Gifts for Life's Every Occasion: Delysia Chocolatier

www.delysia.com

Nicole Patel didn't set out to become a chocolatier, but when the Texas A&M-trained engineer was laid off from her job, with a local tech firm, her hobby of making chocolate truffles slowly presented itself as a possible career change. "Those first truffles were ugly blobs, but people really seemed to like them," she recalls ruefully. Indeed, Patel's homemade truffles were such a popular hostess gift among her family and friends that her husband eventually suggested they could be the basis for a business opportunity. Patel created Delysia Chocolatier in a rented commercial kitchen in 2008, and her long-range plans include developing her own commissary kitchen and, someday, her own chocolate shop. For now, Patel's chic line of custom sweets is available online and at select retailers, restaurants, and Texas winery gift shops in Austin and the Hill Country.

The Delysia product line includes flavored hot chocolate mixes and solid, molded chocolate bars in dark, milk, or white chocolate that can be customized with everything from the names of brides and grooms to personal messages and corporate logos. The newest offering is a molded chocolate wedding-cake topper with a bride and groom entwined in each other's arms – the perfect cake adornment for chocolate lovers. Delysia's elegant molded chocolate truffles can be flavored with coffee and tea, spirits and wines, herbs and spices, and classic seasonal items, and are available in distinctive nine-piece selection boxes such as the Valentine's assortment with three each of raspberry, chocolate mousse, and Champagne truffles. Sample Patel's truffles at a Merlot and Chocolate tasting event at Becker Vineyards near Stonewall, Saturdays and Sundays, Feb. 11-12, 18-19.