Hopping Down the Candy Trail

Terrain, an offshoot of Anthropologie that focuses on the garden and country life, makes Easter candy that’s elaborate enough to save. Hand-painted white-chocolate asparagus (with a dark-chocolate center) are four for $30. They’re from Woodhouse Chocolates in Napa Valley. A box of Fresh Crop Chocolates, six pieces in all, is $18. Made of Belgian white chocolate by Lock & Key Confectionery of Delaware. All are available at www.shopterrain.com. / Photos courtesy Terrain.

California’s Woodhouse Chocolates makes this adorable Chocolate Mushroom House, 2.25 inches high. It’s $14 at Terrain, www.shopterrain.com. / Photo courtesy Terrain.

An assemblage of Easter candies available at Terrain, www.shopterrain.com. Terrain’s shop is in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. / Photo courtesy Terrain.

Periwinkle Gifts features some very sophisticated eggs: Blue sugar shells cover chocolate and caramel, $8.50 for an 8-ounce bag. The basket shown is $16.95. The old-fashioned sugary panoramic eggs are $6.95 each. Periwinkle, 3815 Livingston Street NW; 202-364-3076; www.periwinklegiftsdc.com. / Photos courtesy Periwinkle.

A charming oval box made in Germany holding 6 ounces (about 24 count) of these speckled “robin’s eggs” is a lovely gift at $11.99. The thin candy shell cloaks dark chocolate and rich truffle filling. At area Williams-Sonoma stores and www.williams-sonoma.com. / Photo courtesy Williams-Sonoma.

Okay, these are not candy eggs. They’re polished alabaster from Italy, available from Williams-Sonoma, and very pretty. A set of six is $39.95, a set of 24 $149.95. Williams-Sonoma also has a charming porcelain tray that looks like the bottom half of a traditional egg carton, for displaying any kind of decorative egg. The tray holding a dozen eggs is $14.95. At area Williams-Sonoma stores and www.williams-sonoma.com. / Photos courtesy Williams-Sonoma.

Sur La Table sure has fun with Easter! The chick candles, already on sale, are $8.36 for half a dozen. The Chick Appetizer Plate–about 5.5 inches across–is $6.26. And the cotton Child’s Spring Apron is $13.96. All at area Sur La Table stores and www.surlatable.com. / Photos courtesy Sur La Table.

I WAS THE KID who ate her chocolate Easter bunny before the end of the day. My sister’s bunny would be found, nibbled at, on a shelf in her closet many months later. So little wonder that I still love to look at Easter candy even with no Easter basket in the offing.

The sweet bits I’ve found recently in no way resemble the mass confections we loved as kids. They’re far too pricey for that. And the sophisticated fillings may not be what appeals to young palates anyway. (Also, frankly, if hand-painted chocolate asparagus are going to work out to $7.50 per, I’d rather view them as tabletop decorations to be refrigerated and used the next year, and perhaps the year after that!)

We present these as entertainment, but if something captures your fancy, act quickly: The Easter Bunny arrives next Sunday.

–Nancy McKeon