As you travel around Switzerland, you can routinely find local chocolate specialties in every canton. Here are seven, in no particular order, that I’ve tried from different corners of the country. How many from the list below have you already tasted?

1. Badener Steine (Aargau)

If you like kirsch, I highly recommend the Badener Steine. The milk or dark chocolate-covered cubes contain a layer of kirsch-soaked cake covered in gianduja, chocolate blended with a hazelnut paste. You can find the original version of these special cubes, based on the 1937 recipe, at Moser’s Backparadies.

2. Marmites (Genève)

Each year, the residents of Geneva take part in a tradition that involves smashing a chocolate marmite (cauldron). The official Fête de l’Escalade takes place the weekend closest to December 11-12. Around this time, you’ll see chocolate cauldrons on display in the windows of chocolatiers throughout the city. Decorated with the city’s colors — red and yellow, the cauldron also features its coat of arms. This annual celebration commemorates the successful thwarting of the Duke of Savoy’s attempt to gain control over Geneva in 1602.

3. St. Galler Spitzen (St. Gallen)

The city of St. Gallen, known for its textiles, inspired the creation of the St. Galler Spitzen (St. Gallen’s lace). This lozenge-shaped chocolate has a lacey motif on its surface. Confiserie Roggwiller makes them in milk and dark chocolate. They have a ganache filling with hazelnuts. Praliné Scherrer, also in the city of St. Gallen, offers a similar specialty. Known as the St. Galler Stickereien (St. Gallen embroidery), it has an almond praline filling.

4. Baarer Räben (Zug)

These turnip-shaped chocolate treats come from the canton of Zug. In the local dialect, the word Räbe refers to a type of white turnip. This root vegetable used to be such a staple food in the town of Baar that it became part of a nickname for the men from there. Today, you can find the chocolate version of the turnips, known as Baarer Räben, coated in milk, dark or white chocolate. Inside, they have a light praline filling.

5. Mini Bullois (Fribourg)

These little cakes are petite versions of the larger cake, known as the Gâteau bullois. These sweet treats take their name from Bulle, the town in the canton of Fribourg where it was first created. According to Patrimoine Culinaire Suisse (culinary heritage of Switzerland association), a baker from Bulle took inspiration for this cake from the Nusstorte (walnut cake) that originated in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. You can find this specialty at Confiserie Baechler in Bulle. Boulanger Buchs in Echarlens makes their own version, called the Petites Bulloise.

6. Bouchons Vaudois (Vaud)

Bouchon means “cork” in French, and the shape and exterior color of this sweet treat certainly resembles one. The crisp, biscuit shell of a Bouchon Vaudois contains egg whites, sugar, grated almonds and flour. Then, inside this shell you will find a smooth chocolate and almond praline filling. You can find them for sale at a nearly two dozen confiseries in Vaud.

7. Batz Neuchâtelois (Neuchâtel)

Batz Neuchâtelois are chocolate pralines created in 1948. They mark the centennial anniversary of the canton’s entry into the Swiss confederation. Chocolate-makers in Neuchâtel designed these commemorative chocolates after the Batz, a coin in circulation from the late 16th century until the mid-19th century. They make them with either milk or dark chocolate, with a couverture shell and a chocolate praline filling made with almonds and hazelnuts. In the old city center of Neuchâtel, three confiseurs still make and sell these pralines: Chocolaterie Walder, Wodey-Suchard, and Confiserie Schmid. 

What other Swiss chocolate specialties would you add to this list? There are so many more to discover across Switzerland. Leave a comment below or send me an email with your favorites.