Kate Krader ( @kkrader on Twitter ) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to find our culinary heart's desire, we listen up. If you’re one of those people who rate holidays on the candy scale, Easter scores high. In fact, I’d rank it the second best candy holiday, right behind Halloween. (What, I wonder, is the worst candy holiday? I hate to think about it.) The numbers back me up. – This year, Americans will spend $2.1 billion on Easter candy. That’s 120 million pounds of the stuff. – There should be no shortage of key Easter confections: 16 billion jelly beans and 90 million chocolate Easter bunnies have been made for the holiday. – In the category of good to know: seventy six percent of Americans think you should eat chocolate bunny ears first. While you figure out how you’re making a dent in those excellent statistics, which come straight from statisticbrain.com , here are some other monumental Easter sweets. World’s Largest Chocolate Easter Egg If you think the world’s biggest egg couldn’t possibly weigh more than seven tons, you’re not thinking big enough. According to the estimable Guinness Book of World Records , the winning egg weighed in at 15,873 pounds, or just a little short of eight tons. Created by Tosca in Italy in April 2011, the magnificent candy was over 34 feet tall and, at its widest point, had a circumference of 64 feet. Happiest Chocolate Bunny For those who want to stay positive* for Easter, Jacques Torres’s Smiling Bunny is over two feet tall, hand-painted and available in milk, dark or white chocolate, for $99. You can also get a chocolate chicken or a chocolate rooster. You have to go to one of Torres’s New York City stores to buy them, though. The smaller, cheaper, shippable option is the chocolate pig, in milk or dark chocolate; that’s $12, and a good way to start a whole chocolate barnyard. Jelly Beans Masquerading as Smoothies Jelly Belly has never been afraid to break down flavor barriers in the jelly bean world (among their Rookie Flavors are Birthday Cake Remix and Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip). Now comes their new Superfruit Mix, in flavors that will make you think you’re on line at the juice counter: Acai berry, Barbados cherry, cranberry, blueberry and pomegranate. Yhey’re all made with real fruit juice and purees, but do they make a good smoothie? Peeps Going Mobile Since it's now legal to artificially dye animals in Florida, it should come as no surprise that those signature yellow Peeps are changing colors, too. What's more, you don't have to pick just one color. Please welcome to the world Peeps Rainbow Pops , which are four multi-colored marshmallow Peeps (including turquoise blue, hot pink and neon green) smashed together on a stick. You decide which color tastes best. Newest Indispensable Easter Sweet: Cupcakes I know they’re not exactly in the candy category. But Washington, D.C.'s Georgetown Cupcakes , which recently opened their first store in Manhattan, has adorable Easter cupcakes with fondant bunnies poking out of extruded green grass frosting. If you’ve had enough of Easter by this time, Georgetown celebrates other events via cupcake: April is also the month for Cherry Blossom cupcakes; in May look for Mother's Day Cupcakes with little Mom plaques on top. *Yes, we checked. It's ethically sourced . More from Food & Wine : America's Best Regional Desserts Easter Desserts America's Best Doughnuts Best Breakfast Sandwiches in the U.S. Easter Recipes Previously – The bitter truth behind the chocolate in your Easter basket

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Easter candy overload!

While you're frying up some eggs and bacon, we're cooking up something else: a way to celebrate today's food holiday. Whip it good – April 3 is National Chocolate Mousse Day ! Forget the spoon and just stick your face into a mess of mousse today. While you won't want to comb this kind through your hair, it sure tastes like a chocoholic's dream. A French word that literally means “froth” or “foam,” mousse is both rich and airy, combining the best of both dessert worlds. The secret to its cloudlike texture is beaten egg whites or whipped cream. Julia Child is often credited with making the perfect chocolate mousse . Her precise recipe includes eggs, dark-brewed coffee, butter, bittersweet chocolate, dark rum and vanilla extract. And as David Lebovitz says, since he isn't one to argue with Julia, these individual mousses don't need any adornment once you're ready to serve. A spoon should suffice!

