Egg Hunt – cuid a dó

It’s time for the second installment of chocolate eggs in Ireland.  If you missed last year’s, check it out here.

In the US, Easter candy comes in a huge variety of forms – pastel M&Ms, pastel wrappers on just about every bite-sized candy bar available, jelly beans go leor, egg shaped Reese’s, the only-available-at-Easter-but-totally-decadent Dove truffle eggs, and mountains of other options including my least favorite – Peeps (sugar coated marshmallow-type yuck, for the non-US readers).  (Note: my apologies to the makers of Peeps – they just aren’t my thing but you sell plenty of them, so one absent consumer won’t hurt the bottom line.)

Jelly beans? Haven’t seen hide nor hare (to put a rabbit twist on the phrase) of them. In Ireland, it’s all about the chocolate egg. They come in tiny, smaller, small, medium, large, and extra large and reflect the favorite candy bar flavors here as well as those designed for pure indulgence.  One thing both countries do have in common is Cadbury mini-eggs – tiny pockets of heaven; however, the dark chocolate variety sadly has yet to cross to this side of the pond (hint, hint Cadbury, which is practically around the corner…).

Last year I sampled some of the common varieties, and whilst quite good in their own right, there’s a whole world of options available. Because I only want the best for my faithful following, this year I kicked it up a notch and went towards the luxury end of the readily available.

The Great 2013 Carrot Race

Whimsy is required at this time of year, when we’re at the height of cabin fever from being cooped up all winter and, this year at least, having to put up with a week of snow and snail showers (btw – snail is a cross between snow and hail which I’ve been pelted with several times in the last week), you just have to do something fun lest we all go mad.  So to that end, I give you the carrot race, refereed by the Lindt White Chocolate bunny.Since I’m sure you’re sitting on the edge of your seats awaiting the results, the winners were the lamb and the mini-bunny – the chick was too busy pecking at the bugs to scamper after the carrots.

A company not one to miss a marketing opportunity, Ferrero Rocher comes in egg form this year, and I must say, they are quite addicting.

Ferrero Rocher Eggs

I chose the Lindt egg, not so much for the chocolate, which is always a notch above the ordinary, but because it came with an assortment of truffles including Irish cream flavored (which were not available in bag form anywhere I could find).

As if that weren’t enough, I just couldn’t pass by the Bailey’s Irish Cream egg (from Lir chocolates) with accompanying Bailey’s truffles.  New this year (according to the box) it’s no longer a plain chocolate egg, but flavored with Baileys.  Can’t wait to tuck into that one.

Lindt Egg and baby bunny

Bailey’s Egg and Truffles

Dairy Free, Wheat Free, Gluten Free, Egg Free (despite its shape) but not taste free!

That’s a lot of chocolate, you might be thinking, and indeed you’re right, but lo and behold, the CEO of the company I work for came around on Friday handing out dairy free (suitable for vegans and vegetarians) caramel flavored chocolate eggs with accompanying truffles.  So that I could pass the information on in a timely manner, I tried one of the non-dairy truffles.  As they use coconut oil instead of milk they have a very nice flavor, but while I will certainly enjoy the rest, I won’t be giving up my high end chocolate any time soon and will happily remain merely a part-time vegetarian.

Being the generous sort, I had given my team at work Lindt chocolate bunnies on Friday, and while I was at lunch (which is generally less than half an hour since I’m so busy) the little rascals ran out and bought me an assortment of eggs in return. (Granted, a chocolate orange technically isn’t an egg, but it’s the thought and the chocolate that count.)

Egg Fest from my team

So if you’re looking for me this weekend, after I cut the grass (which kept growing despite the frigid weather and will likely not contain any hidden eggs), you’ll likely find me on the couch in a chocolate coma catching up on episodes of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart that I have on DVR.

(PS – in case you think I’ve already reached the pinnacle of chocolate, just wait until next year when I leave the grocery store behind and kick it up another notch by hitting the local specialty chocolatiers!)

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