BY ALYSSON AREDAS

209 Staff Reporter

National Chocolate Day may have been on Wednesday, but for the chocolate-enthusiasts who think that the delectable treat should be celebrated every day there’s Olde Tyme Pastries in Turlock.

“When you look around, you see chocolate on a lot items,” said general manager Terri Coonce. “We have a lot of different items in chocolate.”

Coonce said a customer favorite is definitely the chocolate mice, which she said are constructed by molding the perfect mixture of chocolate cake crumbs and raspberry flavoring into a mouse-like shape, adding a licorice tail and almond ears, enrobing the mousy form in chocolate, and finishing the sweet creation by adding candy eyes. 

“The texture inside is kind of like a truffle, it’s a little bit gooey—almost like a candy,” said Coonce, “but it’s actually cake.”

Another one of Olde Tyme Pastries’ best sellers are the truffles, which come in dark chocolate, milk chocolate, raspberry, Kahlua and almond, as well as a host of other flavors.

“Truffles are great for wedding favors and they make nice party trays,” said Coonce. “They’re very tasty.”

Although the chocolate mice and truffles are the most popular chocolate treats at Olde Tyme Pastries, they are certainly not the only chocolate items the bakery has to offer. Customers can also purchase fudgy petit feurs, seasonally-themed cake pops, chocolate cakes, gourmet chocolate chip cookies dipped in chocolate, chocolate brownies and chocolate pies. Even some of the edible decorations that grace the tops of their cakes are made out of chocolate.

“There’s almost nothing you cannot do with chocolate,” said Coonce. “You can turn something, like a plastic mold, into something chocolate-y and pretty. There are endless possibilities.”

After today, Coonce said that Olde Tyme Pastries will begin selling seasonal items, such as peppermint or almond bark and caramel turtles. These items—as well as every other delectable treat—are made in the bakery by Coonce and her staff.

“We usually start just before Thanksgiving and we run those items through Christmas,” said Coonce. “We also bring a little bit of it back for Valentine’s Day.

Olde Tyme Pastries is located at 2225 Geer Road in Turlock. For more information, call 668-0928.