Social Candy

June 26, 2009

Today there are so many ways of keeping yourself, friends and family in the loop. Social networking is crazy. There’s Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, MyFace, LinkSpace, SpaceTube, YouTwitFace. What? Alright, so maybe I stole borrowed that last one from Conan O’Brien, but you get the point.

We get it, too. Here at The Candy Store we sort of caved in. For good reason, though. We did it for you. We thought about what could be a fun way for our customers to participate a little more and have a more interactive relationship with us. You read our blog (right now, in fact), became fans on Facebook (get over there if you haven’t yet), and can now follow us on Twitter (do it). You’ll find out what’s new at the store, what’s back in stock, what events are happening, and basically what the three of us are up to. Best of all, you’ll be notified of deals of the day that only Twitter folks will be aware of. Just come on in, tell us the deal of that day and it’s yours. Simple as that. So if for no other reason but to stay on top of things at The Candy Store and keep your sweet tooth happy, join us in the world of social networking.

- Liana

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Our 2nd Anniversary Party Pics

June 15, 2009

Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate – we had a great time!  

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The Candy Store Presents: Coconut & Hawaiian Salt Brittle

June 11, 2009

As many of you know, The Candy Store has started making candy of its own. We’re beginning with brittles, and moving on to homemade fudge and other tasty confections. Our first product is a brittle made with coconut flakes and Hawaiian pink salt – a great combination for all you salty and sweet fanatics out there. We’ve been selling it at the store for a few weeks now, and it has proven to be a hit.

We strive to use high quality ingredients and traditional methods in our candy-making. This brittle has only six components: sugar, glucose syrup, coconut flakes, pure vanilla, baking soda and Hawaiian pink salt. One interesting fact is that it contains no butter, so you vegans out there can enjoy it too. The same cannot be said for my buttery peanut brittle, however… look for that in the coming weeks.

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Fun With Fluff

June 7, 2009

People who don’t know about Marshmallow Fluff come into the store all the time and ask us what you can do with it other than eat it out of the jar with a spoon (not a bad place to start, by the way). There’s Fluffernutter sandwiches, of course, and then there’s the recipe for Never-Fail-Fudge on the back of every jar – but let’s say you’re looking to branch out. Well, here’s a recipe for you…

RICE PUDDING TOPPED WITH FLUFF MERINGUE

Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. In a saucepan, add the milk, rice, 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla bean (seeds and pod). Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Cook for approximately 25 minutes, until the rice is completely cooked through. Remove the vanilla bean.

Whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup sugar with the egg yolks. While whisking to prevent the eggs from curdling, add a little of the the hot milk and rice mixture, then pour it all back into the saucepan. Cook, stirring, until the mixture begins to thicken. Don’t overcook it – it will continue to set as it cools. Pour into a terrine or baking dish and let it cool down a little.

Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Add the Fluff, add a little more Fluff if you’d like – no one will mind. Continue to whisk the egg whites until they hold a stiff peak. Now you’ve got a delicious marshmallow meringue. Spread it over the rice pudding and bake the whole thing in a 375-degree oven until the meringue browns nicely – it shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes or so. Enjoy it warm or cold.

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These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things, Part Two: Italian Fondants

May 25, 2009

Confectioner Pietro Romanengo fu Stefano has been making artisanal candy for over 200 years. They have a small factory and two shops in Genoa, Italy – one of their stores has been open in the same location since 1814! It amazes me to think that these people have been making candy longer than our little city of San Francisco has been in existence. There is something to be said for experience, and when it comes to making candy the folks at Romanengo know what they’re doing. Their delicate, melt-in-your-mouth fondants, infused with fruit flavors, are one of our favorite new additions at the store.

– Brian

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These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things, Part one: Buckwheat & Goat’s Milk Caramels

May 23, 2009

The French know how to make really good caramels, and the newest addition to our caramel offerings is just that – really good. The creamy, tangy goat’s milk combined with the sweetness of cane sugar and nuttiness of buckwheat may sound weird, but for me it was love at first bite. Try one, and I think you’ll agree.

– Diane

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Macy’s Flower Show Pics

May 21, 2009

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Macy’s Flower Show and Easter Candy

March 29, 2009

It’s a really exciting time for the store! In just the past week, Diane was interviewed on “Dining Around With Gene Burns” on KGO radio (her 4th appearance) and was also quoted in an article about candy on the front page of the New York Times.

Also, Macy’s Union Square is about to kick off their 63rd Annual Flower Show, where The Candy Store has been selected as their spotlight boutique (they choose one small business per year). The boutique will be located in the middle of the main floor of Macy’s, where they are building out a scaled-down version of our Russian Hill store. In addition, one of their enormous display windows on Stockton Street will be devoted entirely to The Candy Store. It’s been a real pleasure working with Macy’s Visual Merchandising team - they are really going all out for us, replicating our store’s wall of jars and even creating custom wallpaper from our logo. We hope you’ll be able to come visit us - we’ll be there from April 3rd through the 19th. We’ll be selling some great Easter candy (Macy’s is offering a “build-a-basket” service) as well as many of our everyday store favorites.

Our Vallejo Street location will, of course, continue to be open its regular hours. Spring is such a fantastic time for candy, and we hope you’ll take full advantage of it. We just got in a new shipment of chocolates and other confections from Italy, as well as elegant boxes of Hazelnut Feuilletines made by local pastry chefs (Diane’s new fave). Another of our favorites is a selection of amazing truffles made especially for The Candy Store by Oakland’s Michael Mischer. And lastly, you won’t want to miss the abundance of Easter specialties we have in stock right now - everything from chocolate floppy-eared bunnies to candy-filled acrylic ducks to lovely boxes of Easter marzipan.

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Our Youngest Fan!

March 19, 2009

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Let’s Talk Chocolate

March 15, 2009

In the two years since we opened the store, we’ve become known for our wide selection of candy - especially old school confections and our an international selection of candy bars, gummies and licorice. One of the things that we don’t talk about as much is our selection of premium chocolates. Part of the reason for this, I suppose, is that we’re a little tired of all the attention the mainstream press devotes to expensive dark chocolate bars, its health benefits, etc. The topic has become one of those, like cult wines, cocktail lounges with unmarked entrances, and everything "green", that is so over-hyped that we’re reluctant to contribute to the word count.

That said, we do love chocolate at our store, and we’ve always been champions of small confectioners and artisanal methods of production. As you’d expect then, we have a great selection of premium chocolates at our store - in our humble opinion, the best selection in the city. And that’s not because it’s the largest. On the contrary, we feel that it is important to limit our products to those that we’ve personally tasted and determined to be our favorites - not just because we have a very small space (which we do), but because we believe it’s the job of a good retailer to select the very best products to offer to its customers. And this is not an easy task with chocolate. Perhaps because of all the hype, it seems like there is a new chocolatier popping up every week, each one with some new gimmick meant to attract the attention of an increasingly sophisticated chocolate consumer ("We give our cacao farmers weekly shiatsu massages, and package our chocolates in fine muslin made from the sweet smiles of underprivileged children.") The fact is, most of these chocolates are not very good - they’re made by people with little to no experience, questionable taste buds, and a naive business plan consisting of two steps - 1) Sell product to Whole Foods, 2) Retire.

I can tell you this about the chocolates we carry at our store: every single one of them tastes good. As a bonus, we’ve come to know many of the confectioners who make our products and have consistently been impressed by their experience and commitment to their craft - for these people, it’s all about the quality of their product. 

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