Brooks Candy

Some of the most popular San Francisco food tours are focused on chocolate… and for good reason – The City has a rich and decadent history with the confection! 

Few people realize just how far the connection between San Francisco and chocolate goes back.  Would you believe it dates all the way to 1848 and the first days of the California Gold Rush?

And, would you believe it’s all thanks to a chocolate lover who grew quite fond of his neighbor’s confections while living in Lima, Peru, and that the chocolate maker in Peru was originally from Italy and named Ghirardelli?  Would you believe truth really is stranger than fiction sometimes?

While the Ghirardelli name may be associated with timeshare promotions as much as with quality chocolate in 21^st century San Francisco, affection for the sweet in the infamous heart of the City by the Bay remains true.  There’s a “new kid on the block” now, however – TCHO – a chocolate maker that combines a love for the cacao bean with the wonders of technology. 

In a state-of-the-art facility located on San Francisco’s Pier 17 in the city’s historic Embarcadero waterfront district, TCHO has assembled The City’s only bean-to-bar chocolate factory and it is garnering rave reviews.  Martha Stewart Living did a blind tasting of dark chocolates in its February 2010 issue, for example, and named TCHO “the hands-down star.” 

And, get this:  you can visit the TCHO chocolate factory in San Francisco and enjoy a tour – complete with a tasting – for free!  Check out this video of the TCHO chocolate factory tour in San Francisco:

Wouldn’t it be great to to delight your children during the summer with homemade ice cream? It’s an incredible thrill to be able to pull out your bag of tricks and create a brand-new flavor that they’d never tried before. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never attempted to make ice cream in your home, you’ve got plenty of time on your hands. With a bit of practice and a good machine, you can become an expert by the time the summer sun makes its first appearance. The great thing about this hobby is you can be as fancy as you like or keep it down to the bare minimum. No matter which path you choose, you’ll end up with an absolutely delicious dessert that will have your kids screaming with joy.

One of the obstacles that gets in peoples way is a perceived difficulty in making homemade ice cream. It’s actually not as hard as you might think, and the process isn’t very involving. Your first stages might be a bit of a challenge but you’ll surprise yourself with how fast you can adapt. All it takes is a bit of experience before you learn the nuances of putting together the perfect custard. And you’ll see that most recipes are generally the same with simple additions of subtractions here and there. Once you understand the basic premise of what it takes to create a custard, you will be able to do it with your eyes closed.

The process of making custard usually involves blending milk with eggs and sugar. You’re going to cook it over a simmering heat without letting it boil. Then depending on what flavor you want, you’ll be adding things like chocolate, fresh fruit, or vanilla extract. And for more complicated flavors, there are things like mint leaves, marshmallows, and whipped cream at your disposal. It’s not hard to find recipes at all because all you have to do is look on the Internet and you’ll get hundreds of ideas. Other people will inspire you with their creativity and you can come up with flavors all on your own.

With the perfect product in your kitchen, you’ll have an ice cream maker that basically does the work for you. With your custard ready and properly refrigerated, all you have to do is pour the contents inside. Turn on the power and after several minutes you’ll have your final product which will taste absolutely great. You can eat it right out of the bowl as a soft serve ice cream or put it into the fridge to make it harder. Your kids will love to watch the process and pretty soon they’ll be getting in on the action with creative ideas of their own.

When it comes to southern food that falls into the desserts category, I think hubby’s favorite of my southern recipes is for brownies. The grandkids love my southern brownies, too! if you’re wondering what makes these brownies so “southern,” I’ll tell you. It’s because two of the ingredients used in the brownies are traditional products of the South. I’m talking about molasses and pecans.

I think the molasses gives the brownies an extra chewy-gooey texture, which is just what brownies should have. The pecans not only add flavor, but they also add some crunch and interest to the texture of the brownies.

Southern brownies recipe

What you’ll need:

8 x 8-inch baking dish or pan

Cooking spray with flour, like Baker’s Joy

Large mixing bowl

3/4 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/4 cup blackstrap molasses

3 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons melted butter        

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup Hershey’s cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the baking pan with cooking spray.

Add the sugar, egg, molasses, melted butter, and vanilla to the mixing bowl. Beat ingredients together until light and fluffy. Sift in flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder. Add salt. Blend all ingredients together, but be careful not to handle any more than is necessary. Stir in pecans.

Turn the brownie batter into the baking pan or dish. Bake for 25 minutes. When brownies have cooled slightly, cut into squares. I like to make nine squares because we like larger brownies, but you might prefer smaller brownies.

Carefully remove brownie squares from pan or dish with a spatula. For a super decadent dessert, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of each brownie and drizzle with chocolate syrup. Add some whipped cream and top with a maraschino cherry, more chopped nuts, and/or some chocolate shavings or sprinkles.

Caramel corn is a sweet cold weather treat that is fairly simple to make. A mixture of plain popcorn coated with caramel, it becomes even better when a salty snack, such as pretzel nibs or salted peanuts, are added as a contrast to the caramel candy’s sweetness.

Cracker Jack was the first highly successful caramel corn product on the market. It came about when two German immigrant brothers decided to find a way to combine their popcorn and candy businesses. They first tried coating popcorn with straight molasses, but it didn’t go over so well with the public. At the first World’s Fair in 1893, they had refined their creation, coming up with a molasses-based mixture that hardened after coating the popcorn and peanuts. Cracker Jack was a hit.

In 1910, they began adding coupons to each box of Cracker Jack that could be redeemed for prizes. This became unmanageable, and in 1912 they began adding miniature toys to the boxes of candy as they still do to this day.

Making caramel corn from scratch is as easy as making shortbread cookies. Start with fresh popcorn — air-popped if possible. Bring a mixture of brown sugar, light corn syrup, salt and butter to a boil, and allow it to boil for five minutes. Remove it from the heat and immediately add in some baking soda and vanilla.

Coat the popcorn (and any other ingredients) with the mixture, and spread it out onto lipped baking sheets. Bake the caramel corn in a preheated 250 degree oven for one to two hours, stirring the mixture every 15 minutes.

Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool. Break it into pieces and store in an airtight container.