Easter
Easter eggs are always a disappointment, historically. While dairy-free, soya-free chocolate bars are reasonably easy to find – limited items like Easter eggs are much less prevalent. Well, usually anyway… This year there seem to be a sudden surge in suitable options. I’ve managed to get my hands on a few different eggs already and there’s at least one that I know exists but I’ve struggled to find in shops yet. Mostly I’m just glad that they exist but I thought I’d let you know what I think of them too…
- Booja Booja chocolate truffle eggs
This was the one I was most excited about. Booja booja, of truffle fame on this site, have made Easter eggs with truffles for a couple of years it seems. As with all things Booja booja, they’re not cheap: A small egg and 3 truffles for £10 or a large with 12 truffles for £25. I have no doubt that they’d be worth it (as a treat) but I can’t actually vouch for this as I haven’t managed to get my hands on them yet. I should have ordered them online but I assumed we’d be able to find them locally… I’ll update once I’ve managed to try one, particularly as I’m curious what the egg itself will be like. I love both their truffles and their ice cream but I can’t imagine what their chocolate would be like.
- Montezuma dark chocolate button egg
As probably my go-to for dairy-free, soya-free dark chocolate (we pretty much make an annual pilgrimage to the Montezuma store in Kingston-Upon -Thames every December to stock up for Christmas), I was a little disappointed by this egg. It’s good dark chocolate but it seems very dark in comparison to some others. £9.99 for an medium egg with a bag of buttons, I have no doubt we’ll eat it all up but not the first one I’ll look to get next year. Ironically their bags of dark chocolate buttons are perhaps my favourite chocolate hit – maybe it just doesn’t work as well as an Easter egg.
It’s worth pointing out that they also do a milk-free “milk-chocolate” egg with the genius name of ‘like no udder’. However I chose not to get this one having had the advent calendar and not being overly impressed.
- Divine (smooth hazelnut or pink Himalayan salt) eggs
The surprise stand out winner in this taste test! We tried the smooth hazelnut flavour and it’s both mine and my wife’s favourite. I’ve never been particularly fussed about the Divine dark chocolate bars but with the hazelnut paste in the egg it’s smoother and creamier than any of the others here. As someone who has got very used to eating dark chocolate but secretly misses milk chocolate, this feels dangerously close to having something sweet more than dark again. You only get an medium sized-egg, rather than any extra bars/buttons etc…, but at £5.25 it’s notably cheaper than other eggs on the list. (But still ludicrously expensive for something hollow and packaged in large cardboard).
- Divine (small selection pack) eggs
On the success of the smooth hazelnut egg above, I’m very excited to try each of these. I’ve had some of the Ginger and Orange flavour and that’s good. For £8 you can get 5 miniature eggs of various flavours (Raspberry, Ginger and Orange, Pink Himalayan Salt, Smooth Hazelnut and 70% Cocoa). If the other flavours are anywhere near as good as the large hazelnut egg I’ll be very happy!
- Green and Blacks organic dark chocolate egg
Green and Black’s Velvet Edition Orange and Almond dark chocolate bar is probably the most commonly found chocolate bar in our snack drawer. Yes we have a snack drawer, I think it’s something to do with being a parent. Or greed. One of the two… But considering how much we like the chocolate, I felt compelled to try their Easter egg. They do a big and small box/set. The small is just a medium egg for £6.59, where the large comes with bars that contain milk (one to look out for). These are probably my second favourite after the Divine hazelnut – a good solid (hollow) dark chocolate egg: more sweet than bitter.
- Lindt dark 70% mini eggs
I had to include these just because I was surprised than anything from Lindt could make the list. Technically a box of mini eggs rather than an ‘Easter Egg’ box but worth a mention. The chocolate is nice and rich but (to me at least) surprisingly hollow. Good for an Easter egg hunt or something similar. £3.99 for 90g, the cheapest item here but not really worth of full Easter egg treat status.
- Moo Free various eggs
I’m not a huge fan of Moo Free chocolate. It’s great that it exists and I would have thought was good for those with more severe allergies than us, but I’ve always been a bit disappointed by the actual chocolate itself. That said, I’ve heard more positive things recently so maybe I should go back and try again. Either way they do both a dark and a ‘milk’ chocolate egg as well as a sea salt and caramel. Different sizes range from £4 to £6, so good value compared to others. Do let me know if you think I’m missing out by not trying them if you like them.
- Rhythm 108 mini-eggs
In comparison to the Lindt mini eggs – these are fantastic little Easter treats. £1.25 for a little bag of 6, they’re not cheap but they’re solid with a hazelnut truffle filling rather than hollow. These are the mini eggs I’d want to find on an Easter egg hunt if I was doing one.
As with any of my reviews it’s worth pointing out that we’ve only limited dairy and soya as ingredients. Please check any packaging yourself to make sure it’s suitable for your particular requirements.