Murder on The Bunny Trail 4

Law & Order - SBU (Special Bunny Unit)

It’s execution day and Jack “The Ripper” Rabbit will come to his demise. The cement floor feels cold against the bottoms of Jack’s feet as he’s escorted down to the chamber of no return. With every step he takes, he can feel the rising temperature of the heat emanating from the execution chamber.

Murder on the Bunny Trail 3

Law & Order - SBU (Special Bunny Unit)

The swishing of a large black robe reverberates throughout the silent courtroom. “All rise. The Court of Second Judicial Circuit, Homicide Division, is now in session. The Honorable Judge Cottontail now presiding on the case of Jack Hoplin v. Easter Village”.

Murder on the Bunny Trail 2

Law & Order - SBU (Special Bunny Unit)

DeNiro affected many families with his gang affiliations and naturally gained a warren of enemies. With suspicions of revenge on his mind, Hasselhop started his investigation with the families who had lost loved ones to the gang.

Murder on the Bunny Trail 1

Law & Order- SBU (Special Bunny Unit)

One Sunday afternoon in Easter Village, a ruckus occurs in an otherwise peaceful town. Continue reading to find out what situation the SBU have burrowed their way into.

Alfajores: What Is It?

Come Try Our Newest Pastry!

We have recently added alfajores as part of our pastry lineup, and we are hooked!

Alfajores (al-fa-ho-res) are commonly made with a combination of rich dulce de leche (a soft, milk caramel-like filling), two buttery pecan shortbreads, and a gentle coating of powdered sugar. Everything is assembled into a delicious, crumbly sandwich cookie that is simply irresistible! Popular in South America, the alfajor is the perfect treat to satisfy any sweet tooth. This Latin American dessert has origins that trace back to the Moorish occupation of Andalusia, Spain with some culinary experts noting its similarity to other confections common throughout North Africa and the Middle East. From Spain, alfajores were introduced to South America where its popularity grew. As these beloved cookies spread throughout different regions of the continent, the initial Spanish recipe changed, and the alfajor transformed into the unique South American regional varieties found today with many claiming their version of the alfajor as the original.

Today, alfajores are still popular in Spain and commonly eaten around Christmas, but are distinct from the South American varieties which are often available year-round. Although alfajores are commonly made with dulce de leche and powdered sugar, they can be made with other fillings, such as jam and ganache, and are sometimes dipped in chocolate or rolled in coconut among other popular coatings.

With several ways to make alfajores, the recipe we use at Charles Chocolates continues the journey of the traditional alfajor that you know and love. You can find this special South American treat, handmade by our kitchen team and put together with care, at our shop in San Francisco, CA. Watch us make alfajores and our other chocolate creations from 11AM – 7PM at 535 Florida Street. Stop by or find us on social media, and let us know what you think about our newest addition!

Credit: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/05/alfajores-cookie-the-best_n_6614242.html

For This Update, Pictures.

Here’s a sneak peek of our kitchen/store before construction and what it looks like now.

Start Your Holiday Shopping with Stella & Dot and Charles Chocolates

Not sure what to get? Stylist Sandy Sloan will help you discover the pieces to accessorize your new fall wardrobe or to update your holiday attire.   All pieces arrive beautifully boxed and ready for gift-giving, so get out your holiday list and see who’s been naughty or nice.   Surprise your loved one, granddaughter or best friend with what fashion editors are calling ‘Style for a Steal’.

Stella & Dot has been featured multiple times in magazines like InStyle, Lucky, and Real Simple, but isn’t available at retail stores. Come join in the fun and see what beautiful things we have to offer. Please feel free to bring friends. Your treats await!

Chucks Chronicles - September

With everything going on these days—working on developing a bunch of great new recipes and finding ways to make our website even easier to use—I let our 6th birthday pass almost completely unnoticed.

I’ve spent the last couple of days trying to figure out both a fun way to celebrate, and also a way to share something special with all of you. As I mentioned above, I have been working on some new recipes that we will feature later this year when our new flagship store opens. I have decided to share a new treat each month until we open on the 4th floor. They will be available only through our website and in our San Francisco store, and only for a very limited time (7 days from the date of this post).

Our new store will feature not only our confections, bars and treats, but freshly baked goods and homemade ice cream. That is why our first special is something you haven’t seen from us before: the walnut brownie!

This is a brownie recipe that I created over 20 years ago and it has been a favorite of friends and family ever since. I have never been a huge fan of cakey brownies so these are rich, moist and really fudgy. They are filled with fresh toasted walnuts—and lots of them. While we don’t have final pricing for our flagship store and kitchen, I can assure you that this is an amazing deal at $9.50 per package of four.

Finally, the holidays are almost here. Please let us know if we can help you with your personal or corporate gifting this year.

Enjoy,

Chuck Siegel

Founder, Charles Chocolates

Making Peanut Butterflies Out of Marmalade

The story behind our peanut butterflies is unique in that it ushered forth two different types of truffles: the peanut butterfly itself and our two yankees and our two marmalades.

Chuck’s all time favorite companion for chocolate is peanut butter and so he began to experiment with creating his own peanut butter truffles. But try as he might, he was never able to achieve a unique flavor, everything just tasted the same and like could already already find on the market. As it happened, one day a friend was visiting Chuck and saw his sheer frustration in trying to create a truly amazing peanut butter truffle and suggested he set that project aside and try something else, to clear his mind. This friend pulled a jar of marmalade from the pantry and suggested Chuck try this in truffles. Always up for a challenge, Chuck toyed around with this ingredient and eventually created our Yankee truffle, named after the person that helped bring it to life. This is also the reason why we sell our own marmalade: we create the marmalades ourselves to go into the Yankee and sell the rest!

It was this break in concentration that Chuck needed as he came back to his peanut butter truffle with a fresh perspective. It was one week later that he was making gianduia, a mixture of finely ground paste made of hazelnuts and chocolate. The thought struck him to replace the hazelnuts with candied peanuts and to use this praline (candied nuts ground to a fine paste) instead of peanut butter for his truffles. Sure enough it worked and ended up giving our peanut butterflies that extra kick they needed.

Stranahan Whiskey Truffles

Last year Chuck met a wonderful chef turned writer named Georgia Pellegrini.  After spending a few hours with her in the kitchen making bourbon truffles and a deep-dish bourbon pecan pie, he eagerly followed her blog posts that tracked her travels around the world meeting and interviewing artisan food producers for her just released book, Food Heroes.

The bourbon pecan pie recipe follows the chapter on Jess Graber and Stranahan’s, the maker of a small batch Colorado whiskey.

For a party/benefit for Georgia’s new book, he created a batch of truffles using Stranahan’s amazing whiskey.  Hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Ingredients:
3.5 oz (100 g) heavy cream
0.5 oz (15 g) light corn syrup
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
5.3 oz (150 g) 64% bittersweet chocolate (like Valrhona Manjari)
3.5 oz (100 g) milk chocolate
1.8 oz (50 g) Stranahan’s Whiskey

Directions:
1. Chop the chocolates and place in a metal bowl
2. Heat heavy cream, light corn syrup and the seeds from the vanilla bean just to a boil
3. Pour the cream mixture over chocolate, let sit for 5 minutes and blend together
4. Add whiskey and blend
5. Cool to 87 degrees and pipe small balls of ganache on a silpat or parchment lined pan and let cure/harden
6. Coat with chocolate or roll in cocoa powder to finish