Friday, March 18, 2016

Extraordinary Eggs Marbled Chocolates

It is a new season, spring, and you know what that means:  SEASONAL PRODUCTS AT TRADER JOE’S!  Granted, springtime does not bring with it the plethora of products that autumn does (can you say PUMPKIN anyone??), but none-the-less, it is exciting to see different, limited time offerings on the shelves.

oops - a bit blurry - sorry.
And of course I need to try and review at least one seasonal product!  Which is why I invested in these Extraordinary Eggs Marbled Chocolates!  I say “invested” because at $4.99, these are more expensive than your average Easter candy J (think hollow waxy chocolate bunny or hard as a rock jelly beans…).

They are EXTRAORDINARY - it says so right in the product name!
I had seen these at our local Northern Virginia Trader Joe’s, so when I was perusing the shelves this week at the Omaha, Nebraska TJ’s I had them on my (mental) grocery  list.  Oddly though, I couldn’t find them.  They weren’t on the “new products” end cap, nor were they in the fancy ass chocolate section.  So I asked and was led to them – hidden in an unfortunate area by the cookies over the frozen foods.  I would say put those suckers out where people can see them and get excited about them, but maybe the Omaha store was trying to do the whole “hide the Easter egg” thing…

Anyway, I was in charge of making a nice dinner for some of my family members and a friend, so these fancy eggs were part of that event.  I gave every person one beautiful chocolate egg in a dainty little bright colored bowl at their place setting.  They were lovely!  In fact, they were SO LOVELY that at least two people at the dinner thought they were WOODEN EASTER DECORATIONS!!  J  No lie!

A small photo of a small egg in a small bowl
Here is how these pretty little eggs went down:

Me:  First off, they are gorgeous.  The “painting” on the outside coating is like artwork.  I like that they were SHINY, too.  The green ones looked BLUE to me - like robin eggs with little spots.  There are 16 eggs in a package, and the packaging itself is also very pretty – it almost looks like the treats are riding in a delicate little gold egg carton.  There are 4 different flavors of eggs – almond praline, caramel, raspberry, and crispy cookies.  By the time I finished dinner (which was all Trader Joe’s food, of course…) I really was not hungry for dessert, but the eggs are tiny and so I could “squeeze one in”.  It was quite yummy!  I thought they were rich and delicious.  They are from France and really taste like quality chocolate (not, as mentioned above, like the crappy Easter candy of my youth).  (Note:  not that my youth was bad!!  But these eggs are to the jelly beans of my youth as a 1972 Ford Pinto is to a 2016 Prius J ).  The package says a serving size is 3 eggs, which seems like tooooo many to me.  One was plenty, and I can see someone eating two.  But three would be overkill.  I think these would make a wonderful gift.   I would give these a 4.75, the high score representing their beauty as much as the taste.

These are real robin eggs in a nest at my house, but don't they look like the Extraordinary Eggs at Trader Joe's?
Jordan (my nephew): “ I enjoyed the fact that these Easter eggs looked like REAL EGGS, not candy.  I tried hard to separate mine into 4 bites so I could show everyone what was inside. When I bit it, it did not crumble apart.  These are very well made.  I savored each bite.  I don’t think that I could eat more than one, it was so rich, but delicious.  I would give these a 4.”

Jordan, carefully biting his egg into pieces to show us the inside of it
















Sherry (my sister):  “These are very good.  They are PRETTY.  They are not your typical Easter candy looking egg.  I would give them a 4.5.”

Sherry, enjoying her Extraordinary Egg
















Zach (Jordan’s partner):  “I thought the eggs were very good.  They were very rich and chocolately.  I like the way they look, too, they are very pretty.  I would give these a solid 3.”

Abhishek (new friend from India):  “I found these were DECEIVING!  I thought it was a showpiece, but it turned out to be CHOCOLATE!!!  I would give them a 3.25.”

Jim:  “I thought the same thing Abhishek did!  I thought they were wooden and I was pleasantly surprised that they didn’t taste like WOOD!  I would give them a 4.”

Sherry and Jim:  "These are muuuuch better than a Cadbury egg.  And much better than a Brach’s egg!"

Everyone at the dinner party:  THESE ARE MUCH BETTER THAN A WOODEN EGG!

This is a classic photo of my sisters and I one Easter.  Sherry is rocking a hat. Annette is standing in a fashion model pose. And me?  Well, I look like I must have had to pee.
I am pleased to say that I have a few of these eggs to bring home to David when I return!  He will be very happy with them I am sure.  I recommend you buy a package before TJ's runs out of them.  They are a sweet way to celebrate the arrival of springtime. 

Price: $4.99 (which is more than a hollow chocolate Easter bunny from the drug store, but when you do the math each little beautiful egg is only .31 cents!)
Rating (average of 6 raters): 4

Note:  Trader Joe’s has similar looking chocolates in the shape of marbles.  I suspect they are the same, but have not tried those.  But if you buy these egg shaped ones and get addicted, I think you can get your fill with the marble shaped ones when the eggs are out of season J

4 comments:

  1. Please do a review of the new black bean pasta, frozen seafood paella, and frozen tempura cauliflower!

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    1. OH I have not seen the Frozen Seafood Paella yet!!! But now that you mentioned it my mouth is watering, so you know I will hunt it down! I will look for the cauliflower and black bean pasta, too! Thanks for the suggestions. :)

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  2. I saw these and they are beautiful! How perfect to have as a mini dessert at Easter. TJs chocolates are all so good.....
    Ttrockwood
    PS
    The black bean pasta is really easy to overcook so be careful- and it tastes exactly like black beans. Which was kinda weird. New Kalamon olives are amazing- and i used the olive oil they come in to make a salad dressing so it's like a two for one :)

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    1. We got the Black Bean Pasta last night... I am a wee bit nervous to eat it after your "it tastes exactly like black beans" comment... I mean, I LIKE black beans, but will I like black beans posing as PASTA??? I think we are going to make the recipe on the back of the package with Alfredo Sauce, shrimp, etc. However, everyone else at Trader Joe's must be making that same thing, cuz they were out of Alfredo Sauce :).

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