A sweet San Francisco treat: Miette's

I can't resist a wonderful French macaron.


Nor a fabulous cupcake, salted caramels, gingersnap cookies or imported European chocolates.


That's why I have no willpower whenever I step inside one of San Francisco's most delightful candy shops, Miette, a short drive from the Holiday Inn Civic Center. The three-year-old candy shop, sister to the Miette bake shop in San Francisco's bustling Ferry Building, is filled with all of that, plus everything else a sweet tooth could want.


Done up in girly pastel colors, the shop, whose name means "little crumb'' in French, features a small assortment of signature baked goods at the counter, including chocolate vanilla cupcakes ($3.25), chocolate cakes with Italian meringue ($24), and chocolate sables topped with sea salt ($5 for a small bag). The rest of the store is devoted to candy of every sort imaginable -- jars of imported licorices, nougats, flower-petal lollipops, malt balls, chocolates, and my downfall -- gummi cola bottles as big as my palm. For a real treat, try the cotton candy that's made to order in such inventive flavors as lemon verbena.


Miette's will bring out the kid in anyone.


-- Carolyn Jung of FoodGal


[Photo credit: Flickr/islandlife]