Getting into the holiday spirit at Laughing Moon Chocolates

The minute we walked opened the door I could tell that we were entering a Christmas zone, even if it was only the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The warm air was thick with the smell of peppermint, which is of course the principal ingredient in Eau de Santa (if he shaved, that’s what he would splash on his face afterward I’m convinced). Laughing Moon Chocolates in Stowe, Vermont is the place to go for handmade candy canes, thick striped hooks of candy that come in a variety of flavors including maple. It’s fascinating to watch the candy being made – huge slabs are warmed under a heating lamp and then rolled out in long sticks to the appropriate thickness before being snipped and shaped.

The shop is small and reservations are required just to watch the candy cane making. It was very crowded, so should you decide to stop by, be prepared to deal with a little chaos. We submitted the boys’ names at the counter and then waited until there was an opening for them to shape the sticks of warm candy. When it was Teddy’s turn and he was told he could make whatever he wanted he eagerly asked the young woman behind the counter if he could make a dinosaur shape. When it became evident that this wasn’t possible, he paused for a moment.

“How about a butterfly? Or a bird?” were his next questions. When this also proved beyond the friendly helper’s candy-shaping abilities, he decided to stick with a squiggly snake. Tommy made a kind of candy cane bracelet – what all the fashionable elves are wearing this year I hear.

Travel-with-kids tip: Looking for all the details about candy cane making at Laughing Moon? Check out this post on Find & Go Seek. And if you’re planning to visit Vermont with kids, make sure you bookmark this fantastic resource.

Of course there are many other tempting things on offer at Laughing Moon from truffles to chocolate-covered apples. The children zeroed in on the bins of what in my day would have been called penny candy, which is how Tommy ended up devouring this candy necklace.

But candy canes were definitely the star of the day, and sampling a warm, freshly-made piece was like a little bit of Christmas right on the tip of your tongue.

I share this post as part of Wanderfood Wednesday at Wanderlust and Lipstick. With all the eating that went on this past weekend here in the U.S., I’m guessing there are some great posts there. Rumor has it that tofurkey is on the menu….