December 2010
Gloucester Times
When Hallie Baker opened Turtle Alley 11 years ago, she had no money for marketing and promotion. She didn't need any. Without so much as a plan, a flyer, a coupon or an online link, Gloucester's fledgling "chocolatier" got the kind of marketing and publicity money and Madison Avenue just can't buy.
"One day, soon after we opened," Baker says nonchalantly, "Jane and Michael Stern walked in off the street, and next thing you know, we were a new destination on the American chocolate lover's road map."
January 2006
Inspirations
Chocolatier Hallie Baker makes the tantalizing trilogy of nuts, chocolate, and caramel known as turtles in her Gloucester store, aptly named Turtle Alley. "Every ingredient has to be perfect," she says. That means soft caramel, which has more flavor than the dentistry-inducing hard variety; fresh almonds, cashews, pecans, or macadamia nuts; and high quality chocolate - milk, dark, or white. "My parents counseled me to work with food," says Baker, who trained as an artist. "They said it'd be the only way I'd eat." While Baker also creates truffles, fudge, barks, and other treats, her favorite are her fat turtles, occasionally enlivened with a dollop of chipotle sauce or cranberries. "Life is short," says Baker. "Sin a little."
June 2005
The Boston Globe
"Gloucester kids have a nickname for Hallie Baker, the cheery proprietor of Turtle Alley. "They call me Turtle Hallie", says the aptly-named Baker as she deftly dowses a row of cashew-studded caramel discs with tempered dark chocolate to make her popular turtles. The chocolate maker offers other more exotic products such as mocha bean bark and chocolate dipped ginger, but none has received the attention showered on her fat little reptiles. Dissect a dark cashew critter and you will realize that the thick shell is velvety smooth, the caramel center soft and buttery, the nuts crisp and salty. Baker's turtles are made in small batches. "Anything that hangs around is going to change in flavor and texture, so I make sure my turtles don't hang around. In fact, they fly out of here."
June 2005
The Food Network's "ROKER on the ROAD"
"Hallie Baker is dipping, dunking, and drizzling chocolate over anything she can get her hands on! " "Milk and Cookies" episode.
January 2005
Phantom Gourmet
"True candy junkies trek to Turtle Alley for the fudgiest fudge, creamiest caramels, and richest truffles. But it's their sinful namesake signature that satisfies Phantom's candy cravings. The formula of imported nuts, brown sugar caramel, and buttery chocolate is simple, but the execution takes many mouth watering turns. There's dark chocolate with almonds, Classic Milk with cashews, Winter White with macadamias, and any variation thereof. If they don't do the trick, there's always Hallie's Bark, brittles, clusters, and peanut butter cups. "
July 2002
Gourmet Magazine
"--- To step into Turtle Alley is to enter a school of terrapin eccentricity. Marshaled on shelves like an army of irregulars are Baker's highly individualistic creations--smooth-topped, knobby rounds of dark, white, or milk chocolate bristling with pecans, almonds, cashews, or macadamias. And while pecans are the traditional nut for these triple-bite-size treats, Baker prefers cashews because when they poke from their chocolate shell, they most resemble flippers."
June 2002
ROADFOOD, Reviewers Ratings
Visit Again: 100%
Food: 100%
Atmosphere: 100%
Miles Worth Driving: 100 Miles
Turtles are just some of many things available in this joyous candy land. The shelves are lined with brittles and clusters and butter crunches, chocolate-coated candied fruits, nonpareils, and simple hunks of uncomplicated chocolate. The confectionery is fun to visit because Hallie Baker's pleasure at running it is contagious. She is the proverbial kid in a candy store, but in this case, grown up and doing exactly what she loves to do.
June 2001
Splendid Table
When Jane and Michael Stern went searching for chocolate turtles they found anatomically correct ones at Turtle Alley, a classic candy store in the classic fishing port of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Turtle Alley has a huge variety of sweets but it's the turtles that really catch the eye. They come in milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate, and with pecans, cashews, or macadamias.