clementines & marzipan chocolate bars

It's officially winter (as if the minus degree weather hadn't clued me in yet).

This pair is what officially keeps me happy and are pretty much the tastes of the season:

plus


There's nothing better than waking up on a chilly winter morning and eating a few sweet clementines.

A little bit 'o history about these plump sweet orange beauties:

"The origin of clementines is shrouded in mystery. Some attribute their discovery to father Clement, a monk in Algeria, who tending his mandarin garden in the orphanage of Misserghim, found a natural mutation. He nurtured the fruit tree and subsequently called it "clementino". Others, like Japanese botanist Tanaka, believe that clementines must have originated in Asia and found their way through human migration to the Mediterranean. Whatever their origin, the fact is that clementines found their natural climate and soil in Spain, where they developed their particular aroma, sweetness and taste. Commercial production of clementines began in Spain in 1925. Today there are 161,000 acres dedicated to the cultivation of clementines." from Produce Pete