Colorado Chocolate: Enstrom Candies' Toffee Petites

I recently visited a friend in Grand Junction, Colorado, home of Enstrom Candies and its “World Famous Almond Toffee”. We checked out their factory store, which carries not only Enstrom's chocolate covered toffee but also behind-the-counter chocolates, an assortment of boxed confections, some fun candies from other companies, ice cream, and a few baked goods. I bought myself a tiny box of their dark chocolate toffee “Petites,” some imported salty licorice, and a few interesting confections like dark chocolate mints (basically fancy Andes) and a tasty chocolate-dipped coconut caramel. Aside from the house-made toffee, prices are fairly reasonable; the confections aren't super-upscale molded and printed confections with creative fillings but rather homey dipped turtles and chews.

As for the Toffee Petites, they're fine but not my personal ideal. FYI, Unless you're the type who eats a Snickers in under a minute, the fat “petites” are really two or three bites. The crushed almonds on top don't stick well and end up getting everywhere. The dark chocolate in the coating is fairly forgettable, is thicker than I would have wanted, and tends to flake off the toffee, so it mostly gets in the way. I'd prefer a thinner coating of chocolate, as in Enstrom's regular toffee product (at least that's how it looks in the picture), and of course I would like it to be darker. The toffee nuggets, though, are pretty darn good, all butter and sugar. Next time I would eschew the Petites and go for regular toffee.

Enstrom has three stores in the Grand Junction area and two in the Denver area. If you're visiting Colorado and have a hankering for sweets, you might find what you're craving at Enstrom Candies.