Blue Bunny - Mint Chocolate Chunk Load'd Sundae - Nov. 15, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Blue Bunny
Load'd Sundaes - Mint Chocolate Chunk
Good
Weight: 4.25 fl. oz. (125.5 mL) / 8.5 fl. oz. (251 mL) in total sundae
Calories: 265 calories in 1/2 sundae
Cost: $3.00 for 1 sundae
Purchased from: Safeway, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Mint Theme Week.

Sometimes chocolates most easily available for theme weeks are weighted in an odd direction. Just as last week's Ecuador cacao-themed week somehow ended up featuring mostly very high percentage cacao bars, this week's mint-themed week is conspicuously weighted in the direction of frozen chocolate and mint dessert items.

Truth be told, with a few exceptions, I'm hunting for quality vs. quantity in a chocolate. And, frozen treats and ice creams tend to be mass produced and loaded with sugar. However, they're also sometimes attached to childhood memories—the hidden icebergs of exceptions mentioned above, and which seem to justify occasional tumbles off the virtuous bean-to-bar bandwagon. (And I do have lots of good childhood memories associated with ice cream.)

Today's single-serving, Mint Chocolate Chunk sundae was part of a "Load'd Sundaes" line from Blue Bunny (manufactured by Wells Enterprises, Inc. (Le Mars, IA)).

"Load'd" with what you might ask? Definitely sugar (61 grams of sugars in 1 sundae). And, lots of toppings in soft mint ice cream, including swirls of fudge sauce, chocolate chunks, and tiny chocolatey fudge bunnies.* A few bites may satisfy the curious; and a few chocolate chunks, and chocolate-like bunnies, probably will not irreparably harm your health.

*Yes, we're still suckers for small chocolate animals, including certain chocsimiles (chocolate facsimiles of certain animals and items).

Hershey's - Snapsy Snap-Apart Bunny - April 25, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Hershey's

Snapsy Snap-Apart Bunny

Good

Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 2 oz. (56 g.) in total bunny

Calories: 140 calories in 1/2 bunny

Cost: $1.49 (estimate) for 1 bunny

Purchased from: missing information

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Raspberry Theme Week. Fresh raspberries and chocolate: what a great combination. 

Today's Snapsy Snap-Apart Bunny was from The Hershey Company (Hershey, PA). The sweet, solid milk chocolate bunny did indeed break apart easily; and the first piece to go was the basket the bunny was carrying.

We liked imagining the bunny enjoying fresh green grass, or gathering a raspberry or two into its chocolate basket (to place next to the tiny milk chocolate egg it had) before said bunny disappeared.

Dick Taylor - Single Origin Chocolate Rabbit 72% Belize - April 1, 2018

Chocolate of the Day:

Dick Taylor 

Chocolate Rabbit Single Origin 72% Belize Dark Chocolate

Very Good

Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in total rabbit

Calories: 150 calories (estimate) in 1/2 rabbit

Cost: $15.00 for 1 rabbit

Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Bonus Feature!

This year April Fool's Day and Easter fell on the same Sunday (which also overlapped with Passover). Regardless of where and how you celebrate the return of Spring, today's bonus item would have delighted dark chocolate lovers.

Today's Single Origin 72% Dark Chocolate Chocolate Rabbit was lovely, complex, and made with Belize-grown cacao. This rabbit was not too sweet, and full of exquisitely-crafted and well-balanced flavor depth, including bold fruit, light spice and bittersweet notes.

It was the perfect finish to a great Spring celebration meal, and it was followed by a hike up in the green hills.  

Ghirardelli Chocolate - Milk Chocolate Bunny - Mar. 27, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Ghirardelli Chocolate Company
Milk Chocolate Bunny
Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in 1 bunny
Calories: 152 calories (estimate) in 1 oz. (28.3 g.) of bunny
Cost: $3.50 for 1 bunny
Purchased from: Safeway, Palo Alto, CA

Happy Easter to all who celebrate this Spring (and big chocolate) holiday.

Today I'm featuring Ghirardelli Chocolate Company's blue-ribbon-wearing, milk chocolate bunny named Noe—who was holding what appeared to be a gold Easter egg.

Poor Noe. I've always felt a little guilty biting into any chocolate animal, especially when it has a cute little smile.

To compound my crime, I ate some small, individually-wrapped caramel versions of Noe yesterday (pictured at right). And today we conducted a science experiment by leaving one bun in the sun to see if it would melt into fondue. (It did.)

This classic, hollow milk chocolate rabbit was shared with family and friends.

Thanks to Megan and Jeff for the mini milk chocolate versions of this bunny.

