We have the Mayans and Aztecs to thank for being the first to link chocolate and love, by serving a bitter chocolate drink at weddings. The world-wide romance with all things cacao is stronger than ever, and Rhody has no shortage of talented chocolate makers – those who transform raw cacao beans into finished chocolate through roasting, grinding, and refining, and chocolatiers – those who work with high-quality couverture chocolate, creating beautiful, indulgent confections such as truffles and bonbons.
Aura Fajardo grew up in Venezuela with a family that loved to cook and gather around a table with authentic, homemade food. “I spent most of my early years eating, not cooking,” she recalls. But as an adult, her passion for cake decorating opened a door to storytelling through chocolate.
Founded in 2017 inside Warren’s culinary incubator Hope & Main, Aura’s Chocolate Bar is a sweet success story rooted in passion, perseverance, and exceptional cacao. Fajardo trained in baking and pastry arts at Johnson & Wales and was inspired by a formative internship at century-old Hebert’s Candy Mansion in Shrewsbury, MA. “I wanted to bring exciting flavors along with very beautiful versions of the classic chocolate of my home country,” she explains. Fajardo infuses her creations with a sense of place, blending prized Venezuelan cacao – among the best in the world – with premium beans from the Dominican Republic and Ecuador, and pairing them with thoughtfully sourced New England ingredients.
After a winding journey through several production spaces, Fajardo found her forever home in Cranston, where she opened Aura’s Chocolate Bar just in time for Easter 2021. It’s a place to shop, gather, learn, and, of course, taste. “I want people to feel something special when they’re enjoying a chocolate bar, to challenge their senses. Ultimately, I want them to taste something that makes them do a happy dance.”
Fajardo’s bars and filled chocolates are anything but ordinary. Signature lines include sommelier-inspired flavors influenced by wine and spirits, bold spicy and salty combinations featuring unique salts from Hawaii to Massachusetts, and a carefully developed vegan collection made with almond milk chocolate. Each bar is designed to tell a story – layered, expressive, and memorable. Aura’s Chocolate Bar is both a celebration of heritage and a delicious opportunity to learn firsthand about Fajardo and her home country. 250 East Street, Cranston | AurasChocolateBar.com
It might not make sense to you that one of the best chocolate makers in the region is a full-time, board-certified OB-GYN. So let us introduce you to Steven Schneider, who, with his daughter Ella, runs Gansett Craft Chocolate.
Steven and Ella first fell down the chocolate rabbit hole after touring a bean-to-bar factory in 2013, when Ella was nine. Years later, while the rest of us were spending the pandemic learning to make sourdough, Steven began intensely researching the chocolate-making process. He sourced cacao beans from around the world and roasted them in the oven. He bought a small melanger – a machine used to grind and refine chocolate ingredients – and began making chocolate at home, all by hand.
Ella, then in high school, would give the homespun confections away to classmates; Steven shared it with coworkers. The response was unanimous: this was something special. Ella and Steven became the state’s first bean-to-bar chocolate makers when they opened their Wakefield shop in December 2024, offering bars, specialty creations, and treats such as chocolate mousse and European hot chocolate, using rare cacao beans from Peru. Steven continues to practice medicine as well, while Ella, 21, tends to the daily routines at the shop and will graduate with a degree in entrepreneurship from the University of Rhode Island this spring.
Along the way, the Schneider team has collected six international chocolate awards. “It’s been amazing,” says Ella, whose favorite part of the job is educating people about what makes good chocolate. Customers can sample different types as they sip their hot chocolate. “We really focus on the flavors,” she says.
