New Lenox Mom’s Calling Is Chocolate

The Herald News:

For the first time in her life, Mary Ruane is experiencing the sweet smell of success.

She spends her days at Claire’s Candies, crafting rich and creamy peanut butter cups, gooey caramel clusters and a wide variety of specialty candies in shapes designed to celebrate holidays and special events.

If you need a piece of candy shaped like a beer mug for St. Patrick’s Day, Ruane can help you. If your kid’s Little League team needs a special treat, she has a chocolate mitt and ball in her lineup, too. Some of the most popular items are baby feet and pacifiers for baby showers and a hollow cake shape that can be filled with treats for a bride and groom’s big day.

Last week, Ruane took a big step: She moved her fledgling candy-making business out of her New Lenox home and into a small facility in the Broadhurst Building on Church Street.

“It was taking over the kitchen, the dining room and the basement,” she said of the business. “I’m happy to have my house back.”

The business, named after Ruane’s 9-year-old daughter, is not a retail store. But customers can order a wide variety of milk, dark and white chocolate creations online or by phone.

This is the first time in the 41-year-old’s life that she can say she really enjoys her job. So do her children, Claire and Owen, 7, and her husband Bill.