Here to separate the good eggs from the great eggs, we’ve tasted the Easter treats from the UKs favourite retailers. The 2022 eggs range from the innovative to the slightly baffling but the good news is there’s great options here for every taste and budget.
Autore Milk Chocolate Egg with Pistachios, £19.70 – Delicaro
Upper crust food merchant Delicario is selling a selection of eggs made by Campaian cocoa ultras Autore Chocolate. This is the sort of website where you can buy Japanese beef that was pampered to death and special tuna fed exclusively on truffles (probably) so expectations are high.
The thick, milk chocolate comes with a generous pebble-dashing of Bronte pistachios, nuts of protected origin grown on the slopes of Mount Etna. The chocolate isn’t overly complicated but it’s creamy and decadent and nostalgia-inducing in the way only sweet milk chocolate can be, so no complaints there. The depth and textural contrast provided by the pistachios – which taste exactly as fancy as you’d want them to – add up to a seriously satisfying experience. Could only be improved by a little glass of cold grappa on the side. Not for the kids, obviously.
Score: 9/10
Perfect for: Foodies and anyone with opinions about pesto
No.1 Hidden Truffles Blonde Chocolate Easter Egg, £10 – Waitrose
When you open the box there’s a little bit of white text inside that says ‘LOOK UNDER THE EGG TO FIND THE HIDDEN TRUFFLES!’ which somewhat removes the thrill of the chase but never mind. The four little spheroids included are sprayed gold and filled with salted caramel. The human brain is not evolved to cope with the one-two punch of sugar and sodium so they are of course frighteningly delicious.
The blonde chocolate used in the egg itself is made by slowly caramelising white chocolate. This adds Maillard reaction complexity and offers a general upgrade on common-or-garden white chocolate. The rich caramel flavour is countered here with a little more salt and some flakes of crunchy feuilletine but it’s still going to be too cloying for some palates. Very nicely put together but one for the sweet toothed – you know who you are.
Score: 7/10
Perfect for: White chocolate diehards and people who like Caramac bars
Belgian Milk Chocolate Tiramisu Egg, £8.00 – Sainsbury’s
This tall, pointy number from Mr Sainsbury is painted with a go-faster stripe of pleasantly bitter cacao nibs. The fragments of dried cacao give contrast and definition to the unembarrassedly sweet chocolate egg, though they are little grainy on the palate. Some powdered Brazilian coffee in the mix promises to approximate tiramisu but it doesn’t shout quite as loudly as you’d want it to over the other ingredients.
The overall experience is somewhere between a grownup pudding and an old-fashioned milk chocolate sugar fest. It will make a nice gift for the Espresso Martini drinker in your life. Solid stuff.
Score: 6/10.
Perfect for: Breakfast or cocktail hour
Milk Chocolate Honeycomb Easter Egg, £22.99 – Selfridges
In comparison to some other eggs on the list, this is a pretty route one offering. No novel flavours, no truffles – concealed or otherwise – just a glossy egg with embedded crystals of honeycomb. But really, that’s more than enough because this is top drawer. It reminds you that chocolate is a fermented foodstuff like coffee, or cheese, packed with layers and complexity. This isn’t exactly dark but it does have an earthy side that balances perfectly with the sweetness and some very nice dried fruit notes. A class act.
As you’d expect from the yellow bag people the packaging is impeccable. In addition to looking swish the box lists the origin of the beans and the names of the people that grew them, which is a nice touch. Honourable mentions go to the oat chocolate version which is suitable for vegans and milk-dodgers and is likewise excellent.
Score: 10/10
Perfect for: Serious chocolate botherers
Deluxe Single Origin Easter Egg, £4.99 – Lidl
Lidl’s premium offering for 2022 is a single origin egg that’s a respectable 70 per cent cocoa. You get a choice of Ecuadorian or Madagascan beans which come embossed with a vaguely pre-Columbian metallic panther and lizard respectively. Quite stylish, actually. The Ecuadorian tested here is densely aromatic with lots of soft spices, pine nuts and a bit of cigar box on the nose. The shell has a nice snap to it and melts well on the palate with a satisfying bitterness in the finish.
You’re dealing with pretty substantial dark chocolate here but it’s not one of those overly dry, woody numbers that you have to pretend to like because it’s grownup. Everything balances very nicely. This isn’t just good for the price, it’s a stunning piece of chocolate by any measure.
Score: 8.5/10
Perfect for: Food geeks and bargain lovers
Tony’s Chocolonely Egg-stra Special Chocolate Eggs, £3.75 – Ocado
This tray of miniature eggs comes from the Dutch firm committed to eliminating slave labour and child exploitation in the cocoa business, a cause we can all get behind. The dozen individually wrapped chocolates are tiny, ovoid renderings of Tony’s various bars which range from the ingenious – pretzel and toffee – to the vaguely troubling – white chocolate with raspberry and popping candy. There’s something for everyone, even those of slightly outré tastes, so this is a great option for bringing to the office.
In addition to its efforts to clean up the chocolate industry, Tony’s is now B Corp certified, uses only recyclable packaging, and only works with beans that volunteer to be turned into chocolate – so you can feel good about indulging this Easter weekend.
Score: 6.5/10 an average across all 10 flavours
Perfect for: Kid’s parties, colleagues, and anyone with a heart
The Drippy Egg, £10 – Marks & Spencer
A decidedly original offering from M&S, each egg comes is finished with layers of pastel coloured Belgian chocolate poured over the top. It looks nice, a bit like one of those Ai Weiwei vases but without the implied criticism of the CCP. Unfortunately, it’s a bit flat flavour-wise. The shell is pleasant enough but lacks those secondary and tertiary flavours that stand out in a really excellent bit of chocolate.
Still, this is the style we all grew up eating and will satisfy milk chocolate fans of an arty persuasion. Fine work and definitely deserving of an extra point for the presentation.
Score: 5/10
Perfect for: Dairy Milk lovers with Tate memberships
Luxury Dark Chocolate Easter Egg With Truffles, £60 – Charbonnel et Walker
Representing the highest of high-end, this Bond Street chocolatier has been supplying the upper crust with sweets since the 19th century. This dark chocolate is the style for which the house was historically know and even given the price tag it doesn’t disappoint. The box comes stacked with individual creations from the repertoire including the famous boozy truffles but the real star is the egg itself. It’s compact but dense and beautifully textured, neither too bitter or too sweet and melts nicely on the palate without feeling heavy or cloying. It tastes of hazelnuts, black tea, dried berries and a kaleidoscope of other little flavours that change over time. This is chocolate in four dimensions.
If you’re really looking to push the boat out you can pick up this thoroughbred oeuf as part of the Charbonnel et Walker Family Easter Hamper, yours for £140. This statement piece of a chocolate box comes with Peter Rabbit branded treats for the kids and Pink Marc de Champagne truffles for the grownups. Very nice too.
Score: 10/10
Perfect for: Someone you’re trying to impress.
Hand Finished Hot Cross Bun Easter Egg, £6 – Co-op
Lo and behold, the hot cross bun is now available in Easter egg form. This fair-trade chocolate treat promises all the fun of the iconic bread-roll-based pudding and honestly, it really delivers. The shell itself is a little on the thin side but the evocative smell of raisins and orange peel hits you as soon as you crack into it, so it scores well on the nostalgia front. Ginger and cinnamon bring warmth and lift that stops the white chocolate getting too sickly and adds a novel dimension.
Honestly, the only way this could be easily improved is if it incorporated bacon – because as we know the only really sensible thing to do with a hot cross bun is make a breakfast sandwich with it.
Score: 7.5/10
Perfect For: Bun baddies and novelty seekers
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