A standout favorite among those flavors? A handcrafted take on Rhode Island’s beloved coffee milk – a white chocolate bar infused with coffee from Seaworthy Coffee Roasters in West Kingston, a 70 percent dark chocolate infused with Newport Sea Salt Co., and a brown butter sage, among others. At any given time, they offer 10 bars, two of which are seasonal. Ella considers her education perfect training for growing the business. “I can’t wait to see where this takes us!” 227 Robinson Street, Wakefield | GansettCraftChocolate.com
“My best memories always involve food,” says Miguel Allis, the founder of HAWT Chocolate, based at Hope & Main in Warren. Allis, 37, is from Mexico City, where, he says, “family dinners, cooking with mom and grandma, and hosting friends proved some of the most joyous times.” After earning a degree in gastronomy in Mexico’s capital, he traveled the world, and uses those global influences to create chocolates that feel both sophisticated and playful. Every bonbon and bar is made by hand, with careful attention to balance, texture, and flavor. “Chocolate should feel like a moment – not just a flavor,” Allis says.
That philosophy is evident the second you open a HAWT box. The chocolates are visually striking yet refreshingly unpretentious, designed to be savored rather than saved. There are bright fruity centers – think passionfruit or cranberry, customer favorites such as PB&J, coffee milk, and mole, the latter paying homage to the traditional, painstakingly crafted spicy/sweet Mexican sauce. There are clean, cocoa-forward bars accented with toasted nuts or subtle spices. At this time of year, his “message boxes” are most popular – a Love Box and a Forbidden Box, each featuring eight bonbons and eight notes, romantic or naughty in tone, depending on which version you choose. “They’re made to turn any moment into a celebration,” he says.
Allis wasn’t always chocolate-focused. When he moved to New England, he worked at Flour Bakery in Boston, led by James Beard Award-winning chef Joanne Chang. “I knew I wanted to do something on my own, maybe a restaurant, to express my creativity.” When he discovered the Hope & Main food incubator, he focused on chocolate “because most people love it, and it’s practical,” he explains. He doesn’t have a brick-and-mortar yet; his chocolates ship from his Warren kitchen space, and can also be found at Stock on Hope Street and the Hope & Main Marketplace, both in Providence.
HAWT stands for “Having a Wonderful Time,” and clearly, Allis is. “Food brings people together, and that’s exactly why I do what I do.” HAWTChocolatePVD.com
If you believe you can’t please all of the people all of the time, well, you’re wrong. For more than seven decades, Sweenor’s Chocolates has been the go-to destination for locals and visitors who revel in their handcrafted confections with classic New England charm.
What began in 1955 as a basement candy-making project by schoolteacher Walter Sweenor – a World War II side hustle inspired by his father’s confectionery skills – has blossomed into one of Rhode Island’s most beloved family institutions, now owned and operated by third- and fourth-generation Sweenors. The family uses time-honored recipes with the finest ingredients – pure milk and dark chocolate, honey, butter, and cream – with no preservatives allowed anywhere near their famed truffles, caramels, pecan clusters, and sea-salt toffee.
Beyond traditional boxed chocolates, Sweenor’s dazzles with inventive seasonal and themed treats like chocolate quahogs and lobsters for weddings, nautical shapes that revel in Rhode Island’s coastal roots, and festive novelties that make every holiday sweeter. Though the company now produces chocolate in impressive volumes, much of the work remains deliberately hands-on, crafted using proprietary chocolate blends developed exclusively for the brand. How sweet is that? 21 Charles Street, Wakefield; 43 Hillside Road (Garden City), Cranston | SweenorsChocolates.com
Anchor Toffee
Newport, Providence | AnchorToffee.com
Andre’z Dipped & Drizzled
North Providence | AndrezDippedAndDrizzled.com
Chocolate Delicacy
Warwick | ChocolateDelicacy.com
Hauser Chocolates
Westerly | HauserChocolates.com
Jennifer’s Chocolates
Wakefield | JensChocolates.com
Newport Sweet Shoppe
Newport | NewportSweetShoppe.com
Seacoast Sweets
Cranston | SeacoastSweets.com
Tamp Espresso Chocolate
Bristol | Instagram: @tampbristol
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