Nine years after launching a catering business in Palo Alto, chocolatier Ursula Schnyder has returned to the city with her award-winning sweets.
Sweet55, a confectionery that also serves pastries, cakes, cookies, coffee and chocolate drinks, has expanded to the Town & Country Village shopping center. The original shop opened in Half Moon Bay in 2016, and the chocolate production remains there.
“Sweet55 has grown exponentially over the last five years,” said the Switzerland-raised Schnyder, CCO (chief chocolate officer), in her announcement about the new location. “It made so much sense for us to expand to the central Bay Area where most of our customers come from — and where our story began.”
The shop makes Swiss-style, small-batch candies using sustainable, high-quality “grand cru” chocolate, garnering praise in the form of two Good Food Awards in 2018 and 2019 and a Sofi Silver Award in 2021.
Among the distinctive pieces are the Eiger, a “snow-capped” chocolate named after the famous mountain in the Swiss Alps, filled with gianduja and orange caramel; the California Republic, a dark ganache with olive oil, Meyer lemon and rosemary; the Earl Grey, with 72% dark ganache and almond praline; and the Ultimate Swiss, a milk ganache with Swiss pear brandy, vanilla and mountain salt.
The shop also makes collections of single-origin chocolates from Africa to the Americas; Florentine confections; and alphabet chocolates for sending sweet messages of thanks and congratulations.
Details: Open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at Town & Country, 855 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. www.sweet55.com