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National chocolate mousse day

As Valentine's Day draws near, the romantically inclined among you are officially in full-on scheming mode. You could partake in a heavy, pricey, prix-fixe meal with one hundred other canoodling strangers at the city's “most romantic” restaurant – or you could go the trés romantique route and woo your beloved the homemade way. For dessert, might we propose a soufflé? Jacques Capsouto, owner of soufflé-centric French bistro Capsouto Frères , is here to deflate the myth of soufflés as kitchen catastrophe. All that's required is a little heart, a soupçon of practice time, a foolproof recipe and someone to share it all with. Soufflé Makes 6 Ingredients Chocolate mixture (recipe below) 8 dashes Grand Marnier or orange liqueur 6 four-inch ramekins, buttered and sugared 16 egg whites (2 cups) Dash of cream of tartar or salt 6 Tbsp confectioners' sugar Chocolate sauce (recipe below) 6 oz crème Chantilly (recipe below) Cooking Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a bowl, combine the chocolate mixture with two dashes of Grand Marnier. Add a dash of liqueur in each ramekin. In another bowl with a mixer, add egg whites and cream of tartar; beat until soft peaks form. Add confectioners' sugar until stiff peaks form. Do not overbeat. Add 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then gently and quickly fold the next third and then the last third. Divide evenly into the six ramekins; tap on the counter to settle and wipe off excess. Bake in oven for 15 to 20 minutes until puffed and golden. (Do not open the oven while the soufflés are cooking.) Serve immediately. At the table, gently pierce the top of soufflé, pour in some of the chocolate sauce and top with crème Chantilly. Chocolate Mixture Ingredients 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup cocoa powder (extra bitter) 3/4 Tbsp butter (melted) Vanilla extract Salt (couple of pinches) Cooking Directions In a pot, bring sugar and water to a boil; allow to cool. Sift cocoa powder into syrup mixture. Add melted butter, vanilla and salt; stir. Chocolate Sauce Ingredients 1/2 lb bittersweet chocolate 1 Tbsp butter 1 cup milk 1 cup heavy cream 1/4 cup sugar Cooking Directions Melt chocolate with butter in double boiler . In a separate pot, bring milk, cream and sugar to a boil. Whisk milk, cream and sugar mixture into chocolate; slowly incorporate each amount before adding more. Crème Chantilly Ingredients 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream 1 tsp sugar 1 dash pure vanilla extract Cooking Directions Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl; beat until thick, either by hand or with a mixer. Do not overbeat. Sugar and vanilla may be adjusted according to taste.

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Rise to the occasion with homemade chocolate soufflé

The owner of JoMart Chocolates proudly calls himself “the son of a son of a candy maker,” and the shop’s employees are family or treated like it.

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Neighborhood Joint | Madison: JoMart Chocolates in Brooklyn Stays in the Family

The owner of JoMart Chocolates proudly calls himself “the son of a son of a candy maker,” and the shop’s employees are family or treated like it.

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Neighborhood Joint | Madison: JoMart Chocolates in Brooklyn Stays in the Family

Kate Krader ( @kkrader on Twitter ) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to get our grub on, we listen up. I’ve always believed that the day after Halloween is better than the holiday itself – November 1st being the day when all candy left on store shelves goes on half price sale. If you’re not like me, if you’re already getting sick of the candy you stole from your kids, or legitimately trick-or-treated for yourself, here are some smart strategies for unloading those sweets. Smash it up My hero in this world is Christina Tosi from NYC’s Momofuku Milk Bar. And my new favorite all-purpose snack food is her ingenious Snack Mix, combining sugar-coated pretzels with broken-up mini candies like Reese’s or Take 5’s. If you don’t feel like smashing up mini bars, you can alternatively toss in peanut M&M’s. Bake it At my house candy corn disappears; that’s not true at everyone's home. Candy corn haters can thus rejoice in the chocolate chip cookies that Momofuku’s Christina Tosi created (hers include a tasty cornflake crunch). They’re studded with the candy – you can’t really taste them, but they look super fun melted into the cookies. Drink it I won’t suggest that this is any kind of power drink, but Snickers lends themselves quite nicely to milkshakes. If you chop them up and mix them with milk and vanilla ice cream, you’re set. Next I’ll be experimenting with Milky Ways. Donate it If you want to unload candy, and do a good deed, your excess mini 3 Musketeers, Raisinets and Starbursts can find their way to troops overseas. Both Operation Gratitude and Operation Shoebox will send the candy to U.S. troops. Local food banks are generally glad to accept your candy, too. Make a mosaic Maybe you don’t want to be the world’s most charitable candy donor. Perhaps you want to be the person who makes the world’s largest candy mosaic. If so, you’ve got your work cut out for you. The current Guinness world record, set in 2010 in Shanghai, is a 516-square-foot mural comprised of Jelly Belly jelly beans. It weighed in at 1540 pounds. So hopefully you have a lot of leftover candy. More from Food & Wine: America’s Haunted Restaurants and Hotels Best Fried Chicken in the U.S. Turkey Recipes Best Pizza Places in the U.S. Best Burgers in the U.S.

