Cleveland Makers: Ride A Flavor Wave With Sweet Bean's Signature Bonbons

Kristin Barnes found her passion for making artisan candies after attending a chocolate molding workshop in Boston. While still working at her corporate job, Barnes began creating the base for her side business, Sweet Bean, by bringing her handmade chocolates to special occasions, selling at local markets and even placing as a finalist at the Cleveland Chain Reaction Program.

The chocolates in her signature bonbons 4-piece gift box ($12) pop with bold swirls of red, green and blue hues. Customize your gift box by choosing from several intricate designs and flavors, including brownie batter, blackberry lavender and honey-roasted peanut butter and caramel.

Creating these picture-perfect chocolates is a three-day process, involving a reverse method of painting the design into the molds, adding the first layer of chocolate, piping the scratch-made ganaches and fillings, adding the bottom layer and eventually cracking each bonbon from the mold. “They’re great for any occasion,” says Barnes. “We do weddings, showers and corporate gifts, but also just because. We should all be celebrating something.” sweetbeancandies.com 

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