Sweet Mona’s Chocolates in Langley has treats for every taste
LANGLEY — Nutty. Soft. Warm. Cold. Creamy.
Sweet Mona Chocolates offers treats for every taste.
About 300 varieties of artisanal candy fill the bright yellow shop at 221 Second St. in Langley.
“I never dreamed of becoming a chocolatier,” said founder Mona Newbauer.
Today, decades later, she can’t imagine not being stained with chocolate.
Her customers cannot imagine life without Sweet Mona’s creations.
Mona Newbauer fills peace sign molds with chocolate at her shop Sweet Mona’s Chocolates on March 21, 2024 in Langley. (Annie Barker/The Herald)
Sweet Mona’s chocolate-coated caramels are a commercial success. The caramel is stirred in a copper pan.
Can’t make it to the Whidbey Island candy store? Boxes of caramels are available online ($30 for 12) and at SeaTac Airport.
“My mother never let me play in the dirt as a kid, so now I can get as dirty as I want with chocolate,” said Newbauer, 63.
That day, she was melting chocolate to pour it into molds shaped like slugs, those slimy garden pests.
Here, the slugs are real chocolatey delights.
“What’s more natural in the Pacific Northwest than a few slugs?” Newbauer said. “It all started with Mystery Weekend. They had a slug in their mystery and asked me if I could do that.”
There’s not much she can’t make, from white chocolate whales to peanut butter mice. The lollipops are shaped like sunflowers and daisies.
Chocolate whales are on display inside Sweet Mona chocolates. (Annie Barker/The Herald)
In the display case are trays of marshmallows, haystacks, marzipan and fondant cookies. Truffle fillings include chili-cinnamon, pomegranate-strawberry, three berries and ginger.
Hand-wrapped caramels come in licorice and lavender flavors. Cookies, bars and chips are packaged to go.
The coffee and ice cream bars offer hot and cold choices.
Can’t decide?
Order an affogato, ice cream washed down with hot espresso.
Mona Newbauer serves ice cream as a child looks inside her shop Sweet Mona’s Chocolates. (Annie Barker/The Herald)
Newbauer opened the first Sweet Mona’s in 2006 in what is now Langley Kitchen. Eight years later, she moved to a larger space across the street. She painted the new location yellow because, she says, it’s a happy color.
The path leading to the store is dotted with plants and flowers. In front are orange Adirondack chairs and café tables. The lettering on the window reads: “You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy chocolate!”
“The smell of a candy shop is a first-rate aroma. Maybe second only to that of a bakery,” said Ben Watanabe, a former journalist on the island. “It was always fascinating to watch them prepare the treats in the shop and to see a crowd of people in the store on a busy summer day.”
The village of Langley is a dessert destination.
On the town square are Sprinklz ice cream parlor and cafe and Whidbey Pies. Ultra House ramen restaurant offers Japanese snacks. The Clyde Theatre offers canned candy and hot popcorn.
Why not try them all?
Peanut butter cups are displayed inside Sweet Mona chocolates. (Annie Barker/The Herald)
Newbauer worked in offices before chocolate changed her life, with her husband, Tony, a willing accomplice.
“We were talking about chocolate one weekend,” she says. “My oldest son worked at a bakery and told the manager I wanted to make truffles for the bakery. He came home all excited. I was like, ‘What?’ I didn’t know what a truffle was.”
Things got better.
“I did some research on the internet and thought of a truffle as a cookie recipe,” she said. “I’ve always been open to chance and serendipity.”
Initially, she met the chocolate distributor on the side of the road. “He opened his trunk and I opened my wallet and gave him money,” she said.
She took online courses at the École Chocolat in Vancouver, BC, and joined professional organizations to hone her craft.
“I bought my first cookbook for $5 from a candy company in Chicago that had closed and was inherited by my kids,” she said.
At first, she cooked in a commercial kitchen and sold truffles at farmers markets, adding nougatines and caramel to her candy chest when she found a good deal on used equipment.
His caramel candies took off.
“Initially, we laid the caramel on a marble table between metal rulers and cut it with a pizza cutter,” she explains. “After partnering with Seattle Chocolate Company to sell Sweet Mona’s chocolate caramels under their brand, our company was forced to expand to meet demand and change some processes.”
Mona Newbauer pours caramel into a machine inside her Sweet Mona’s Chocolates store on March 21, 2024 in Langley. (Annie Barker/The Herald)
It uses dark chocolate from Ecuador and milk chocolate from Venezuela.
“Tempering chocolate is like tempering steel,” she explains. “You get it to a point where it’s malleable so you can work with it.”
It’s not just about tweaking recipes and playing with chocolate.
“You have to know how to manage the accounts and repair all the equipment you buy, do a little marketing, manage people,” she explains. The store employs six people.
Tourists wander around there and become loyal customers.
Belinda Cheah and Jonathan Perkins, a couple from Redmond, are regulars. She likes the nutty chocolates. Her husband likes the creams.
They come to Langley to take their dog to the vet every quarter and to stock up at Sweet Mona’s.
“We’re always driving by. We buy them for our friends and neighbors,” she said. “People ask, ‘Why do you have a vet in Langley?’”
Answer: “The vet is good and the chocolate is good.”
Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.
Other cool places in Langley
Sprinklz Ice Cream Parlor and Cafe, 224 First St.; sprinklz-icecream.com
Whidbey Pies Shop, 111 Anthes Ave.; whidbeypies.com/pie-shop
Ultra House, 221 Second St., #9A; ultrahouse.us
The Clyde Theatre, 217 First St.; theclyde.net
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