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Candy is dandy, but what to do with the extra?

Mobile phone throwing, the Pope and the chocolate piano and dog yoga. It’s the week’s weird and wonderful video stories in Newsbeat’s Odd Box with Dominic Byrne.

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VIDEO: And stretch… dog yoga on Odd Box

A chocolate company dedicated to making more than just brilliant chocolate bars Oakland-based Fearless was created by artist and activist Jordan Michael Schuster in 2006. The company uses organic Cacao from Brazil that’s been crafted to produce two to three times more antioxidants than traditional organic chocolate. The chocolate bars are made with 100% Kosher ingredients and are dairy-, gluten- and soy-free, using mineral-rich unrefined whole sugars. In order to consider the chocolate bars raw, the cacao beans are temperature controlled using water-jacketed equipment.The process includes grinding, mixing, melting and molding the chocolate at temperatures that are under 118

“Peanut butter and jelly” chocolate handcrafted by a Midwestern bean to bar chocolatier Founded in 2006 by Alan “Patric” McClure, Patric chocolate has put the Midwest on the premium confection map. The brand, born from the founder’s deep love of chocolate and an influential trip to France, offers a variety of delicious craft-made bars. A leader in the artisanal/micro-batch chocolate community, McClure has been involved with the Craft Chocolate Makers of America since its start and is currently serving as its chairperson. Our appreciation of American craft chocolate makers—from the Mast Brothers to Rogue to fellow Missouri-based Askinosie is well documented. Patric currently offers eight chocolate bars—both blends and single origin, with standouts like the signature 70% blend helping put the brand on the gourmand map. Last year’s introduction of the PBJ OMG—dark roasted peanut butter and cacao balanced with natural bursts of berry from the chocolate—manages to pull off the salty-fruity appeal of the classic sandwich in a melt-in-your-mouth form. Marketed for ages “1-120,” this bar truly offers something for just about every palate. The line sells from Patric’s online store and select retailers (though the PBJ OMG only for a limited time) starting at $7.

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Patric Chocolate

When people imagined themselves eating M & M’s or pieces of cheese, they became less likely to gorge themselves on the real thing, research shows.

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Findings: Real Evidence for Diets That Are Just Imaginary

Chocolate to melt away the woes of the U.S.’s biggest shopping day of the year While Black Friday refers to the day that often finally puts retailers in the black for the first time in the year, other phrases—black tie, black label, black book, black diamond—imply the class of spoils that such a cash infusion might afford. Playing on the concept, Compartes Chocolate’s Black Collection , launched today, makes a fitting gift for a CEO with a sweet tooth. Impossible to resist, the collection uses premium ingredients—black sesame and wasabi, Macallan single-malt scotch, black truffles, and Guinness Stout—paired with sumptuous patterns in edible ink and organic single-origin dark chocolate (all fair-trade certified from Madagascar, Venezuela and Ecuador) to make each a little handmade jewel of chocolate decadence. L.A. chocolatier Jonathan Grahm, Compartes founder with over 200 seasonal flavors under his belt, created the flavors and explained the process of matching flavors, “I brought in these amazing black truffles and I started to play around with different chocolates to blend them with and came up with something incredible. The Macallan 15-year single-malt scotch is another great ingredient on its own, blending it with luscious dark chocolate compliments its flavor.” Going on to describe a bit of the philosophy behind the blends, as well as his approach to packaging them, Grahm said, “I wanted to create a unique and different chocolate experience where I can blend these interesting flavors together and let them also stand out on their own. Each box is composed of just these four new black collection truffles allowing you to really get a taste of this interesting and special chocolate combinations.” Compartes Black Collection premieres Black Friday—26 November 2011—and is available as a twenty piece for $55 and ten piece for $30.

