No Autopsied Chocolate Bunnies!

As Kris pointed out, it's kind of bad to autopsy the cutest little chocolate bunny EVAH, so I promise - no such photos in today's post. Lots of bunnies, though. Lots and lots of bunnies.

In fact, I should warn you all that there is so much cuteness in this post that some of you are going to become physically ill. Spring is a time for cuteness - sorry!

Lindt had a special 25% off sale for their frequent shoppers (you can sign up for special deals and offers on their website http://www.lindtusa.com/) so I HAD to go in and redeem my coupon. If there's a special chocolate edition of Hoarders, I will be the star. I will blame it all on coupons. I won't say "The Devil made me do it." I'll say, "The coupons made me do it."

Here's a picture of heaven on earth:

Look at all those gorgeous gold bunnies. Doesn't it kind of make you giddy?

These two were huge. My Sorbet Sistah Sassy (who seems to always get dragged into chocolate shops with me) put the little guy up there for scale. He's about the size of your open hand. His BIG brothers are enormous and are $75!

I like tins because you have something after the chocolate is gone. Cute:

And look inside!! Eggs and the tiniest Lindt bunny - he's about the size of a silver dollar.

Isn't he just adorable? He's hollow and he's made out of that smooth, delicious, creamy Lindt milk chocolate. Ah the Swiss - they really do know how to make the most delicious chocolate. I think Lindt chocolate is much, much better than Godiva chocolate.

How cute are these little bugs and bees?

You'll hear more about this giant lady bug in a minute. Just soak up their Spring cuteness right now. I think the big one loves you.

I thought the Lindt bugs were solid milk chocolate. But NO! They are that delicious creamy milk chocolate filled with chocolate hazelnut cream and crisped rice. In other words - they are to DIE for! I wish I had bought more - they are truly delicious and the addition of the crisped rice to all that creaminess provides the perfect textural contrast. A+++ Snap these up!

I promised no autopsies today, but maybe I'll dissect one for you all before I eat them all.

I HAD to buy this in World Market just because there is so much crazy stuff inside:

I've reviewed Riegelein before. It's not Palmer chocolate and for all the fun you get, it's well worth it. I don't care for it as much as Lindt. If Palmer is a two and Lindt is a nine, I'd say Riegelein is a six. But look at what's in the bag!!

A whole happy bunny family! Love the colors and the details on the foil and the different sizes of all the bunnies! They all even have gifts in their paws for you! Awwww!!!

And look what else! Our giant lady bug, two chickens, three large eggs (two of which say Happy Easter in German - yay!), five small eggs, three flat solid bunnies, four chicken head balls, and two weird jelly things.

It's like the clown car at the circus - seeing all that stuff come out of there is hard to believe, fun and exciting. I love these guys!

I saw this weird and cute guy last year, Dove's Fairy Bunny:

I love the colors. But why a Fairy Bunny? What the hell is that? I wondered until I read this poem on the back of the box:

You might wonder how he does it,visits homes across the land.

Without any elves or reindeer to lend a helping hand.

You see, the Easter Bunny has his own crew of magic friends.

A full fleet of furry fairies, on whom he can depend. (I think that should be on which, but what the hell.)

Their vibrant wings are stunning, their eyes sparkle with a gleam,

they carry chocolate so exquisite, a luscious, smooth and silky dream.

So indulge your sense of wonder, along with your love of Dove Brand,

and you may spy a Fairy Bunny bringing joy from up above.

Apparently they abandoned the rhyming at the end. Martha must have been working on this. I would have closed with:

So indulge your sense of wonder and eat the best chocolate from Dove.

We prepare it like the Easter Bunny with our hearts full of love.

I mean really - a no brainer. Put me in, Coach!!!

I like Dove chocolate - the Fairy Bunny is hollow like all of these (except the Lindt Bugs), but the chocolate had a much richer flavor than the Riegelein. It's a less sweet flavor than Lindt, so it really comes down to personal preference. I have to say the Dove Fairy Bunny is much better than anything Palmer or Russell Stover are making and when it comes to mass produced hollow bunnies, they are the main competitors. Dove just has much, much, much better chocolate. Go Dove! Yay weird Fairy Bunny!

I bought this guy because I thought he was the prettiest chocolate rabbit ever with his cute blue coat. He's the blog's mascot this spring:

Look at his little paws and his nervous expression. You can almost see his little nose wiggling. He is a product of Chile (of all places) and is distributed by the Frankford Candy and Chocolate Company out of Philadelphia. After having a bite of Lindt and Dove chocolate, this guy had no chance. Not smooth and creamy, but over sweet and a little waxy like Palmer. Love the way this one looks, hate the way he tastes. (But he's so damn cute! Guess I pick my chocolate rabbits like I pick my men.)

Harry and David has some animals to share with us:

I really like the gorgeous egg package with the satin ribbon. Very pretty and classy.

Although I have to say I am disappointed with these. I usually like H & D chocolate - and I really like the fact that the rabbits are dark chocolate - nice to have some variety. The rabbits were better than the chicks, but they tasted slightly off - a slight odd taste that I couldn't identify. I can't quite put my finger on it. Hmmm......maybe a Fairy Bunny would know.

