Chocolates and Sweet Treats From Around the World to Indulge In at Home

Not to knock Nutella, but it’s got nothing on this chocolate hazelnut spread from Italian chocolatier Venchi. Made with olive oil and hazelnuts from Italy’s Piedmont region, Venchi’s dip is nothing short of straight-up addictive. Pile it on top of ice cream, slather it over a hunk of fresh bread, or just eat it straight off the spoon.

In our fantasy, we’d book a flight to Paris and head straight to Laduree on Champs Elysees for the famous tea room’s impossibly light, impossibly delicious macarons. Since that dream will just have to wait, we’ll happily settle for a box of Laduree’s traditional macarons in flavors like raspberry, pistachio, and vanilla. Air kisses, Paris!

If super sweet is just not your thing, give traditional Korean yakgwa cookies a whirl. Their chewy texture and mild blend of honey and cinnamon remind fans of an old-fashioned cake doughnut. Have one—or three—with your afternoon mug of tea.

How do you improve the Oreo—the simple, the elegant, the perfect Oreo? Bathe it in milk, dark, and white chocolates from Belgium, that’s how! Then splash it with even more Belgian chocolate for good measure. Now if only there were a Double Stuf version.

Perk up your pantry with “pepparkakor”—these delightfully light, thin, and crispy Swedish ginger cookies. Anna’s cookies are such a big deal in their home country that the brand became an official purveyor to His Majesty the King of Sweden. If they’re good enough for his royal coffee break, they’re good enough for ours.

Turn your kitchen or backyard into the best thing outside of a campsite in the Great Smoky Mountains. This s’mores kit takes your average graham cracker/marshmallow/chocolate trio and takes it to the next level, adding adorable outer space designs to its vanilla, vegan marshmallows that you can color in with edible paint. 

We love Walkers and Girl Scouts Trefoils as much as the next cookie enthusiast. But both pale in comparison to these all-butter biscuits, made by hand in Edinburgh using just four simple ingredients: wheat flour, butter, sugar, and ground rice (the last one is what gives shortbread its marvelously crumby texture). 

Swap those sad hot cocoa powder packets for hot cocoa tablets, made from an intoxicating mix of cacao, sugar, cinnamon, and ground nuts (almonds, pecans, and walnuts). Combine the traditional Mexican flavors with milk in the handmade clay pitcher that comes in the set (yes, it goes right on your stovetop), then froth the two ingredients into hot chocolate high heaven with the handsome molinillo (wood whisk).

Made in Brittany, a region famous for its heritage biscuit factories, these salted butter cookies are a slice of pure France. The combination of the rich dark chocolate, Guerande salt, and buttery shortbread might just tide you over till your next trip to Paris (or at least till dinner).

A centuries-old recipe is the origin of this rich sugar cake, baked daily in small batches by Dewey’s, a Winston-Salem, N.C. bakery specializing in traditional Moravian treats. Thankfully, you can score their goodies via Amazon, including a three-pack of their buttery coffee cake flavored with cinnamon and sugarcane molasses. Heat it up for an after-lunch treat with coffee, or heck—call it breakfast!

Yes, you can find KitKat bars in every corner store, gas station, and supermarket in your hometown. But there’s a very strong case to be made for bypassing the local stuff and seeking out its Japanese equivalent online. KitKats are a big deal in Japan, with entire boutiques dedicated to the candy bar in Tokyo’s upscale department stores and a flavor range that puts the humble American bar to shame—we’re talking chestnut, citrus, strawberry cheesecake, and wasabi, to name a very few.

Sink your teeth into a creamy, custard-y key lime pie without traveling all the way to the southernmost point of the American mainland. Key West’s beloved Kermit’s Key Lime Shoppe sends their tangy-sweet pies, made with graham cracker crust, juice from Key limes, and dollops of whipped cream, all over the continental U.S.

Does your massive cookware collection somehow lack a fondue pot? No problem! This ceramic container is filled with rich chocolate made in Belgium. Simply pop the pot in the microwave for an ooey, gooey sweet course—no mess, tongs, or fondue cooker required. The wood-lidded canister makes a cute kitchen vessel once the chocolate is long gone—we’re thinking for receipts, bag clips, or the annoying rubber bands that are forever gunking up our junk drawer.

Cardamom lovers, this one’s for you. This traditional North Indian sweet has the aromatic spice in spades, plus a crunchy, flaky, melt-in-your-mouth-y texture that many describe as similar to cotton candy.

Reward yourself for your solitary jog or walk around the block with handmade halvah, the quintessential Middle Eastern tahini dessert. Available with classic flavors (maple, peanut butter, vanilla bean, and espresso) or seasonal ones (five-spice, anise, cardamom orange, and lemon orange), these four-packs are all made with organic sugar and vanilla, and are naturally vegan and gluten-free.

Aloha, creamy chocolate-covered macadamia nuts! If a trip to Maui isn’t in the stars for you this year, bring a taste of the islands to you with this Amazon bestseller. We highly recommend pairing each delicious bite with a sip of The Kahala Hotel and Resort’s signature Hawaiian blend coffee.

Not a chocolate lover? Try getting your sugar fix courtesy of a Brooklyn baker specializing in traditional Syrian treats. Her individually wrapped vegan marzipan is a fan favorite, with almond and pistachio marzipan lightly essenced with orange blossom water.

Australia’s most beloved cookie (sorry—biscuit, wait, no—bikkie) is the perfect spirits booster: two layers of crunchy chocolate cookies filled with chocolate cream and wrapped in even more soft, scrumptious chocolate. Pro tip: take a bite, then dip the rest of the chomped-off cookie into a glass of cold milk or hot coffee.

This classic Polish cookie is the complete package: soft cakey cookie topped with a thick scoop of tart raspberry jam and capped off with a delicate layer of chocolate. And for $1.50 for 10, you might as well go ahead and add a few back-up packs to your cart.