If you grew up in America and are, well, you know, either Christian or otherwise highly acculturated, it's practically impossible not to have fond memories of some kind of Easter candy, no matter how gross: chocolate bunnies, jelly beans in fake green grass, and the inimitable Cadbury Crème Egg. (Me, I pocket a Cadbury Crème Egg every year, because my irrepressible nostalgia extends to teenage shoplifting as well as chocolate).
One of the fanciest shops in Northern California, small-batch Kollar Chocolates in Yountville has some seriously decadent treats, including clever Fried Chocolate Eggs (white or dark chocolate, with a saffron ganache and caramel "yolk," sunny-side-up) for $7.50, chocolate bunnies and ducks splattered in blue or pink drizzle ($15) and two separate Egg Collections, boxes of truffles in either black chocolate with pastel decals or white chocolate with caramel decals ($5-69, for 2-36 pieces).
Sure, they decamped from the Embarcadero for Berkeley, but TCHO's still got Easter covered. Gift boxes of 12 eight-gram, bunny-themed chocolate bars in a variety of flavors are only $16.95. A super-cute tub of 50 bars is temporarily sold out. (There are also boxes imprinted with frogs, which aren't particularly Easter-y but they do also hop).
Ever tasteful, Charles Chocolates has several boxes of chick-and-bunny-themed treats: an 18-piece edible box made with decorated fleur de sel and bittersweet chocolate ($65), and a box of ten honey bunnies ($24) made with black button sage honey and a bittersweet ganache. If you happen to order late and miss the Resurrection of Some People's Lord, don't worry, Easter candy somehow tastes better later.
If you love Easter Eggs so much that you've been disinvited from the White House for knocking children down in the Rose Garden in order to find them, or you buy DVDs only for the hidden special features, Recchiuti has you covered. The Ferry Building's favorite chocolatier has four different boxes of eggs ($20-45), including honeycomb malt chocolate and the sexily-named "Force Noir," a hand-decorated set of 12 eggs with dark chocolate shells and a 70% bitter chocolate ganache ($24).
If you're shopping with kids (or those particularly afflicted with nostalgia) in mind, See's is probably the way to go, because for price and selection, they own this holiday. Whether it's a milk chocolate bunny wrapped in foil ($6), a 13.5-oz chocolate butter egg with pecans ($17.30), or a big old Easter collection box (of chocolate and jelly beans), this is what people want to come home from church and find waiting.
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