Celebrate The Holidays With Something Sweet

The holiday season is a time to indulge, and Santa’s workshop is in full force over at Puddin’ River Chocolates & Confections. Whether it’s gourmet truffles with special holiday flavors, rich and sticky hazelnut toffee, or creamy peppermint bark, Puddin’ River will help you celebrate bringing family and friends together with decadent European-style chocolates, all handmade using the finest ingredients in the Pacific Northwest.

Spunky business owner Teresa Sasse designs every delicious item at Puddin’ River. “Chocolate defines me,” she says. “It’s the only place I can get lost in my passions, and with chocolate, the sky’s the limit. Anything you can dream, you can create.”

Formerly located downtown, Puddin’ River relocated to a quaint little shop built beside Teresa’s home in south Canby six years ago. The shelves are lined with Teresa’s whimsical chocolate dreams fulfilled, and if you peek behind the counter, you’ll see the team lovingly crafting everything by hand.

Puddin’ River uses unique blends of milk and dark chocolate with the finest fair-trade cocoa, researched and tested by Teresa to delight your palate. This season, they are featuring their gigantic gift baskets generously filled with a beautifully arranged selection of hazelnut toffee, peppermint bark, milk and dark chocolate hazelnuts, caramels, cookies, assorted chocolates, peanut brittle, rich and creamy cheese fondue, local wine, coffee and more. Various pre-assembled combinations are available but talk to Teresa and she’ll build a personalized gift from your price point that includes all your favorite items.

The holiday truffle flavors will surely evoke your Christmas spirit and include cherry cordial, butter pecan, eggnog, gingerbread, toasted marshmallow, red velvet and vanilla cinnamon, to name a few. “The cognac truffle we do this time of year is phenomenal,” Teresa says. “I’m currently working on hand-dipping literally thousands of hot buttered rum truffles, and our newest flavor is tiramisu.”

If you peek in the backroom at Puddin’ River, you’ll see it’s full of chocolate turkeys the size of basketballs. “I stuff them with caramel corn, smarties, chocolate leaves, candy corn, gummy worms, all kinds of things,” explains Teresa. “I decorate the outside with truffles, and it comes with a little hammer to break it open, like a pinata. It makes a fantastic table centerpiece.”

One of the turkeys was donated to a recent Rotary auction and went for $250. Puddin’ River gets involved in the local community year-round. “We support Canby one hundred percent because they support us,” Teresa says. “For my husband and I, this community is everything.”

Puddin’ River utilizes local ingredients in their creations as much as possible, including the hazelnuts in their toffee and the northwest bark, which features local nuts and berries. Every order is made fresh with the love and care of a chocolatier. “We stay true to what we’re doing,” says Teresa. “That means no preservatives, mold inhibitors or extenders.”

Make Puddin’ River Chocolates & Confections part of your holiday traditions. The chocolate room and production tables are bustling this time of year, so please allow at least two weeks to get your order processed, packaged and ready for pick-up.

Puddin’ River Chocolates & Confections is located at 1438 S. Ivy St., Canby. To place an order, call 503-263-2626 or visit the shop. Find more information on their website, puddinriverchocolates.com.