It's no secret that the Bay Area has a bounty of food artisans and purveyors. But did you know that we also have no shortage of innovative premium chocolatiers? From small shops like Sôcôla, Chocolatier Blue and Coco Delice to larger and more established San Francisco companies like Recchiuti and Charles Chocolates; the Bay Area abounds with locally-made, hand-crafted truffles and chocolates for every taste and preference.

It's not surprising that our home-grown chocolate shops all seem to use the highest quality ingredients, with many utilizing organic local creams and butters alongside fruits and nuts purchased from nearby farmers. And, as all truffles should be, these confections are also made with trained and sure hands, often artistically sculpted or topped with elegant etchings. Overall, the chocolates and truffles produced locally use the finest ingredients, are superbly made and are lovely to look at.

So if you're shopping for a little chocolate indulgence this holiday season, keep it local. You won't be disappointed.

Following are my top-ten picks for local holiday chocolates.

Photo credit: Emiko Taki

Sôcôla
And if you're in the mood for some familial holiday warmth this season, Sôcôla offers a hearty dose. Susan and Wendy Lieu are two charismatic local sisters who live and breath chocolate. And just to keep their product really local, these sisters purposely use other Bay Area family-owned products to make each handmade truffle, including organic Strauss Family Creamery products and E. Guittard chocolate.

This holiday season Sôcôla is showcasing four special treats in their By the Fireside Holiday 2010 collection:

• Chai Baba Chai -- an exotic blend of Assam tea with cardamom, cloves, black peppercorn and cinnamon
• Hazelnut Praline -- sort of a refined Nutella
• Hot in Hia -- a delicate champagne truffle made in honor of the Lieu sisters' grandmother Hia
• Pumpkin Burnt Caramel -- a blend of holiday pumpkin pie spices, burnt caramel, Hawaiian sea salt and a splash of brandy

You can buy Sôcôla online or at various locations, including:
San Francisco: Bi-Rite Market; Whole Foods Potrero Hills and SOMA;
East Bay: The Pasta Shop; Market Hall

Coco Délice Fine Chocolates
If you're in the mood for a truly French-style traditional truffle -– chocolate filled with ganache that is hand-rolled and finished with cocoa powder -– you'll want to seek out Coco Délice. In addition to making extraordinary chocolate, this Emeryville company also works to find a balance between business and environmental conservation. Dedicated to using local ingredients, Coco Délice uses fruit and nuts from Bay Area farmers in their ganaches, cream from Berkeley Farms, and wine from the Sonoma Valley in their Wine & Spirits collection.

I spoke with Chef Dennis, who says his favorite holiday treats this year are:

• Bittersweet Cognac and Bourbon Pecan Truffles
• Peppermint Bark -- made with dark and white chocolate, peppermint oil, candy and cocoa (which is sold exclusively at Andronico's Market)
• The Holiday Cube assorted gift box that contains hand-rolled truffles, caramelized chocolate covered almonds, and set of dark chocolate disks with cocoa nubs

Coco Délice can be purchased online or at various Bay Area locations, including many Whole Foods and Andronico's stores.

TCHO
TCHO is making its own batch of high-quality chocolates this year. Always fair trade and always first-rate, TCHO offers various holiday gifts for the obsessive chocolate lover and/or baker in your life. A few holiday offerings are:

• Holiday gift boxes wrapped in designs by Dutch graphic artist Max Kisman
• Hot and Cold Drinking Chocolate -- which is made to be prepared as a thick and luscious European-style drink
• TCHO-a-Day -- a no-nonsense container filled with lovely little chocolate bars

TCHO is available for purchase online, at their factory store in San Francisco (where you can also take a tour), and at various Bay Area locations including: Berkeley Bowl, Bi-Rite Market, various Whole Foods and Real Foods.

