I saw Candy Blog's review of The Original Lava Bar, "the world's first liquid chocolate bar," and it just seemed too odd not to pass along. Basically, this is a pouch of corn syrup, chocolate liquor, butter and sugar, among other things. Cybele likens it to "very, very good brownie batter." That was enough to make me want to steer clear of it, but she goes on to give it a decent review, saying that while slurping it out of the pouch was a little odd, the stuff did well on things like pretzels and almonds. Still, she says, it doesn't satisfy like real chocolate. I also find it a little odd that the Lava Bar site bills it as a "no-mess" chocolate bar. It looks a little messy. I guess this is the opposite of those chocolate bars that won't melt.

Cadbury Mini Eggs are one of the best things about Easter, right alongside Peeps and Whopper Robin Eggs. The single bad thing about them, in fact, is that the are only for sale around the springtime holiday, so you have to stock up during the days after Easter Sunday when all the seasonal candies are on sale.

Just like the majority of non-imported Cadbury products sold in the US, the mini eggs are made on license by Hershey's. While Hershey's does a respectable job of replicating the taste of the milky Cadbury chocolates in their bars, in no single candy is the taste better than these chocolates. The mini eggs are coated in a thin, crisp candy shell. Unlike most candy-coated chocolates, the shell is delicate and not shined to a high gloss. Instead, the spotted pastel eggs have a matte finish that gives them a more egg-like appearance and a more textured mouth feel. The shell melts away quickly - if you can resist chewing it unlike me - to reveal the ultra-creamy milk chocolate center of the egg.

There are lots of excellent chocolate eggs to choose from, but I dare say that there is no better solid chocolate one than these.

As some of you may recall, back when Sarah Gim profiled me, I said that Peeps should be banned from the planet. Surprisingly, there wasn't too much backlash from that. My views aside, there seems to be plenty of affection for these marshmallow creatures around here. Not that I ever condone eating Peeps, but if you must, then I think perhaps the best way is to make some sort of spectacle out of it, such as warming them up a tad with a kitchen torch. That's what Colleen Cuisine did.

Props to Colleen for keeping it interesting without resorting to costumes. The folks over at GBSFood did something similar a while back, with their "Peeps brulee."

[Photo: Colleen Cuisine]