Italian Easter Bunny

For one final featured review, we turn again to PastaCheese before Easter for a lovely selection of holiday chocolates. Your Chocolate Priestess lived in Italy from August 1990 to May 1991, my junior year of college, and my spring break was right before Easter; just like this year though I don't have spring break any more.  I don't recall seeing chocolate bunnies when I wandered around Sicily during my spring break or as I went out and about in Roma itself but I did see these amazing, huge, hollow Easter Eggs; I bought one, cared for it and brought it home to my parents at the end of my year abroad.  See even before The Chocolate Cult I could save chocolate for a purpose though we devoured it within a few days once I did get home.  No huge egg to reveal to you today but I do have this Venchi Milk Chocolate Bunny to show you.  We've looked at Venchi chocolate before so I won't repeat information on that company in this feature.

This bunny can stand the trip from Italy to your house because it is enclosed in a tough plastic case that fits the form perfectly.  My first fear when I saw this was: "Great, now I'll need help opening it" but that wasn't true.  See the indent on the left side of the bunny's head.  The sides of the plastic case open very easily at that point and a similar point on top, it pops up and then you can pop it closed again to seal it away.  That's what I did so that I could save what I didn't need for this feature for Easter itself.  This casing is also very strong; I tested it by dropping it as you see in the photo on the counter, on the floor, and finally I threw it hard onto the floor a few times.

Why did I do that to this poor defenseless 100 grams chocolate bunny?  To test the casing but also so I could break it just enough to show you that it is a hollow bunny.  Hollow bunnies are very common in the Midwest where I grew up.  You can also see a little seam along the top of the bunny that goes all the way around him.  That's where the two molded sections were put together and the result when you do this type of mold is generally hollow or you then fill it with something.  If an Italian Easter bunny was filled with anything, I'd be willing to bet it was hazelnuts; they have them everywhere!  I'm glad it was simply hollow.

Obviously I took this final photo before I broke it, so here you can see the Venchi bunny freed only to be eaten by me and later my friends and family at Easter time.  I like that you can see the tiny tail, all four feet, a hint of fur pattern, and that the ears are separate.  I think it looks adorable... I'm a cold hearted person who broke it up and tried it for you all any way.  The bunny is about 5 inches tall at it's highest, 2.25 inches at it's widest, and weighs 100g.  Note that I didn't take photos of both sides but they are not identical, on the one you can see the hunch is slightly more prominent while on the other side the chest is a bit larger.  That's a nice detail too but what do my other sense reveal?  It has a very creamy fragrance with a strong scent of vanilla and cocoa under all of that.  It has no added oils, only cocoa butter, cocoa mass, sugar (the first ingredient), whole milk powder, soy lecithin, natural vanilla.  The bunny is cool in my fingers and does not melt enough though our weather is unusually warm.  The ear that I broke off makes a soft snap when I take a bite.  The first flavor I get is this creamy sweetness but as I chew more of the cocoa comes out.  Letting it melt in my mouth pulls out more of the vanilla but once more the cocoa's nature grows stronger over time.  To maximize the chocolate's cocoaness, let it melt, don't chew it; this will also make it last longer.

Right on the front page of PastaCheese you'll see a special for their chocolates which oddly does not include this little Italian bunny but does include these huge Easter eggs I remember from my year in Roma. Why a company would send us a product to feature that you can't buy, Sisters and Brothers, I have no idea. I can't recall the brand of Easter egg I bought when I was in Italy, so I can't say those on their site would be good now.  I wish this Venchi bunny was there; if it were available in dark chocolate that would be even better.  Let me know if you find this little guy anywhere at all.

Check out PastaCheese if you like because I can say that so far everything they have sent us was very good Italian chocolates.

MARS Easter Options 2012

We've seen egg shaped and bunny shaped candies for Easter since probably before your Chocolate Priestess was born in 1969.  Today I want to look at two MARS treats that I have seen available in our local stores for years now.  This post was pre-written last Easter so that I've have things for you to read before the fabulous Sacraments we've been featuring as we approach Easter 2012.  As always, if you aren't Christian, don't worry you can still go buy to your heart's content but let's see if these two particular treats are worth your money and your body.

We'll start with Snickers Eggs which came in a 6 pack of 1oz eggs.  Each has 150 calories made of 4.5g saturated fat, 5mg cholesterol, 50mg sodium, 1g fiber, 15g sugars, and 2g protein.  It has peanuts, milk, soy and lots of added oils and some artificial flavors.  Hmmm... Immediately you know that I wish it was less preserved and less added ingredients but I'll try to give this a fair shake by trying one.  A half egg, and each of these is half of a solid treat we have seen from other companies, measures 2.5 X 1.5 X 0.75 inches.  As I hope you can see, it has three bands around it of etched and indented chocolate to suggest a decorated egg.  It has a very balanced scent of peanut and milk chocolate.  Inside is a solid, creamy nougat with a ribbon of semi-soft peanut butter at the top both of which easily over power the chocolate surrounding them making this exactly like most Snickers candy bars I've tried in the distant past.

Next we have the Milky Way Bunnies that also come in a 6 pack of 1oz bunnies this time.  Each has 160 calories made of 7g saturated fat (whoa!), 5mg cholesterol, 30mg sodium, 15g sugars and 1g protein.  This has dairy, soy, added oils and sugars, and artificial flavors.  This is a bunny who is looking very pleased with himself - waving at us, a toothy lope-sided grin, and holding an egg fast to his tummy.  He measures 2.5 X 1.5 X 5/8th inches so slightly smaller than the eggs.  He has a sweet, caramel like milk chocolate smell as you'd expect from Milk Way.  Inside are two layers of caramel, the lower one is firm and has kick to it while the top oozes out and delivers a very sweet tastes that turns a bit sour after a few moments.  I can taste the chocolate more here than in the eggs but that sour turn is a turn-off for me and seems very unlike the Milk Ways I recall.

Between the two of these choices which would you pick for taste?  Now which would you chose for a slightly healthier option?  That's why you have to practice Moderation and share these even if you want them all.

3 Musketeers Truffle Crisp Bar

Not long ago I saw a few new varieties of some candy bars I grew up eating on sale in one of our nearby CVS stores.   We have two of these places within a mile of my house and they are much more an a block and a half apart.  I'm surprised they have survived for years now but depending on the direction you are traveling maybe it is easier to get to one over the other.  One is certainly larger than the other even though the smaller one is a free-standing building with a Minute Clinic in it.  I found these at the larger CVS on sale as "buy 2, get 1 free."


The 3 Musketeers brand has been around a lot time as you may recall from our Old Time Candy features. This is a new take on that bar which is actually two bars of cookie bottoms with some of the chocolate cream and then covered in milk chocolate.  The milk chocolate and the fluffy part is very familiar to those of you who have eaten 3 Musketeers but the cookie part tasted stale and the crunch, well, I don't really want that when I eat a 3 Musketeers, do you?  The cookie part was also very moisture absorbing and dried my mouth out. Yes, I remembered Moderation and gave the other bar to another person.

Have you tried this?  What did you think about it compared to the traditional 3 Musketeers?