Recchiuti Confections
One of my longtime favorite chocolate companies, I have always relied on Recchiuti during the holiday season. The elegant etchings and drawings on their truffles are the first clue to how exquisite these confections really are. Yet as often happens with a favorite restaurant, I think I've gotten stuck in a rut with their truffle menu. So instead of getting my tried and true Fleur de Sel Caramels or Peanut Butter Pucks this year, I think I'll try some of their seasonal selections:

• Caramels to the Third Power -- salted caramel, butterscotch salted caramel, and chocolate caramel
• Peppermint Thins -- a spin-off of Junior Mints, these peppermint thins are made with organic peppermint leaves from the Willamette valley and peppermint oil
• Pairing Boxes (four types of chocolates created specifically to pair with with whiskey, wine, beer and spirits for your holiday celebrations

Recchiuti is available for purchase online, at their Ferry Building store, and at various Bay Area locations including:
Andronico's, Draeger's, Bi-Rite Market, Rainbow Grocery, and Village Market in Oakland.

Chocolatier Blue
Trained in the intricacies of French chocolate making, Chris Blue is dedicated to making French-inspired chocolate truffles at a local level. With an emphasis on classical truffle-making, Chocolatier Blue uses Domori and Amedei chocolate, Five-Star organic butter, and seasonal fruits from the Berkeley Farmer's Market.

Chris Blue has come up with a few holiday flavors this year using various flavors, including gingerbread; sugar cookie; eggnog; rum-soaked currents; and holiday spices.

You can purchase Chocolatier Blue truffles online, at their stores in Berkeley and Mill Valley, or at Palio D’Asti in San Francisco.

Michael Mischer Chocolates
I have a soft spot in my heart for Michael Mischer Chocolates as my family and I like to walk there on hot summer nights for cups of Mr. Mischer's creamy gelato. My husband also usually places a few truffles from this Oakland store in my stocking each Christmas (and I end up eating at least one as part of my holiday breakfast). Made with single-origin chocolate of Grand Cru quality from Venezuela or Ecuador, these truffles have an elegant chocolate taste that if full of nuance. Each is also hand sculpted so they are quite pretty.

In addition to its full range of truffles, Michael Mischer Chocolates is also offering three holiday flavors:

• Gingerbread Caramel -- made with a spice blend that tastes like a gingerbread cookie
• Advocaat -- made with a Dutch egg liqueur
• Mint Marshmallow -- filled with a homemade marshmallow flavored with mint oil

You can purchase Michael Mischer Chocolates at Mr. Mischer's store on Grand Avenue in Oakland, at Cocoa Bella, Fog City News, or Bi-Rite Market. You can also purchase directly through emailing the company (through their web site) or calling the store directly.

Charles Chocolates
A long-time local favorite, Chuck (Charles) Siegel has been making local truffles in San Francisco since 1987. Beautifully crafted, with both sculpted shapes and etched drawings, Charles Chocolates offers various assortments and selections that are perfect for a holiday gift.

This year Charles Chocolates is offering a:

• Winter Collection Collection -- Fleur de Sel Caramels with images of snowflakes and raindrops decorating the top of each
• Holiday Collection Edible Chocolate Box -- an assortment of their most popular confections set in an edible chocolate box

You can purchase Charles Chocolates online, at their flagship Westfield Shopping Center store, and at various Whole Foods locations.

The Xocolate Bar
Located in North Berkeley, Xocolate Bar creates both classic and vegan artisanal chocolates amd truffles using organic, seasonal and local ingredients whenever possible. With new flavors presented weekly, they make sure that at least half their selection is vegan.

Some holiday flavors include:

• Gingerbread Truffle -- made with black currents
• The Salted Chile Makeout Truffle -- made with chai and maca root (an aphrodisiac)
• The Tamarind Mango Agave -– their most popular vegan option

The Xocolate Bar is also offering a Community Supported Chocolate program where can sign up to pick up a monthly box of handmade chocolates at a designated neighborhood location. Each box will contain handmade chocolates made with seasonal, sustainable and/or organic ingredients.

