Chocolate Finds on the Road Summer 2023

It has been a while since we had an on the road post telling you all about the chocolates our Chocolate Priestess discovered during travel. She bought chocolate at 15 locations during our 21-day trip, so she considers that to be a sign of restraint on her part. None of these chocolatey goodies were given to her, so we won't be sharing links to the creators or products, nor giving detailed reviews of them. We hope the brands reach out to us to do a feature review of their creations in the future. Note: There are a lot of photos so this may be intense for phones to show you, so check it out on your tablets and computers for a better view.

The first chocolate I discovered was after taking the scenic route through the Badlands which led us to the tourist traps of all tourist traps: Wall Drug. Inside I found two places that offered on site made chocolatey goodness. The Donut Factory and the Country Store which had fudge. The Donut Factory only offered one flavor of donut but you could get a chocolate frosting, but the Country Store had a lot of types of fudge. For some reason on this trip, I was drawn toward sea salt caramel chocolate fudge most of the time.

Donut Factory Donut, Wall Drug, S.D.

Country Store Fudge, Wall Drug, S.D.

In the greater Rapid City area (I'm including places within a half hour drive of our hotel), I found a lot of different chocolate shops including: Mostly Chocolates, Rushmore Candy Co., Candyland, and Rocky Mountain Confectionary. Rushmore and Candyland appear to be owned by the same people even though the handmade goodies are different and the layout, amount of, and variety of candy inside each is different.

Rushmore Candy Co. Goodies

Candyland Homemade Goodies

Rocky Mountain Confectionary is a brand I've heard of before, but at their Rapid City shop I bought these truffles.

Rocky Mountain Confectionary Truffles

Mostly Chocolate was a find well worth the trip.

Mostly Chocolate Truffles

A bit farther southwest of Rapid City in Keystone was Turtle Town, a shop with a wide range of turtle candy types, a wall of taffy, and other goodies. Of course I had to get a dark chocolate and I went with the pecan for traditional reasons and personal taste. Doesn't it look like a turtle?

Dark Chocolate Pecan Turtle, Turtle Town

Northwest of Rapid City in Deadwood, I found this fun shop called Chubby Chipmunk, the only chocolate place I had on my lists to find before our trip started. It did not disappoint at all because the truffles were huge for their price and delicious. Probably the best tasting truffles I had on this trip.

Chubby Chipmunk Truffles

In Des Moines, Iowa, as we traveled to see my family, I found a fair number of chocolate at different types of stores including: Cinnaholic, Chocolatier Stam, Chocolate Storybook, Black Cat Ice Cream, and Beaverdale Confections. Cinnaholic's chocolate is all in the toppings such as the frostings and candies you can add I went easy and did the frosting but more pecans and blueberries. I just really love pecans, folks.

Cinnaholic Chocolate Frosted Bun

Chocolatier Stam was an amazing shop which had not only handmade chocolates but souvenirs and gelato, too.

Chocolatier Stem Truffles

Chocolate Storybook was delightful and had ample parking as well so you could spend some time looking over all their goodies.

Chocolate Storybook Truffles

Black Cat Ice Cream took two tries to get to because they are crazy popular and close earlier than we expected. I was lucky that they were offering Dark Chocolate Oreo ice cream that evening we went because the flavors change every day or so.

Black Cat Dark Chocolate Oreo Ice Cream

Beaverdale Confections was a small shop that loved s'mores though I stayed with truffles or fudge to keep in the general flow of what I was getting this trip for comparison.

Beaverdale Truffles

While visiting with family east of St Louis in Illinois I had good chocolate at a Bob Evans (my only dessert I bought at a sit down restaurant during the trip) and at Chef's Shoppe which was half kitchen supplies and half candy, popcorn, and fudge shop.

Holy Cow Brownie at Bob Evans

Chef's Shoppe Fudge, Edwardsville, Illinois

I could have had more chocolate at restaurants or at places I'd previously visited, but I was looking for new-to-me places and treats I'd never had before. I hope you enjoyed seeing what I found. Please leave me a comment let me know.