Made In Chicago: Katherine Anne Confections
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It takes 5 minutes and 10 seconds to mix the pillowy marshmallows made with wildflower honey and a touch of sea salt at Katherine Anne Confections.
"Seeing, 'Oh we've got 300 bags of marshmallows that are ready to go out, to be shipped to people,' you kind of imagine the smiles on people's faces as they open up these bags, and it makes me very happy," said owner Katherine Duncan.
She started Katherine Anne Confections when she was 22. That was 10 ½ years ago.
One of her specialities is hand-dipped truffles.
"We have a few that sell really well. It's funny, because they're at opposite ends of the spectrum: salted caramel truffle, which is almost traditional at this point because the salted caramel is everywhere, it's ubiquitous; and then the goat cheese walnut truffle is our other best seller, which is wild, right?" she said.
Duncan said they've made some different truffles, and people either love them, or at least remember them, like the caramelized onion truffle.
"You know, if you cook down onions long enough, they become super sweet. So we did caramelized onions, aged balsamic, and sea salt, and people still talk about it to this day, and usually it's because they like it, and sometimes it's because they don't at all. They said, 'Oh I still remember that crazy truffle you made,'" she said.
Duncan loves to talk to her customers in the shop at 2745 W. Armitage Av. in Logan Square.
"Just getting to meet people; and seeing that moment of bliss as they drink their hot chocolate, and they experience the true drinking chocolate – with real chocolate – for the first time, and they're just blown away. That is the fun part of my job," she said. "So yes, I love it. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I get to bring my kids to work. How can you argue with that?"