You can purchase Xocolate Bar confections at their store in North Berkeley, or on their site through Foodoro.

Barolovento Chocolates
Peter Bryden started making chocolates after tasting the dried cherry of his dreams from Smit Ranch. He imagined the moist plump fruit encased in chocolate and it was so good, he started Barolovento Chocolates to sell them. Barolovento now sells many different types of chocolates using single-source Venezuelan chocolate at Bay Area farmers' markets. This holiday season Peter has a few specialty items available in addition to his normal selection of shaped chocolates and truffles.

• Chocolate-covered Almonds (from EGB farms, these are panned in chocolate for even coating and sold in tubes)
• Holiday truffles (flavors include gingerbread, Fresh Mint (made by infusing cream with fresh spearmint)
• Meyer Lemon Zest truffles (which are created using fresh local Meyer lemons); and Kirsch Liqueur truffles.

Barolovento Chocolates accepts email and phone orders by calling (510) 238-8787. You can also purchase their chocolates at the following farmers' markets: Marin Civic Center, Grand Lake in Oakland, and Palo Alto. The Pasta Shop in Rockridge and Berkeley also sells their fleur de sel caramels and small logo bars with sea salt.

Because Christmas falls on a Saturday this year, Barolovento Chocolates is opening their kitchen for sales December 20 - 24 from 9am-4pm. Stop by at 638 2nd street Oakland to pick up some holiday treats.

Alegio
Located in Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto, Alegio makes classic French truffles and chocolates. Panos Panagos, a very charming Frenchman, and Robbin Everson, the talented chef, work together to bring hand-crafted truffles made on site to their little neck of the Bay Area. Alegio also sells truffles by Enric Rovira's and Claudio Corallo. Vegan and organic confections are available and all chocolate used is fair trade.

A few truffles worth checking out for the holiday season are the:

• Sea Salt Caramel Truffle -- a consistent best seller
• Habanera -- which has won a few awards
• Grapefruit Caramel

Alegio chocolates can be purchased online or at their store at 1511 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley

Furthur playing at the Lands End Stage Saturday evening

The Outside Lands festival that took place in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park August 14th and 15th was dedicated to integrating local food, wine, music, and art to create two days of entertainment, indulgence and education.

A Taste of the Bay Area, Wine Lands and Eco Lands provided festival goers with the opportunity to experience quality food from Bay Area restaurants, California wines from some obscure local wineries, and lessons on urban farming and sustainability...all in between music sets that took place on four separate stages.

The area now known as Golden Gate Park used to be referred to as the "Outside Lands" back in the Gold Rush era, "a great sand waste" that was not legally part of the city of San Francisco until 1866. By 1860 the park had been transformed into a recreational space for citizens to enjoy. This festival reclaims the name and celebrates the social value that the park environment contributes to life in an urban area.

This slideshow features some of the festivities from Saturday August 14th.

Cupid's arrows hit Bernal Heights hard this week. Along Cortland Avenue, every storefront from the card store to the cafe to the taqueria is emblazoned with huge red and pink hearts and flowers. What's so romantic about a quesadilla or a double nonfat mocha with whip? Well, anything's romantic when you're sharing it with your honey. Or maybe Bernal just loves window dressing.

Still, the holiday is nearly upon us, and if you've got a sweetheart, you're probably wondering, with eagerness or dread, what to do about it. Personally, I don't ascribe to the fancy-jewelry, table-for-two view of Feb. 14. If you asked me to name my most romantic gifts or moments I've had, I'd remember the poem by Sappho an old girlfriend inscribed for me in gold ink on pink rose petals, one word per petal. Or being picked up from work on Valentine's Day by another date, who whisked me across the Golden Gate Bridge to the Headlands, where we sat on the hood of the car, looking out over the bay and eating take-out shrimp dumplings boxed up from my very favorite dim sum dive. (He knew me well enough to know that heaven, for me, is an endless supply of shrimp dumplings.)

