Cadbury Mini Eggs

Many traditionally "Easter" candies are now available year round. Peeps chicks and bunnies morph into snowmen and pumpkins to make an appearance at Christmas and Halloween. You can buy Jelly Belly jelly beans in August, and now even Cadbury Creme Eggs are available at Christmas. So far, the one Easter treat that has maintained its springtime exclusivity is the Cadbury Mini Egg.

Mini Eggs are a special treat. Their matte, pastel shells lightly freckled with brown dots resembling a robin's egg, seem very sophisticated to me. The combination bite of the crisp, sugary shell with the salty, cocoa-y chocolate does not disappoint either. The creaminess of the Cadbury chocolate seems to coat the whole mouth with goodness, while the sugar shell lasts just long enough to provide a nice bit of crunchiness. Mini Eggs are available in many size packages, but I usually prefer them one small, 50 cent package at a time. I guess it's just a personal preference, I'm sure the large bags taste just as great, but somehow if I have the small package I appreciate eat piece a little more. Plus, when I open the tiny bags they smell just like a package of Swiss Miss hot chocolate - yum!

Cadbury has added the Royal Dark Mini Eggs to their list of offerings. CandyBlog wrote about them last year, but I did not stumble upon them until a recent trip to Kroger. I'm not a huge dark chocolate fan, but curiosity fueled by Mini Egg love got the best of me. The Royal Dark Mini Eggs have darker sugar shells than the traditional Eggs, however they maintain the same matte finish and texture. The combination of the dark chocolate and sugar shell reminded me of nonpareils, in fact I thought they tasted exactly like Sno-Caps. I like Sno-Caps, but I think as an Easter treat I prefer the regular milk chocolate Mini Eggs.