Austinite Tracy Claros Brings Home Gold From NYC Fancy Food Show

Successful local confectioner Tracy Claros spent a couple of years in research and development before adding new products to her line of delightful, award-winning Sticky Toffee Puddings. Her new Chocolate Tiffin bars debuted at last week's 2013 Fancy Food Show in NYC and Claros is golden again!

After a week of displaying specialty food products to trade buyers and the curious public, producers who've had booths at the annual Fancy Food Show are celebrated at a gala dinner where the SoFi Awards are presented. The acronym stands for Specialty Outstanding Food Innovation and this year there were 2,573 entries spread over the 32 available categories. Finalists in each category were announced some weeks before the show and Claros' new Chocolate Tiffin with shortbread, almonds, and glaceed cherries took the gold medal in the Confection category. This is not Claros' first brush with SoFi greatness. Her Sticky Toffee Puddings have brought home the gold, as well.

In addition to recipe-testing during the last couple of years, Claros also invested time in finding just the right ingredients for each new product. In the case of the Tiffin bar, that meant finding an American supplier who could reliably produce a glaceed cherry that wasn't packed full of chemicals and food coloring, which she did. The result is a crisp chocolate shortbread base chock full of crunchy almond chunks and toothsome cherries. It's an award-winner, for sure.

The Tiffin bar is one of three new products Claros is bringing to market, along with a decadent, three-layer Millionaire Shortbread and a comforting oatmeal Flapjack bar with sesame brittle and a chocolate swirl. For information about ordering the new products, check out the company's new website.

Our heartiest congratulations to Tracy Claros - keep up the good work!