Chocolate lace is a little-known but very declicious dessert brought to America by Russian immigrants. It was originally made by drizzling a grid or other pattern of heated maple syrup on fresh snow. Once the syrup cooled down and solidified, it was carefully picked up out of the snow and dipped in a waiting pot of melted chocolate. The result is a delicate chocolate-and-maple-syrup latticework that dissolves in your mouth.
Chocolate lace has been seen in Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Town & Country and USA Today magazines, and on CBS. The delicacy is available from Hauser Chocolates in Bethel, Connecticut or at their outlet store in Westerly, Rhode Island. Hauser Chocolates: www.hauserchocolates.com or 888/599-8231.