Ghirardelli - Milk Chocolate Caramel Bunny - Mar. 26, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Ghirardelli Chocolate
Milk Chocolate Caramel Bunny
Good
Weight: 2 pieces (20 g.) / 4.14 oz. (117.6 g.) in total package/bag
Calories: 80 calories in 2 pieces
Cost: $4.99 (estimate) for 1 package
Purchased from: Safeway, Palo Alto, CA

Happy Spring to all. And Happy Easter Weekend to those who celebrate this holiday.

Rain has brought green back to the San Francisco Bay Area. Green grassy hills as far as one can see (over all the buildings that is). Cows and horses are grazing on the green grass in pastures, and bees are buzzing around flowers in bloom.

Spring is a great time to celebrate life and being outdoors. And, as always, here at Chocolate Banquet, we celebrate with chocolate.

First, let's start with the quintessential Easter bunny. Recently, my mother spotted a rare bunny on her lawn. The mystery bunny returned several times and was finally captured on my brother's cell phone.

Rabbits are often considered yard pests in more rural settings. However, we live in such a developed area, it's highly unusual to have a visit from a real Easter bunny. (Easter squirrels maybe, but not bunnies.)

Today's Milk Chocolate Caramel Bunny is for you mom. The individually wrapped, Milk Chocolate Caramel Bunnies (package of 12) were from Ghirardelli Chocolate (San Leandro, CA).

Each diminutive Ghirardelli milk chocolate bunny (named Noe*) was filled with a soft caramel filling.

Tomorrow I'll be featuring Noe's bigger, 100% chocolate (caramel-less) sibling.

*Noe the bunny also has a back-story. See Ghirardelli website for more. 

The content and images in this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.

Lillie Belle Farms - Easter items - April 12, 2014

Chocolate of the Day:

Lillie Belle Farms

1.) Lavender Fleur de Sel Caramels
Very Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 3 oz. (84 g.) (estimate) total package
Calories: 150 calories (estimate) for 1 oz. serving (2 + pieces)
Cost:  $12.00 (estimate) for one 6-piece package/box
Purchased from: SweetE Organic, Mill Valley, CA

2.) Lillie Bunny
Before it melted, this was a cute, solid chocolate Easter bunny made of organic dark chocolate. After it melted, it was a smooth and creamy dark fondue.
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 3 oz. (84 g.) in 1 package/bunny
Calories:  150 calories (estimate) for 1 oz. serving
Cost: $8.00 (estimate) for 1 bunny
Purchased from: SweetE Organic, Mill Valley, CA

3.) Truffle Eggs
Before these Easter eggs melted in the sun, they were creamy delicious Burnt Orange white chocolate eggs and flavorful Milk Chocolate Caramel filled eggs. After accidental sun exposure, they were delicious scrambled eggs.
Burnt Orange = Very Good; Milk Caramel = Good + - Very Good
Weight: 1.2 oz. (33 g.) serving / 3 oz. (84 g.) total package
Calories: 150 calories (estimate) in 1 oz. serving
Cost: $12.00 (estimate) for a five-piece box
Purchased from: SweetE Organic, Mill Valley, CA

Easter is one of the first big chocolate holidays of Spring, falling at a time when there is lovely green grass and wildflowers and copious amounts of sunshine. It's the latter part that often spells disaster for the unwary.

Before I could photograph today's delicious trio of chocolate items from Lillie Belle Farms (Central Point, OR), rays of sun liquified the bunny, deflated the eggs and scorched Lavender Sea Salt Caramels -- all in a manner of minutes.

The only intact bunnies and eggs I saw today were at the local Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo. However, this brush with the sun did not stop me from enjoying all three of these items in their altered state. Bunny fondue anyone?

Don't let this Easter tragedy happen to you folks. Store your Easter treasures and chocolate facsimiles (chocsimiles) of rabbits, eggs and lambs in a cool, dark place.

Today was Day #5 of Chocolate and Flower Theme Week. (I've already eaten the Lillie Belle Farms Lavender Sea Salt Caramels before, but I couldn't resist resurrecting them for this Easter banquet today. They're great if you love floral flavors, and lavender in particular.)

ChocolateBet: June 28, 2011

 Chocolate of the Day:

17 mini cookies
Annie's Homegrown
Gluten Free Bunny Cookies
Good +
Weight: .68 oz. (18.9 g.) / 6.75 oz. (191 g.) total box
Calories: 76 calories
Cost: $5.39 total box
Purchased from: Whole Foods Market, in Los Altos, CA

Today was Day #7 of Chocolate and Gluten Free Cookie Theme Week; and also Day #1 of Chocolate and Animal Theme Week.

Normally, eating 17 cookies would sound excessive, but these tiny cocoa and vanilla, gluten free bunny cookies (that contained "no icky additives or pesky preservatives") were so small and light that the entire litter of 17 weighed a mere .68 oz. (18.9 g.).

ChocolateBet: June 26, 2009

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

3 pieces + 1 bunny

ethel's chocolate
1.) curvy shape, blue flowers on top (dark ganache) Good +
2.) curvy shape, white flowers on top (jasmine?) Very Good
3.) curvy shape, yellow flower on top (lemonish filling?) Very Good
Weight: ~ 1.2 oz. (31 g.)/2.93 oz. (83 g.) total 8-piece box
Calories: 150 calories for 3 pieces
Cost: $?
Purchased from: ethel's chocolate, Las Vegas, NV

Lake Champlain Chocolates
Placesetting Bunny - Dark
Very Good +
Weight: .6 oz. (17 grams)
Calories: ~90 calories (estimate)
Cost: $?
Purchased from: Whole Foods?

Today I cleared out some chocolates that had been hiding in my chocolate stash pile for awhile, including some spring "shapes" from ethel's chocolate (Henderson, NV), and a chocolate bunny from Lake Champlain Chocolates (Vermont).

I thought I had lost the bunny last month; it reappeared this evening as I was about to drive over to a nice park with a redwood grove -- where frequently there are bunnies that come out to nibble grass in the twilight. Nice coincidence.

ChocolateBet: April 11, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:
1 piece (of bunny face)
Russell Stover
Chocolate Easter Bunny with Almonds
Good +
Weight: ~.75 oz. (21.2 g.)/3 oz. (85 grams) in total bunny
Calories: 120 calories
Cost: $ (need to check receipt)
Purchased from: Longs Drugs, in San Jose, CA

This is the time of year when a section of store shelves is dedicated to Chocolate Bunnies. Chocolate has inserted itself into all major U.S. Holidays, largely in the shape of bunnies, chicks, and eggs.

We were invited to attend a Passover dinner at a friend's home today. Much good food was consumed. I can't eat wheat, so I couldn't try the matsoh crackers covered in chocolate and nuts that someone brought. Fortunately, someone else made a flourless chocolate cake, which tasted great with fresh strawberries.

ChocolateBet: March 13, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:

1/4 of a bunny
Reese's
Reester Bunny (Milk Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Bunny)
Very Good+ - actually this tasted a little better to me than regular peanut butter cup
Wt: 1.25 oz.(35 g) for 1/4 bunny; (5 oz. or 141 g. total bunny)
Calories: 190 calories (estimate)
Cost: $3.69?
Purchased from: Walgreens, in Palo Alto, CA

In the run-up to Easter, it seems only right to try to eat some chocolate bunnies, eggs and other holiday-related items made for the occasion.

The Reester Bunny did not disappoint; it was indeed "packed with Reese's Peanut Butter."