I found these in World Market:

They are little but are exquisitely molded with classic designs. Look how cute they are:

I love the middle bunny below - his eyes are closed because he's laughing so hard!
It's interesting how different the same mold can look with a different mix of chocolate:

These are made by GBS N.V. a Belgian Company. They are milk, white and dark chocolate with a creamy praline center. I love the designs, but here's the deal. I've had way better. I have some seashells (the traditional design for this type of confection) imported and packaged by A Southern Season and they are much better. These taste much less rich, more waxy. And the praline filling was drier. But I adore all the molded shapes!!

OMG - what a lot of cuteness! Remember spring is a time for rebirth - thus all the cute baby animals and eggs and so forth. It's a great time for renewal and growth. And that means for you too! 2010 is 25% over - what have you done so far? More importantly, what WILL you do? Remember, the Fairy Bunny is watching!

The Grand 2009 Halloween Finale!!!

The Sorbet Sistahs hit the mall today and poor Tracy let me drag her through Lindt and World Market so I could score some last minute Halloween deals. We were thrilled to be offered a sample of the pumpkin cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory - OMG! That is the best pumpkin treat I've had this year - hands down. If you get a chance - get some, get some, get some!!!!!

I found these cute little ghosts at Lindt:

They are cute - just good, solid, delicious milk chocolate. But I have a feeling these will soon be Christmas bells. Remind you of anyone? Russ Stover?

All the Halloween candy at World Market was half price and I've had my eyes on these:

This bag is huge - look at everything that was inside:

It takes a village. Let's look a little closer:

There was only one of this guy - the village idiot?

There were several of each of these - a witch, a Frankenstein, and a ghost with a pumpkin head. The village council? Congress?

And a darn army of these three - a witch pumpkin with three teeth, a leafy pumpkin with two teeth, and a country pumpkin with only one tooth. At least they are all smiling.

Now, here's the secret - look at them naked:

Do you see what this really is? It is chocolate bowling! How fun are these??? Also - I saw this company's Christmas bag and I suspect - like the ghosts are going to be bells - these are future Santas and Christmas balls.

They are hollow, by the way:

The company that makes them is Riegelein, a German company, http://www.riegelein.de/ The chocolate is good, but very, very sweet (rich, not waxy like Palmer but only 30% cocoa) and who really wants hollow chocolate bowling pins? These are festive - would be great for a party - but I get bored with this much plain milk chocolate. But bowling, now THAT might be fun!

Speaking of having my eyes on something, Riegelien also makes these:

I think the skulls are way cooler than the eyeballs, but maybe that's because I already saw eyeballs with Palmer. These are creepily bloodshot, however. Ewwww. Leave it to the Germans to crank things up a notch.

The wrapper says these are cream filled chocolate. Let's slice one open:

They look a little like the Lindt Lindor truffles, right? But they aren't!!!! The Lindor truffles were filled with creamy white chocolate. This is milk cream and it tastes a little like spoiled milk. Yuck - I didn't like it. I've had some Belgian chocolates filled with this type of cream and it just doesn't work for me. Regional preferences, remember?

Now let's talk about Godiva.

They have some festive Halloween chocolate pops:

The adorable ghost and the bat went to my good buddy and loyal blog reader, Diane. I kept the leaf because I wanted to compare it to a leaf I found at World Market:

They really both are gorgeous. The one I got at World Market is on the left (by Splendid Chocolates, both larger and cheaper than the Godiva leaf). Splendid Chocolates is a Canadian Company http://www.splendidchocolates.com/htm/about.htm and their leaf has maple flavor. They should OWN the maple leaf, right? And you know what? They do! I really prefer the Splendid leaf. The subtle maple flavor is a great touch. The more Godiva I try, the more overrated (and overpriced) I think it is.

Godiva had 4 special Halloween treats - two of which were sold out when I tried to get them. There was a blood orange bat and a caramel apple tombstone - and dammit, I missed them! I did manage to score two Death by Chocolate Skulls:

This is a rich dark chocolate ganache in a bitter sweet dark chocolate shell. The top has a black and white coating to make it look like a scary skull - which it does. This one, I have to admit, was pretty damn good. The dark chocolate ganache was very, very good. A+ - very artistic and very good.

I also got a Candy Corn Ghost:

This is a white chocolate candy corn ganache in a white chocolate shell. This one did nothing for me. Too sweet and too weird looking. It looks more like an amoeba or a flu germ than a ghost. Why does it have weird flipper arms? Why is it orange? F It gets an F because it is ridiculously expensive ($2.25 each) and it's just no good.

Wow - we covered a lot of ground this year! From the cheap (Palmer) to the expensive (Godiva) from the local (kind of) (Hershey) to the distant (Riegelien) - we have had some fun! We tried new things, celebrated creativity, and had a blast! Tomorrow night make sure you have some fun - and if you can, give some candy to some Trick or Treaters. Halloween gave me some of my greatest childhood memories - let's pass them on.

Happy Halloween!!!!