Living La Vida Chocolate

Susie Norris lives a life of dreams—chocolate dreams.

She has specialized in chocolate for twenty years, and now, after a career as food writer, pastry chef and educator, she recently launched Happy Chocolates, a new line of high-quality retail bonbons in classic flavors, with a modern seasonal influence.

Add to that the launch of—Le Petit Biscuit Cafe in Pasadena, just in time for You-Know-What day. What could be sweeter?

“My childhood love of chocolate grew into a love of culinary travel,” said Norris recently.

“Paris, Vienna, Mexico, Spain. Chocolate’s history is meaningful to so many people in so many different countries,” Norris added.

Norris dresses up her many chocolate concoctions with the influence of European classics like Belgian creams, French caramels, dark chocolate from equatorial growing regions, and delicate Asian design.

Norris taught baking and pastry arts at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in California where she runs her artisan chocolate business, “Happy Chocolates”.

Her culinary travel blog, FoodMarketGypsy.com documents her travels to baking capitals and culinary hot spots. The blog has also won the International Association of Culinary Professionals’ Digital Media Award. A Baker’s Passport is a collection of her most-requested recipes from the blog.

Her first book, Chocolate Bliss (Penguin/Random House, 2008) is a sweet philosophy of chocolate (with recipes.) Her next book, Hand-crafted Candy Bars (Chronicle Books, 2008, with Susan Heeger) features candy-bar makeovers with artisan ingredients.

Norris’ work has also appeared on The Food Network, KTLA Morning News, NBC’s syndicated television show “Daytime” The New York Times, The Times of London, The Washington Times, and more.

Le Petit Biscuit is at 1009 East Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, CA. (626) 765-9333. www.FoodMarketGypsy.com.