Sugar Savvy

They don’t waste any time. The DAY after Valentines Day, the shelves were stocked and I kept finding reasons to wander down the Seasonal Candy aisle at Walgreen’s to take mental stock of the offerings. I don’t know why I’d never noticed how damn many different kinds of chocolate Easter eggs existed. As a kid whose family doesn’t celebrate Easter, I guess I was always left out of that loop. But at this point in my life, you’d think I’d have made it my business to start sampling, already. This year I decided to roll up my sleeves and get down to it. After all, Passover candy really does leave something to be desired…(Maneschewitz Jellied Fruit Slices, anyone?) And because the staggering variety of chocolate eggs on the shelf was making my head spin, I decided to focus on eggs made with DARK CHOCOLATE only.

This list is by no means comprehensive. What I chose to include was based entirely on whim and availability. Their key distinction, as I said, is that they are all made with dark as opposed to milk chocolate.

Thank you to my faithful pals Tripp and Meg for their valuable assistance in the tasting and analysis of the following:

Russell Stover Dark Chocolate Raspberry Whip Egg
I bought this one with reservations (top right in photo). I included it only for the fact that it fit the dark chocolate criteria, because in general I really don’t enjoy raspberry with chocolate. So I wasn’t prepared for this to end up being my FAVORITE of the bunch. The chocolate is considerably more thick and rich than the Maple and Coconut R. Stover eggs below. The raspberry is light and non-cloying, sort of like a berry marshmallow whip. And as an added bonus, it is also quite a bit larger in overall size than the others. No complaints.

Russell Stover Maple Cream Egg (top left)
Surprisingly good maple flavor. The chocolate is fairly rich and provides a good counter to the extreme sweetness of the fluffy filling. I would buy it again.

Russell Stover Coconut Cream Egg (bottom)
I love coconut. But this one, while the chocolate is the same as the one on the Maple Cream, has a coconut filling that tastes a little bit like summer vacation, circa 1980. As in, Hawaiian Tropic Dark Tanning Oil, SPF 2. Like Meg said, it is “essence of coconut” – kind of like the scratch ‘n’ sniff version. If you crave an island tan, grab a couple-few and lather up. But if you desire true coconut, look no further than…

Mounds Egg
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The chocolate/coconut ratio is pretty much identical to a standard Mounds, but it is curiously molded into a tear-drop shape. As Tripp noted, this is what you’d expect in a coconut candy – it has real coconut and is well-balanced with the chocolate. This is a Mounds Bar…there’s not much else to say. If only they could just FINALLY make a Mounds with almonds. Where is it written that coconut and almonds must be enrobed only in milk chocolate? Come on, Peter Paul. Throw me a bone!

Hershey’s Special Dark with Almonds Egg
This is the only egg in the group that is solid chocolate as opposed to cream-filled. The name is more or less self-explanatory: Special Dark – with almonds. It took me a minute to realize that in my whole life of hording all of the Special Darks from the bag of Hershey’s Miniatures, I’d never had a Special Dark with almonds! A nice twist on a classic. I like that the almonds are in small bits rather than whole nuts. It’s not Scharffen Berger or Dagoba (duh), but for drugstore dark chocolate, it’s certainly not committing any crimes.

Russell Stover Cream Egg with Vanilla
The ends do not justify the means. Or, simply, it’s just not worth the sticky mess involved. I ended up with goo all over my pen and camera, and dare I say, it was just TOO sweet (this from the girl who mixes powdered sugar, butter and milk in a bowl and eats it straight from a spoon, without flinching). The filling has no detectable vanilla flavor and the chocolate is fakey-tasting. Weird, since this is made by the very same company who does the cream/whip eggs above. Somebody was snoozin’ on the job with this one…it’s a thinly disguised and phoned-in knock-off of the Cadbury Cream Egg. Nice try.

Russell Stover Cream Egg with Chocolate
Ditto above. The main difference between this one and the Cream Egg with Vanilla is that the filling is of a more solid, Nutella-like consistency. If I were blindfolded, I’d have no idea I was eating chocolate. It’s bland and not worth the time or calories, but maybe that’s just me. (Actually, Tripp and Meg totally agreed with me on this point.)

Green and Black’s Luxury Dark Egg and Praline Mini Eggs
This doesn’t even belong in the same discussion as the other eggs, I’m sure. Apples and oranges, an entirely separate level and genre of chocolate. I’m a big fan of Green and Black’s chocolate bars, but these amazing-sounding seasonal treats remain elusive in my town, although Easter is still a month away. Has anyone had them? If so, please comment. I want to hear your thoughts. I’m keeping my eyes open for these little nuggets of joy.

The egg is the symbol which ties Easter with Passover, representing springtime, rebirth and fertility. With that said, I present this as a warning to my family: do not be alarmed when the hard-boiled egg on this year’s seder plate is joined by an egg of the foil-covered variety. You won’t be disappointed. Chocolate and matzoh make a lovely pair - and it will, of course, be dark chocolate, so no worries about mixin’ the meat and the milk. Such a relief.

Thanks to Google Images for the photo of the brown egg at the top of the page.