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Archive for Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Baldwin City couple’s chocolate pizza business sweetens with possibility of landing spot on TV shopping network QVC

Annette and Chris Cook, owners of Amore Chocolate Pizza Company, have been getting national attention for their dessert creations. The Baldwin City couple packages thick slabs of chocolate on a crust, covered with toppings, in boxes that look like they would contain frozen pizzas.

By Terry Rombeck

May 9, 2007

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It started as a 4-H cooking project, then became a "good luck" gift for fellow cast members in area stage productions.

Now, Annette Cook is taking her signature chocolate pizzas to a new level.

"It's exciting to branch out and make it bigger," Cook says.

At first glance, the boxes from Amore Chocolate Pizza Company, owned by Cook and her husband, Chris, look like frozen pizza boxes. But further examination of their contents reveals a thick slab of chocolate on a crust, covered with toppings.

Annette Cook has been making the desserts for years, but only in the last year did she start making them to sell. They're available for purchase on the Internet (www.amorechocolatepizza.com), at Prairie Patches, 821 Mass., and at Quilters' Paradise, 713 Eighth St., in Baldwin City.

The Cooks, who live in Baldwin City, hope to have a new venue to sell their product soon. In March, they competed in the first round of a product search for QVC, the TV shopping network. Last week, they learned they were selected for the next round of competition, which involves making a shipment of the pizzas to QVC later this month.

Chris Cook says the goal is to use extra money from QVC sales to have their own production facility. Currently, they use their home and a church kitchen.

The allure of a chocolate pizza goes beyond that of a candy bar, Annette Cook says.

For example, the best-seller, the Toffeelicious, has a crust of graham crackers and toffee, a half-inch layer of milk chocolate, and toppings of white chocolate, pecans and more toffee. The 8-inch pizza sells for $16.95.

Other offerings include the Break-a-Leg, with marshmallows, peanuts, crispies, coconut and maraschino cherries, and the Smore, with the classic marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers.

"It's the combination of flavors, and the presentation," she says. "When you first look at it, you love the name, the pizza-style box - a bakery-style box with a pizza flair. It's pretty, and it smells good."

Chris Cook says the concoctions are hearty enough you can't stuff yourself.

"It's not the same as eating a chocolate bar," he says. "Neither one of us were big chocolate people before we did this. These are fairly satisfying, so you don't overeat it."

In addition to the chocolate pizzas, Amore Chocolate Pizza Company makes pretzels covered in chocolate and sunflower seeds, and "dirty spoons" - spoons covered in flavoring such as mint or butterscotch that can be used to flavor hot beverages.

Annette Cook says she's also working on a dark chocolate variety of pizza, as well as a sugar-free version.

She's already made 4,000 pizzas in her first year of business.

Annette Cook says the business is taking off more quickly than she would have imagined. But the sales that come in from as far away as Hawaii and Puerto Rico help to validate what her 11-year-old son, Willie, and his friends have thought for years.

"The children really like this," Cook says. "Willie, my son, is really popular. His friends come over and say, 'Do you have any chocolate pizza?'"