FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JANUARY 31, 2019 • VALENTINE’S DAY • THE QUEENS COURIER 39
valentine’s day
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Bring homemade Queens chocolates to your sweetheart
BY MORGAN CHITTUM
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Valentine’s Day is around the corner,
and Queens off ers some of the most popular
handmade chocolates in New York.
Since 2017, Aigner Chocolates in
Forest Hills has been voted as the Best
Chocolatier in Queens in the Bethpage
Best of the Boro competition; it also won
the competition’s Best Candy Store award
in 2018. Th e 2019 awards were determined
by over 100,000 votes.
Aigner is one of the oldest chocolate
shops in New York, opening their doors
back in 1930 by fi rst generation Austrian
immigrants. Th e Aigners ran the shop
for three generations until 2015 when
Mark Libertini and Rachel Kellner took
over. Although ownership has changed,
each piece of chocolate is still handmade,
upholding their reputation for some of
the best chocolate in Queens.
Middle Village has a party store and
chocolate shop that can create specialized
chocolate moulds for their customers.
Along with their large selection of
moulds, Fun Stuff also has a wide array of
unique items for sale such as edible images,
printed sashes, invitations, balloons
and even baby shower gift s.
Schmidt’s Confectionery on Jamaica
Avenue in Woodhaven has made German
handcraft ed candies for over 90 years.
Current owner Margie Schmidt still utilizes
some of those same recipes that
her grandfather had when they originally
opened their doors in 1927. In 2017,
Schmidt said she made roughly 25,000
handmade chocolates, which didn’t
include the loose candies, according to
an article in 2017 with QNS. Th is quaint
candy shop has been featured in New
York Magazine, New York Times and
AM New York.
Dip, Pour & Drizzle, a candy store in
Flushing sells a wide variety of themed
chocolate treats. With Super Bowl,
Christmas, Valentine’s Day and even
Disney’s Frozen themed candies, this
shop can cater to a customer’s need for
specialized orders and for special occasions.
For personal baking, they also off er
candy and chocolate making supplies for
purchase.
Ridgewood Chocolate off ers a variety of
artisanal sweets for customers. Th e candy
shop specializes in dark chocolate which
they shell in-house. Th eir dark chocolate
is predominately made with cocoa
beans and sugarcane, priding themselves
on their lack of artifi cial preservatives in
the product. Ridgewood Chocolate strives
to be “focused on a segment of the market
that needs more choices.” Th is philosophy
has led the shop to off er chocolate
beverages such as their signature cold
chocolate.
From traditional German candies to
artisanal pure sweets, Queens has a variety
of gift -giving options for all Valentine’s
Day needs.
Editor’s note: Th e preceding is for informational
purposes only; the locations
were chosen at random by the author.
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