Santas, angels or bunnies.

“Tempering” will be crucial. That’s the process of heating then cooling chocolate to specific temperatures to produce glossy-looking treats that “snap” when you break them and look store-bought. Chocolate is finicky (one drop of water can ruin an entire batch) and it burns easily – so go slowly. It’s best to make small batches of a few chocolates at a time until you get the hang of it.

Ingredients

• 1 bag of allergen-free, semi-sweet chocolate chips*

Method

1. Using a BPA-free microwave-safe plastic bowl, melt 2/3 of the chocolate in the microwave slowly until it reaches 110 degrees F. (I set my micro to power level 2, and checked the temperature using a chocolate thermometer every 25 seconds.)
2. With a silicone spatula, stir in the remaining unheated chocolate until it melts. Stir until the thermometer temperature reaches 88 degrees F, then pour into molds.
3. Overfill a little, and use a straight-edged knife to level. Gently bang the mold on a flat surface to release air bubbles. Refrigerate until the chocolate is set, then release from mold.

*Note: I used Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Chips for this recipe and the ganache. There are other brands of allergen-free chocolate available as well.

Editor’s Note: Pamela writes the “Allergic Diva” column in the Canadian edition of Allergic Living magazine.

Next Page: Ganache

Most companies had stopped shipping chocolate bars during the hot summer months as heat affected the quality of the product, but September’s here and so is production!

Enjoy Life makes both dark and milk (rice milk) chocolate bars to satisfy all taste buds!  They also offer chocolate chips for the baking. All products are dairy- nut-, soy- and gluten-free.

Guardian Angel Foods sell the cutest chocolates from hearts, to zoo animals or dinosaurs!  If you want fondue or baking chocolate, they offer that as well.  They boast, “All of our delicious products are made without peanuts, nuts, eggs, sesame, bovine protein and dairy.”

Nonuttin’s Double Chocolate Chunk Granola bar is a granola bar that thinks it’s a chocolate bar (or is it the other way around?)  Either way it’s sure to satisfy both your hunger and your sweet tooth!  Again, this company offers 70 per cent dark chocolate chunks. All products are free of dairy, egg, peanut, fish, sesame, mustard, wheat, sulfite and gluten (certified by GFCO).

South of the border and shipping to Canada are:

Amanda’s Own offers dairy free, nut free and egg free chocolate in bars, shapes (from fancy foil wrapped to cars and puppies) as well as chips for baking.

Divvies offers both Devvine Chocolate and Chocolate Benjamint (with organic peppermint crunched up candies).  Both are made in the company’s-own dedicated facility where no peanuts, tree nuts, milk or eggs enter the doors.

Premium Chocolatiers create the finest truffles and gourmet chocolates to indulge chocolate lovers including those with milk, nut, egg, and gluten sensitivities.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has been warning for some time now that imported chocolates are not always safe.

Manufacturers:

http://www.amandasown.com/

http://www.alimentsangegardien.com/guardianangelfoods/food-allergies/productscategories.php?categorie=4

http://www.enjoylifefoods.com/our_foods/chocolate_bars.html

http://www.divvies.com/store/commerce.cgi?search=action&category=CDNY

http://www.nonutthttp://www.premiumchocolatiers.com/in.ca/products-for-Canada-International/

http://www.gfco.org/