Candy is a must for an Easter basket, but how about also trying nuts this year, or a scented candle?
Easter chocolates, toffee
The 2023 Easter bundle from Gearharts Fine Chocolates in Charlottesville, Virginia, comes with four different fabrications of milk chocolate favorites, so you can put the whole bundle in one extravagant Easter basket, or break up the set and put each piece in a different basket. The nine-piece box includes peanut butter wildflower honey chocolates filled with Virginia peanut butter, as well as a ganache that combines milk chocolate and local honey, each dipped in milk chocolate and decorated with pastel Easter eggs. The bundle also features a chocolate bunny drizzled with white chocolate, and our two new favorites: a milk chocolate bar that combines dried blueberries with lemon zest, and a box of eight pieces of brown sugar pecan toffee, made with roasted Georgia pecans and dipped in chocolate. Our taste testers loved the blueberry and lemon in the chocolate bar, and the toffee is a perfect combination of brown sugar and nuts.
$50 for Easter bundle. Available at gearhartschocolates.com.
Credit: Crystal Newgen
Credit: Crystal Newgen
McIntosh apple-scented candle
Add something with a beautiful fragrance to your Easter basket: a scented candle from Molly Parks of Ellijay-based Cartecay Candle Co. An elementary school teacher who was looking for a way to augment her income, Parks opened her business early in 2021. She already loved making candles, and decided to sell them in her spare time, while continuing to teach and take classes for a graduate degree. Parks’ candles are made with soy wax. Besides being plant-based, rather than petroleum-based, soy wax burns slower and cleaner than paraffin, and holds fragrance beautifully. Our favorite is the McIntosh apple candle, with its wooden wick and a little wedge of dried apple decorating the top. The delicious-smelling apple fragrance comes from essential oils, and is delicate, but long-lasting. Also available are lavender, lemon verbena and brandied pear candles. Parks even makes a lemon pound cake-scented candle. That’s the one we’ll try next.
$22 per candle. Available at B.J. Reese Apple House and Orchards, A Little Baked Bakery, Belle’s Boutique and Huff’s Drug Store in Ellijay; and M&M Mercantile Co. in Canton. Or, you can order at etsy.com/shop/CartecayCandleCo.
Credit: Stephanie Q. Durham Photography
Credit: Stephanie Q. Durham Photography
Flavored cashews
Add a crunchy treat to your Easter basket with flavored cashews from Elise Artisan Nuts. Lisa Kirkpatrick decided to turn her passion for nuts into a business in 2017, and she won the 2018 UGA Flavor of Georgia competition for her sugar and spice cashews — lightly sweetened and spiced with just a tiny bit of cayenne. She uses premium cashews and offers four flavors: sugar and spice, simply salted, herb and nuts and key lime crunch. The herb and nuts combination is flavored with rosemary and other herbs, as well as a bit of brown sugar. Our favorite might be the key lime crunch, because the lime flavoring is just so unexpected. Best of all, the seasonings don’t overwhelm the sweetness of the cashews. Snack on these nuts straight out of your Easter basket, or try one of Kirkpatrick’s suggestions, including tossing them into salads, chopping and adding them to your morning oatmeal, or using them in place of pecans or walnuts in your next batch of brownies.
$25 for three 4-ounce packages of assorted nuts, $28 for two 6-ounce jars, $20 per 12-ounce bag, $22-$24 per 16-ounce box. Available at 2080 Defoor Ave. NW, Atlanta, or order at eliseartisannuts.com.
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