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Compartes Limited Edition Black Collection

Chocolate designer Valerie Gordon weighs in on her new collaboration Inspired by Byzantine tiles, Commune Design and Valerie Confections collaborated on a new collection of handmade chocolates. The cardboard box comes printed with an image of the tile design inside, which itself is comprised of 49 pieces of 72% bittersweet chocolate embellished with chocolate transfers made from colored, tempered cocoa butter. We asked Valerie Gordon of Valerie Confections to share some of the collaborative process with Cool Hunting. What aspects of the Commune aesthetic are similar to creating chocolates? Commune’s approach to materials is like our approach to ingredients. Everything is built around honoring the natural aesthetic of the materials, or in our case the flavors of the ingredients. We each also have a very clean, uncluttered look to our work. There’s a great quote, alternately attributed to Mies van der Rohe and R.M. Schindler: “An interesting plainness is the most difficult and most precious thing to achieve.” I think, conciously or unconciously, that’s what we’re each trying to achieve. How did this collaboration come about? We did their holiday gifts one year, and have been friends for a while. Then Roman and I were chatting at a party, talking about our various collaborations and we both just realized that we should do something together. Where did the idea of the tile come from? It originally came from Steven, one of the principals at Commune. The tile is his design, and we all started talking about how to translate it into chocolate. Then I figured out the proportion of it, and that it should go in a box that looks like you’d get tile in it. Originally, we were going to seal the box with a really wide rubber band, but that evolved into the graphic sticker that they designed. Completely organic, and very easy. How much does that fact that both companies are located in L.A. have an impact on the final design? Hugely. Especially with something like this collaboration, where you have to see, and touch, and taste to really understand how it’s all coming together. And the city and your surroundings continually impact your aesthetic. The same forces and inspirations play on us, which would be different if we were both in New York or Chicago. Commune Chocolates by Valerie Confection is available at the Valerie Confections shop near downtown Los Angeles and online at Valerie Confections and at the Commune Design Community Shop .

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Commune Chocolates

Tcho’s aim is to win the hearts of chefs in New York with its gastronomic chocolate.

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Hoping Chefs Will Melt for Tcho Chocolate

Raw chocolates infused with love potions, immune-boosters and more Previously featured as a raw, vegan chocolate option among many, Gnosis stands out for their inventive approach to the concept. Three new “added bonus” flavors, the Aphrodisia Bar, The Superberberry Lime Bar, and the Sacred Feminine Bar, add to their already full line-up of nutritious and antioxidant-rich bars. The Aphrodisia Bar , appropriately-named for its “stimulating” ingredients, includes Horny Goat Week and Maca—known to increase sexual potency, stamina and energy. Packed with berries galore, the Superberry Lime Bar fortifies with antioxidants, vitamins and micronutrients. A variety of berries, such as the Shizandra Berry and the Camu Camu Berry, will help strengthen the body’s defenses against disease, stress, anxiety, and will lend overall strength to immune systems and general well being. The Sacred Feminine Bar is a chocolate bar made specifically with Venus in mind. Filled with medicinal herbs, the bar promises to alleviate any pain during a woman’s “sacred cycle of life.” With key ingredients such as Cramp Bark and Dong Quai mixed in, reducing womanly symptoms can feel like an indulgent treat. Made entirely by hand in NYC, Gnosis bars sell for just over $9 from their site .

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Three New Gnosis Flavors

One man bean-to-bar chocolate making in Minneapolis At a mere 24-years-old, Colin Gasko is fervently bringing the fine art of bean-to-bar chocolate making to the Midwest. Over the past few years, the Minneapolis-based Rogue Chocolatier has experimented with techniques and flavors for a well-crafted assortment of small batch, single origin chocolate bars. Gasko sources his own cocoa and oversees the entire three-day-long production process—from cleaning and roasting the cocoa beans to molding and packaging the chocolates in letterpress-printed paper. Gasko offers four different flavors of chocolate created from beans around the world, as well as the occasional limited edition. Nearly every recipe is a simple combination of chocolate and sugar, with nothing else added. We recently put two bars to the test—the Hispaniola and Rio Caribe. The Hispaniola, sourced from the Dominican Republic, is a smooth chocolate with the right balance of acidity and fruity notes. The intensely flavored Rio Caribe adds even more intrigue, comprised of fully fermented Trinitario cacao sourced from Venezuela’s Paria Peninsula. According to Gasko, Rogue Chocolatier is the first company stateside to produce a single origin bar from Rio Caribe and possibly one of the only two in the world, with Domori the other. Other flavors include Piura from Peru—a distinct floral aroma with a buttery flavor of nuts, cocoa and raspberries—and the Sambriano from Madagascar—a bar packing plum, citrus, berry and cedar tones. Rogue Chocolatier bars sell for $7-$9 a bar from his online shop or at select stores around Minneapolis, such as Rustica (a CH favorite offering delicious coffees and sandwiches).

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Rogue Chocolatier