The most romantic notion is the most personal, the gift that makes you feel truly seen. So, what does your husband/wife/girlfriend/boyfriend secretly like best? At home or in the company of like-minded sensualists, this week offers dozens of ways to tease and titillate your valentine.

Popping the cork on a bottle of good champagne may work for me, but for plenty of people, beer's the drink of choice. And conveniently enough, it's Beer Week in San Francisco now through the 14th, with dozens of bars offering many delectable suds, along with brewmaster meet-and-greets. And who says beer and chocolate aren't a perfect match? Serious Eats has an exhaustive guide to pairing the two. Although many of their picks are geared towards East Coast brands like Jacques Torres, the flavor profiles can certainly apply to your favorite Bay Area treats.

Or you can head to Humphry Slocombe and bring home a pint or two of their this-week-only beer ice creams, made with local brews. Beer ice cream! I think someone out there is just waiting to plant a big wet Homer Simpson m'waaah on you for thinking of this, and better yet, bringing it home, stripping down to your underwear, and grabbing a couple of spoons. Especially if you add a side order of Slocombe's cult-favorite caramels (made with Boccalone lard, and much better, and more bacony, than they sound).

In fact, caramel is breathing hard down chocolate's neck this year, a happy development for those less inclined towards the bean. Bi-Rite Market has a particularly fetching selection right now, starting with the salted caramel ice cream from their own Bi-Rite Creamery. Then there are the tamarind-spiked treats whipped up by local Indian baker and confectioner Spice Vice, as well as the vanilla-speckled, cajeta-inspired softies from Happy Goat, enriched with caramelized goat's milk.

Can't decide between caramel and chocolate? Local Charles Chocolates offers the best of both worlds: fleur de sel caramels covered in chocolate, arranged in an edible, flower-printed chocolate box. Or you can invest in Michael Recchiuti's dynamic duo, a jar each of Extra-Bitter Chocolate Sauce and Burnt Caramel Sauce. Who needs a spoon when you can just pour it on and...well, the rest is up to you.

Prefer to play with your food? Check out this list of chocolate spa treatments for two. Get rubbed down (or revved up) with a chocolate-espresso scrub, let yourselves be macerated in rose petals or painted with cocoa butter and chocolate oil, all while enjoying truffles and bubbly. Remember that goofy Axe chocolate man commercial? Like that, only pricier (and presumably, much more pleasing to the nose).

Can't quite swing that spontaneous weekend in Paris this year? Happily, in our European-minded city, there will always be croissants to wake up to (I may be Bernal-biased, but the delicate, extra-flaky ones at Sandbox Bakery are worth the trip up the hill) and pastel macarons in more flavors than Hermès has scarves. People who love macarons really, really love them, and while Miette has its fans, the latest buzz is about the stylishly packaged dainties at Paulette in Hayes Valley, the first NorCal branch of a popular shop in Beverly Hills. Or you can dream of escaping to the French countryside, à la Juliette Binoche in Chocolat, as you melt and roll your own ravishing truffles at La Cocina's chocolate-making class on Feb. 10.

Got a honey who's more salty than sweet? Well, take it from the Fatted Calf: the couple that grinds together, stays together. Head over to the Calf's headquarters in the Oxbow Public Market in Napa for their I Heart Sausage class on Feb. 13th, and get busy making it all: fresh, smoked, poached, and, for all you vampires out there, boudin noir, the infamous (and delectable) blood sausage. Or pencil in a plan for Whole Hog Butchery, Part 1, upcoming on Feb. 27.

To go with your sausage-fest, pick up a bloomy Heart's Desire cheese. Molded in the shape of a heart, it's named after a charming beach along Tomales Bay and made by Cowgirl Creamery this month only, available in their store in San Francisco's Ferry Building as well as at Tomales Bay Foods in Point Reyes. Out of town? You can order it online in a gift pack along with Jasper Hill Farm's Constant Bliss and Redwood Hill's Camillia cheeses, plus a selection of Tcho chocolates. Farmstead Cheeses and Wines in Montclair and Alameda will also be carrying a selection of heart-shaped cheeses this week, including French goat cheese Coeur de Gariottes, sold with rose petal jam; creamy cow's milk Coeur de Bray; and Coeur Cendrée, a goat cheese dusted with ash. And in keeping with the holiday, their weekly Friday & Saturday wine tasting will focus on sparklers and rosés.

