Who knew that only a block away from the train station on a quiet city street was the best kept sweetest secret in Basel, Switzerland?! Nestled amongst the ornate apartment buildings is the production facility for Confiserie Brändli. For two hours we maintained a confectionery high as we nibbled tasty creations offered throughout our chocolate tour. Warning! – this article may be very detrimental to maintaining your dieting intentions.
Sweet Neighbour
Established in 1935, Confiserie Brandi was the first specialist shop in Basel for pralines. They pride themselves on producing only small batches every day. As we were told “the chocolatiers create the very finest chocolate and flavour combinations with no preservatives or additives used”. Therefore it was encouraged that any chocolates purchased be kept in a cool place to ensure freshness. Quite frankly I would not have to worry about it as these tasty morsels were way too delicious to hang around very long.
Imagine having a confectionery neighbour?! Easy enough to borrow a cup of sugar.
Confection Perfection
From the basement up to the third floor our small group was gradually introduced to the entire process of the love and intricate work that goes into creating these sweet delicacies. They produce 50 kilos of chocolates per day when this quantity rises to 250 kilos for the Christmas season. Lots of overtime is put in to ensure there are plenty of sweet presents under the Christmas tree.
Over 90 different pralines and truffles recipes have been created. Several are only available during certain seasons such as cinnamon, gluwein, mandarin and anise pralines offered only at Christmas. During our visit we watched and/or sampled the hand crafting of chocolate pralines, chocolate almonds, kirsch stengelis, fruit jellies, and much much more.
Tour Time
Now it is time to come and indulge with us as we learned about the ingredients, production and packaging of these sweet delicacies during our delicious tour. It was not just all about chocolate bon bons – we were also privileged to observe the hand crafting of candied fruit and various miniature pastries.
We started the tour with a front row view of the exacting and finicky activities required to create the savoury and sweet kaleidoscope of miniature sandwiches, tartlets, and tortes.
Our Chocolatier Extrodinaire explaining the level of detail that goes into making these tasty items.
A close up of some of the tasty items.
Heavenly Chocolate & More
We next headed downstairs to the cellar to a chocolate wonderland! We watched truffles being carefully covered in chocolate and marked. Later it was huge sheets of fruit jellies being sliced and sugared. We were told these jellies are only made from natural fruit juice and pulp.
Chocolate being covered with more chocolate….
Marching out the other side each one is quickly & carefully marked with a swirl.
Separating and sugaring up the fruit jelly tiles.
Ohhhh these fruit jellies were ever so good!
Chocolate covered fruit….a very healthy option!
Christmas time in Basel means the favourite tradition of Christmas cookies. These are only offered during this season.
Purchase a dark chocolate bar with truffle filling of single malt whisky made locally from Unser Bier! And I thought they only focused on beer! Other chocolate bar options include praline fillings of Läckerli-liquer, wine or kirsch. Cheers!
The “Basler Dybli” has been a house speciality for more than 50 years. The dove motive is based on the first post boxes in Basel. These treasures have a praline filling with a homemade almond wafer on the bottom. A yummy gift indeed…best to buy an extra to ensure there is still one available to give away.
Music singer Elton John ordered these chocolate covered almonds for his wedding favours. Great music and great taste Elton!
Read below to find your closest chocolate heaven and have love at first bite.
Travel Tidbits
- Confiserie Brändli has several locations for purchasing their freshly made truffles, pralines and much more! Locations include – Basel: Barfüsserplatz 20 & Freie Strasse 109 / Riehen: Winkelgäste 5
- My favourite location is in Arlesheim: Dorfplatz 9. This location is a perfect place to take visitors or friends for a coffee, sandwich and of course a few chocolates. The cafe is located near the Arlesheim Wedding Registery Office and provides lots of entertainment. During the nice warm weather on any Friday afternoon visit this Brändli cafe. Be sure to find a table outside under the tree to sip, nibble and vicariously participate as you watch the parade of various wedding activities going on! During the wedding high season there is usually one civil wedding occurring every half hour. It is easy to spend a leisurely several hours admiring all the various wedding finery as each wedding party and their guests arrive and depart. Many also stay to have a reception and apero right before you in this picture worthy town square.
Although it currently the Christmas season – during the warmer weather it is a beautiful spot to sit outside.
As you can see the Arlesheim Wedding Registry Office is very close. The large fir tree is only temporary for Christmas and will not block your wedding watching activities during the summer season. Happy Viewing!
DIANE ‘S TRAVEL HEART
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