A few weeks ago I received a most egg-sellent invite from Peterborough Queensgate Shopping Centre. Get this – they wanted me to visit them for the evening to taste test (i.e. stuff my face with) the Easter treats on offer from Thorntons, Marks and Spencers and John Lewis this year.
I’ve been trying my best to eat healthily since Christmas since that turned into an all out no holds barred assault on my waistline. The thought of turning down a room full of Easter chocolate though? Not a chance! I decided to have the biggest cheat day in the history of cheat days!
I turned up to the Queensgate offices with a couple of my blogging friends and we soon found ourselves face to face with a table choc-full (pun FULLY intended) of Easter treats which was ours to demolish!
First we had to crack (sorry another pun – I can’t stop myself now) how best to dismantle all the treats. I confessed that my usual at home method involves wrapping my refrigerated egg in a bit of kitchen roll and then crushing it on the floor using my knee! I LOVE the satisfying crunch! Since we didn’t have any kitchen roll to hand, however, we settled for a not all that much less violent fist smashing technique. We made a LOT of mess and ate a LOT of chocolate. It was, quite simply, the BEST way to spend an evening.
I picked out my favourites and have put a little gift guide together below to help you match your Easter chocolate to all the people in your life!
When normal Easter Egg chocolate just won’t do, you need the gourmet version!
My absolute favourite egg of the night is this beautifully presented showstopper. The chocolate itself contains delightfully chewy pieces of lemon zest and the centre has yet more of these, beautifully balanced by light and crunchy meringue bites. Being that it’s white chocolate, this one is very sweet but it’s utterly delicious, you’ll just probably find yourself needing a little lie down afterwards!
There are 5 eggs featured in this gorgeous gift set. I loved that each one had it’s own texture as well as flavour to keep things interesting, including Milk Chocolate Honeycomb Crisp, White Chocolate and Mixed Berry, and Almond and Orange.
How adorable is this one? We felt bad for pulling off his arms and legs, but the chocolate was thick and tasty so we soon forgot. Poor little lamb! This one is a hand decorated milk chocolate hollow egg so is suitable for children and avoids being too rich.
My nephews go nuts for anything with a dinosaur on it, so I’m pretty sure they’d think that milk chocolate Spiketail is the best thing since sliced bread. He comes complete with candy coated speckled eggs which are rather yummy on their own – bonus.
This one is a little piece of art! I found the chocolate a bit too bitter for my taste (I have got a very sweet tooth) but my friends ranked this in their top two from the evening, so I had to include it.
This egg looks really posh but has a hidden sense of humour! The lighter side is made from single origin Ecuadorian milk chocolate and the darker side is Dominican Republic dark chocolate. Opening the egg reveals a hidden surprise inside – a golden chicken!
The egg looks completely solid but is actually hollow, which disappointed me initially because I am a greedy guts, until I found that the chocolate is really rich and so not something that you’d want to eat in a huge slab!
This is your classic Easter Egg chocolate – the one that you eat half of and then put away for another day, only to return half an hour later to polish it off! I love Happy Jackson stuff too, the packaging is just always so cheery!
This one would make a great gift for a parent or grandparent. The egg is made from finest 33% milk chocolate and is presented in a lovely keepsake terracotta pot containing a packet of wild flower seeds.
This is a lovely selection of eggs that would be perfect for an Easter Sunday hunt! There are classic hollow milk chocolate ones for the children, but every so often you’ll also come across a yummy hazlenut praline surprise too.
These aren’t your average selection box chocolates, they are full of fruity spring flavour combinations that you might not expect. I wasn’t sure whether I’d like a chocolate flavoured with pineapple until I tried one and then had to hold back from eating the other three in the box! Highly recommended if you like fruit. Pretty sure that these must count as at least 2 of your 5-a-day too. #WishfulThinking
So there you have it – my selections for Easter 2017. Which one takes YOUR fancy?
Disclaimer: This post contains PR samples, but all views expressed are my own because being the kind soul that I am I basically I ate ALL the chocolate so that I could provide an honest review. I know. I’m like the next Mother Theresa or something.
