How Sweet It Is - Grayslake Toffee Off to the Emmys

The stirring, spreading and shaking was nearly continuous since the e-mail arrived late last Wednesday. in Grayslake, a local candy shop,was invited to submit a tasty treat to include in goodie bags given out during the Sports Emmys.

"At first, we thought it might not be legit," said Linda Scholz of Grayslake, owner of Uniquely Sweet and Something's Brewing. Once she and store manager Erin Miller of Gurnee found out the request was real, however, they got to work.

For the past five days, including Easter Sunday, Scholz, Miller and chocolatier Carrie Perrin of Round Lake Park started stirring and spreading and topping 200 pounds of their popular English toffee. It shipped out today.

They are including one-quarter pound of English toffee topped with milk chocolate and chopped pecans in golden gift bags. They will be included in the fancy schwag bags given to attendees at the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences 32nd Annual Sports Emmy® Awards. The event features more than 150 nominees in 33 categories. It will be held May 2 in New York City.

This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Sports will go to legendary sports broadcaster Al Michaels.

Nothing but the best would do for such an impressive occassion.

"We had to go with our English toffee for the goodie bags," Scholz said. "It is just  the best."

Uniquely Sweet, 888 E. Belvidere Road, Unit 106, in Grayslake, offers a wide selection of candy including 14 types of toffee. Flavors include buttercrunch, toasted coconut, lemon cookie and chocolate passion.

Grayslake photographer and marketing specialist Leslie Lipps helped design the business card that will serve as a gift tag for the toffee. It reads: Prepare yourself. Inside this bag lies some of the finest decadent pleasures you could ever indulge in...Unique Sweet's English Toffee.

The staff at Uniquely Sweet are chocolatiers, the card says, "saving the world one bite at a time."

Perrin kept stirring the the toffee base in a copper pot, making more and more toffee. Then she spread it out on a marble table, sliced it into strips and transfered it to a pan. Finally, she or Miller spread the toffee with melted milk chocolate and sprinkled it with chopped pecans.

"I'm surprised we got as much done as we did," said Miller. "We just kept making more toffee."

Uniquely Sweet is a hidden treasure on Route 120. They make sweets of all sorts, including candy trays, custom gift baskets, personalized chocolates, wedding favors, goodie bags, party favors, corporate gift baskets and more. They also make homemade peanut butter that has become very popular.

The candy store also allows others to become chocolatiers through their Uniquely Sweet parties. They are tailored for birthday parties, scout troops, school outings, mom and tot groups, girls nights outs and corporate parties.

For more information, visit www.uniquelysweet.com.