Then again, what about dinner? Just about every restaurant in the city will be angling for your V-Day dollar with passion-fruit mousse and hearts of palm salad. Still, I'd like to imagine that all kinds of polyamorous, four- or more-some wake-ups will be happening the morning after the Wild Kitchen's Valentine's Day Dinner. That secret Mission location, those candlelit communal tables full of curious couples, those shared platters of candycap mushrooms and foraged mussels...how can they not inspire more than just gustatory exploration?

As an appetizer, the two (or more) of you can tango down to the Ferry Building on Feb. 12, from 5 to 8pm, for the annual Food from the Heart. After the food-court tourists have gone home, the elegant main promenade will be transformed into a place to sip, nibble, flirt, and perhaps even dance. Local restaurants and wineries will have tables set up offering drinks and small plates for tasting, $2-$4. The money goes towards sending one lucky Ferry Plaza Farmers Market seller to Slow Food's Terra Madre event in Italy this fall.

If you've always wanted to learn how to work with chocolate, you're in luck. Chuck Siegel of Charles Chocolates will be giving chocolate classes. Head into the Charles Chocolates factory kitchen to learn the basics of working with chocolate through an entirely hands-on, intensive class led by Siegel himself.

Starting with the basics of working with chocolate, the curriculum will also include more technique driven skills like preparing ganaches, rolling truffles, tempering, shell molding and more. “People are curious about working with chocolate, and I get asked for tips and lessons all the time,” said Siegel. “Once you know the basics, there are so many ways to creatively use those skills.” Recipes are fine, but nothing beats hands-on experience.

The classes will take place on Saturday afternoons, and last approximately five hours. You must wear closed toed shoes in our factory kitchen and please wear clothing that you don't mind getting a little bit of chocolate on.

What: Chocolate Classes at Charles Chocolates
When: Saturday, June 14 from 1-6pm, other dates to follow
Where: Charles Chocolates Chocolate Bar, 6529 Hollis St., Emeryville
How: Purchase tickets $300
If you have any questions, please call 510.652.4412 x311 or email events@charleschocolates.com.
Why: Learn to make chocolates from a master chocolatier and take home all of the confections you make, plus a deluxe kit containing molds, an offset spatula, sheet pans and several recipes developed by Siegel -- everything necessary to use what was learned during the class at home.

Here's a sample recipe you can try at home:

Perfect Chocolate Truffles (untempered)
courtesy of Chuck Siegel, owner of Charles Chocolates

Ingredients:
250g/2 cups 65% Bittersweet Chocolate
250g/2 cups 41% Milk Chocolate
345g/1 1/3 cups Heavy Whipping Cream (not ultra-pasteurized) – When infusing cream with herbs or tea, increase by 50% to 518g to allow for evaporation. Use only 345 total grams of infused cream in recipe.
1 Vanilla Bean
150g/5.5 oz. Unsalted Butter – softened
453g/4 cups 65% Bittersweet Chocolate for dipping
225g/2 cups Natural (not Dutch processed) cocoa powder for rolling

Directions:
1. Melt chocolates together to 120°

2. Slit vanilla bean in half and scrape seeds into cream - Heat cream to 120° (note that variations like infusions of fresh mint, Earl Grey or Jasmine Tea or the addition of fruits like raspberries or mangos would be integrated into this step).

3. Add melted chocolate to cream and, starting from the middle of the bowl, stir with a silicone spatula to start the emulsion. As the emulsion forms in the center of the bowl, move to the edges to completely blend the ingredients.

