NEW YORK CITY — Peeps are great, but Peeps covered in artisanal chocolate? Even better.
Chocolatiers and confectioners around the city have come up with a number of inventive ways to elevate the spring tradition of chocolate rabbits and eggs beyond what turned up in our Easter baskets as children.
Here, DNAinfo.com New York rounds up the sugar shops that should top of your shopping list before Sunday.
Bacon and eggs have never been such a sweet combination. For $22, you can get five of Vosges Haut-Chocolat's Goose's Golden Eggs, composed of bacon caramel and dark chocolate. The French chocolatier in SoHo also offers an elegant box of Wandering Rabbit Truffles ($24) filled with Sicilian pistachio cream or Piemonte Hazelnut paste.
The chocolatier who got his start in DUMBO will take your Peeps and raise you one, with a chocolate-covered rendition that come in both rabbit ($5) and chick ($6), in dark or milk chocolate. Because it’s Brooklyn, they’re also serving up hipster Backpack Bunnies ($23) that look like they’re about to mount their fixie bikes and head to the greenmarket.
On the Upper West Side, Sugar and Plumm is offering some eye-popping treats that will be the wonder of any child on the hunt for some Sunday sweets. The shop's Chicks –n- Egg chocolate sculpture ($95) is decorated with white chocolate chicks and flowers, while its Chocolate Egg Crate ($45) and Chocolate Bunny Rabbit ($17.50) are a perfect fit for an Easter basket.
If in need of a show-stopper, Maison du Chocolat’s A Saute Mouton will fit the bill. Sculpted by hand, this landscape of sheep roaming a country hill — made of milk and ivory chocolate, pralines and chocolate soufflé — will set you back $1,200, but scaled-down versions of the chocolate sheep run from $86 to $220.
The Swedish invasion has extended beyond coffee, clothing and furniture to now include candy. With all its treats imported from various locales in Scandanavia, Sockerbit in the West Village will go old school with its traditional papier-mâché eggs, which can be filled with a variety of loose gummy and hard candies ($5 to $21.50).
This Lower East Side staple is a go-to for all your Jelly Belly needs. Also suggested is the self-described “World’s Largest” Gummy Bear ($35), which comes in cherry, blue raspberry or orange.
This unassuming pharmacy on Sixth Avenue at Bleecker Street in the West Village stocks some truly old-school New York treats. Koppers Chocolate Malted Milk Balls have been made in Manhattan since 1937, and today these pastel goodies are still available for $7.95 per bag.