Happiness on a stick
Key Largo chocolatiers’ treat makes the pages of Rachael Ray magazine.
Kristie and Bob Thomas always knew their frozen Key lime pie on a stick was good. But good enough to be featured in the current issue of “Every Day with Rachael Ray?”
A few months ago, the Thomases, owners of Key Largo Chocolates, received an email from editors of Ray’s magazine asking if they’d send a few of the dark chocolate dipped treats to their New York offices. It seems someone had suggested them for an upcoming feature.
Kristie Thomas didn’t think twice about getting the national exposure. But not before she upgraded her recipe.
Frozen Key lime pie on a stick was among the first things the Thomases made when they opened for business five years ago at Mile Marker 100.5 in Key Largo. But chocolatier Kristie got too busy making everything from truffles to frozen yogurt that they contracted with a DeLand pie maker. Once the Ray people came calling, she stepped back from chocolate making to polish her original recipe. The new treats feature her signature Key lime pie that is coated in dark chocolate from Barry Callebaut chocolate in Chicago.
The $6 chocolate dipped pie slices are included in a story that features the best mail-order treats from each of the 50 states. The pie leans more tart than sweet. The dark chocolate isn’t too thin or too thick. They’re definitely worthy of Rachael Ray.
“Other people have done them,” says Kristie. “But my pie and everything is hands down better. It’s very labor intensive and we can’t make enough of these.”
Not bad for a couple of people who thought they’d retired. She had owned a travel agency and he was a commercial pilot. Before they even opened, Kristie enrolled in chocolates classes.
“It was amazing how your tastes immediately changed from thinking the old Hershey bar you grew up on was terrific to I can hardly eat that anymore,” she says. “I became that chocolate snob after taking those classes.”
Along with the frozen Key lime on a stick, Key Largo Chocolate makes very good truffles, many with a tropical bent, including mango, coconut, Florida orange and, of course, Key lime.
For more information, log on to KeyLargoChocolates.com.