The weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve are, by far, the most difficult time of the year for even the healthiest eaters among us to stay on that “healthy-eating wagon.” However, with an abundance of delectable and enticing locally made sweet treats to choose from, we can give ourselves permission to indulge a little in the chocolates, pastries, cakes, breads and cookies that only come around once a year.

Several years ago, when Mary’s Candy Shop closed, Ella Magee’s aunt was left without her chocolate-covered cherries. Magee began making them, as a gift to her aunt, and Ella’s Candy was born.

Magee wraps a fresh cherry in a confection made with sweetened milk and confectioner’s sugar. Then, she dips the entire thing in the finest chocolate available.

Although Ella’s Candy’s logo is a chocolate-covered cherry, Magee’s repertoire includes rich and decadent chocolate treats such as the creamy caramel encased in chocolate, coconut creams in rich, dark chocolate, cashew clusters, toffee and almond bark and peanut butter ball surprise with a chocolate surprise in the middle. Her signature piece, “Nonparella,” is a delicate, tiny, dark chocolate drop topped with sweet and crunchy nonpareils.

Ella’s Candy is made locally, at 70 Tampa Street in Lewiston, individually, by hand and to order, ensuring both freshness and deliciousness. Ella’s doesn’t need much notice, just a couple hours. Ella’s can ship anywhere in the U.S., and will even deliver locally.

For those whose idea of a sweet treat leans more toward the land of pastries, the Italian Bakery’s cannoli will more than satisfy. The Italian Bakery, on Bartlett Street in Lewiston, opened in the 1960s and began making cannoli in the 1970s. “At that time few people around here were familiar with them, but now I believe that most people know what a cannoli is,” said Lisa Chouinard, daughter of Frank Chiaravelotti who founded The Italian Bakery. Chouinard has worked there for 33 years “not counting the years I spent ‘play-working,’” she said with a laugh.

The Italian Bakery also offers petite pastry platters and frosted sugar cookies, as well as many other festive treats to “satisfy many different tastes.”

Like the Italian Bakery, Grant’s Bakery on Sabattus Street has been a local, family-owned and operated, Lewiston landmark since 1956. According to Doug Grant, “We are an old-fashioned bakery … what we do is still done by hand, start to finish.”

For a special holiday treat, Grant’s recommends the popular “Buche de Noel,” or yule log. Grant’s makes three different types of yule log. “We make the chocolate sponge cake with a white creme filling or a white sponge cake with either a white creme or raspberry jelly filling,” said Grant. The customer can choose from either white or chocolate frosting, “with chocolate being the most traditional. We frost the ends with a swirl of maple frosting,” like the rings of a tree. In addition to being a moist, sweet and creamy cake, a yule log makes a festive table decoration for any party.

Grant’s Bakery also makes other cakes and pies, as well as petite pastries, a local favorite, and Christmas cupcakes.

For someone craving sweet bread, The Bread Shack, on Center Street in Auburn, includes “stollen” on its menu of offerings this year. According to Dara Reimers, proprietress of The Break Shack, “Stollen is a German sweet bread with almonds and dried fruits [including] raisins and citron which we soak in rum. For the holidays we add a strip of marzipan in the center.”

Earlier in her career, Reimers worked with a German baker in Vancouver, Canada. It was there that she learned the recipe for making both stollen and fruitcake from scratch. When you are “using only the best quality ingredients and no shortcuts, the final product is exceptional and moving,” explained Reimers, and is nothing like the typical fruitcake that you might find during the holidays.

Rich and sweet, “Stollen is great anytime of day [and] is wonderful with a cup of tea.” In addition to stollen, The Bread Shack offers a wonderful assortment of artisan breads and pastries, as well as mini tarts, cookies, breakfast pastries, coffee and sandwiches served every day.

For those on a more restricted diet, Square Root Natural Foods, in Poland, carries a line of gluten-free cookies and pastries. Emmy Anderson, of Square Root, recommends “the gluten-free and dairy-free Chocolate Rugelach that we carry … they are delicious!”

Square Root Natural Foods also carries “farm-baked pies from Lilliepapa Farm in West Paris, as well as nisu bread, coffee cake, cranberry celebration bread, cupcakes and toffee from this wonderful farm.” Many of these products are made with organic whole-wheat flour and local ingredients, and are without chemical preservatives.

Other selections at Square Root include a variety of dark chocolates, gluten-free raspberry bars, whoopee pies, pumpkin whoopee pies, double chocolate cheesecake brownies, vegan cookies and vegetarian cheesecake.

For your holiday table, Square Root recommends their own “home-baked Apple Crisp made with gluten-free oats and flours, local honey, maple syrup or agave nectar, cinnamon, local and/or ORG apples, local or organic butter, and love.”

Give yourself permission to indulge a little this holiday season, and sample some of the best sweet treats that the Lewiston-Auburn area has to offer. After all, isn’t that what new year resolutions are for?

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