4. Add the room temperature butter and mix with immersion blender

5. Pour ganache into a saran wrap covered ¼ sheet pan and smooth out with an offset spatula – cover with another sheet of saran to prevent a skin from forming on the ganache.

6. Refrigerate until firm (at least 2 hours, or preferably overnight)

7. Remove ganache, remove saran and invert ganache onto the back of a second ¼ sheet pan. Using a steel ruler, mark edges of ganache in 1" increments.

8. Using a pizza cutter or sharp paring knife, using the ruler as a guide, cut ganache into 1" squares. Roll each square in latex gloved hands into a smooth ball and refrigerate for 1 hour.

9. Melt bittersweet chocolate for dipping. In latex gloved hands, alternately place small amounts of melted chocolate and truffle balls in your hand to coat.

10. Drop coated truffles in natural cocoa and roll to coat. Place coated truffles on a saran covered ¼ sheet pan and refrigerate until ready to eat.

Title: Chocolatier, Charles Chocolates
Hometown: Flint, Michigan

1. What's your vision for Charles Chocolates?
Part of the joy of starting this business is creating what I like and I want. The real vision is to create the world's best chocolates. I want to grow the company without losing sight of what it means to make great chocolates. Everything we do is in small batches, we only use the best ingredients, Straus cream and butter, all organic herbs and spices and we want to keep it that way.

Everything we do is from scratch, including roasting our own nuts. We're always looking for the best way to get from point A to point B while maintaining the individual flavor components along the way.

2. How has chocolate changed from when you made chocolate confections in the 80's until now?
Years ago there were only a few chocolates that we could use, and even companies like Valrhona had a very limited range of products. Now chocolate is available in so many forms and flavors, you can say 70% bittersweet chocolate and it almost has no meaning anymore because there are twenty 70% chocolates to choose from, each with completely different characteristics. Now we can use chocolate as a very specific ingredient which we couldn't do before.

I am using different chocolates for almost every product I make, sourced from all over the world, from companies like E. Guittard, El Rey and Valrhona. This is a huge advantage.

3. What's the worst thing about being a chocolatier?
There's nothing bad about making chocolate for a living! It beats almost everything. It's hard to have a negative reaction to a piece of good chocolate.

Possibly the hours, it is very hard work. But it's a great job. Feeding people chocolate is really great. It's a business and it has to be viable but the real pleasure comes from seeing people's reaction to the products.

4. You have some unusual chocolate flavors and combinations like Mojito and Earl Grey Truffle, how did you come up with the Pistachio Lemon Cluster?
Most of the products I develop are very selfish. I make things I like to eat. The Pistachio Lemon Cluster came about because I started playing with a technique of meringue coating nuts and liked the effect. The lemon is a nice counterpoint to chocolate and pistachio. I love citrus and candied peel.

Both chocolate and citrus and chocolate and nuts are two classic combinations. I love North African flavors too which includes pistachios and preserved lemons.

5. Why is chocolate so popular again in the Bay Area?
I don't think it ever went away, but it went away in the Bay Area. You can look at as first renaissance, second renaissance. In the first renaissance there was Alice Medrich, Joseph Schmidt and to a lesser degree my company Ativo who were creating a new industry of super premium chocolates. It had existed in Europe but not here in the US. It was pioneering work and everybody fell in love with it. When it faded away here it was picking up in New York. New York took the lead and in the last 10-15 years there have been great chocolatiers that are French trained pastry chefs like Jacques Torres for example.

Here in the Bay Area Scharffen Berger is in part responsible for the appreciation of premium chocolate and Trader Joe's too. Trader Joe's began carrying Valrhona bars which elevated people's understanding of what good chocolate is. Both Scharffen Berger and Trader Joe's raised people's awareness of what good chocolate can taste like. So now the awareness already exists and people are ready for chocolate like mine and Michael Recchiuti's, and a few others produced in the Bay Area.

Still hungry? Check out a recent box of Charles Chocolates and read about my visit to Charles Chocolates, here