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

ChocolateBet: April 24, 2011

Chocolate of the Day
9 small pieces
L.A. Burdick
Bunny Box
Good + - Very Good
Weight: unknown
Calories: unknown
Purchased from: L.A. Burdick, Walpole, NH

Happy Easter to all -- a huge day for Easter egg hunts, chocolate eggs and rabbits in the U.S.

Given this occasion, L.A. Burdick's Bunny Box seemed to be a great chocolate choice. Today was also Day #26 of Chocolate Egg Appreciation Theme Month. The Bunny Box, with a mix of bunnies, eggs and more, was carried out to the backyard for a chocolate garden feast. Overcast skies didn't deter us.

Out of the wooden box, I selected two chocolate bunnies (white chocolate outside with creamy chocolate filling, and ears made of almonds); 4 flavored marzipan eggs; and 3 different chocolate truffles. The remainder of this box was shared with others. Thank you to Emily and Alec for tasting help.

But these aren't chocolate eggs, some of you may be thinking. Yes, I discovered belatedly that the little fruit marzipan eggs didn't contain any chocolate; but these little gems were packed so closely together that the bunnies were wearing specks of egg sugar on their cheeks, so I made an exception here.

ChocolateBet: April 3, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:
1 package
The Oakland Chocolate Company
Rabbits and Tiny Eggs
Very Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28.35 g.) for 1 package
Calories: 160 calories (estimate)
Cost: $2.00 for 1 pkg. (2 rabbits, 6 tiny eggs)
Purchased from: The Oakland Chocolate Company, Oakland, CA

Today, I continued my homage to the chocolate egg and spring, by picking up a small package of Rabbits and Tiny Eggs, and other chocolates, from The Oakland Chocolate Company.

Earlier this week, I sampled eggs from Hotel Chocolat -- a company that has access to a plantation in the Caribbean. The Oakland Chocolate Company has relationships with farmers in Jamaica, and their chocolates are made with Jamaican Origin cacao -- resulting in a rich, distinctive taste, which made these little rabbits and eggs far superior to most mass market, molded chocolates.

Thank you to Nancy Nadel, the woman behind these handmade artisan chocolates, for staying open a few minutes late, while I battled freeway traffic on my way to pick up this chocolate order. Then,  I needed to drive back to the other side of the Bay. Once back to my car, "quick as a bunny" these chocolates were photographed, and gone. 

ChocolateBet: March 23, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:

1 peep
Just Born
Peeps - Marshmallow Bunnies (Cocoa)
Good+ - nice light cocoa flavor
Wt: ~.3 oz. (~8.4 grams) per peep; 2 3/8 oz. (67 grams) total
Calories: 30 calories per peep
Cost: $0.59? (sale?)
Purchased from: Walgreens, in Palo Alto, CA

Cocoa flavored-peeps. How great is that.

ChocolateBet: March 22, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:

3 solid milk chocolate bunny ears
(1 ear each from Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail chocolate bunnies)
Beatrix Potter The Tale of Peter Rabbit (3 diff bunny characters in series)
Distributed by Frankford Candy & Chocolate C.O.
Product of Chile
Good+ (A bit sweet but richer tasting than most milk chocolate)
Wt: .1 oz. (each ear) x 3 ears = .3 oz.
Calories: ~ 45 calories in three small ears
Cost: $4.50 for all three bunnies (~$1.50 each) sale price
Purchased from: Walgreens, in Palo Alto, CA

ChocolateBet: March 20, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:

1 serving
Palmer (R.M. Palmer Co.)
Hear My Prayer Double Crisp
(A pair of chocolate hands folded in prayer)
Very Good
Wt. 1.5 oz. (42.5 grams)
Calories: 220
Cost: $0.99
Purchased from: Walgreens, in Palo Alto, CA

I was thinking good thoughts while munching on the chocolate hands. This was another Easter related chocolate for this week leading up to Easter Sunday.

Chocolate Bunnies in the news...

I read in an article that last year that more than 90 million chocolate rabbits were produced in the U.S. for Easter. This data apparently came from the National Confectioners Association.

"A survey by the association revealed that 76 percent of chocolate bunny eaters bite the ears first, and 42 percent of sweet eaters preferred solid chocolate bunnies. Of those people surveyed, 21 percent said they preferred a hollow chocolate bunny, 10 percent wanted to see a marshmallow bunny in their basket and 9 percent wanted other types of Easter candies."

This information was from a (New Hampshire) "Telegraph" article by Andrea Bushee entitled "Sweet shops make their own chocolate bunnies" that ran yesterday, Wed. March 19, 2008.