BLIND taste tests of more than 70 Easter treats have revealed the best chocolate eggs and hot cross buns on sale this year.
BBC Good Food's expert judging panel sampled products from 11 national supermarkets to come up with the 'definitive list' of top buys for 2019.
Marks & Spencer came out on top with wins across five categories while Waitrose won two and Tesco and Asda picked up an award each.
Here's the list in full with the judges' comments under each winner:
Best milk chocolate egg
Handmade fruit and nut milk chocolate lattice egg, £12, M&S
"This elegant egg has an intricate design and classic flavours. The nuts add a welcome savoury hit."
Best dark chocolate egg
Duchy Organic dark chocolate cocoa pod, £10, Waitrose
"The unique shape, glossy finish and ever-so-slightly salty chocolate made this a big hit with us."
Best white chocolate egg
The Bee’s Knees white chocolate egg with caramelised sugar, £8, M&S
"A fresh spin on white chocolate, this has toasty toffee undertones."
Best dairy-free chocolate egg
Free-from Belgian dark chocolate egg with vanilla-flavoured truffles, £5, Asda
"We’re often impressed by Asda’s free-from range, and this egg is no exception."
Best luxury chocolate egg
Hand-iced Easter egg with fleur de sel truffles, £15, Waitrose
"This egg is luxury chocolatier standard, from the delicate icing to the incredible salted truffles."
Best kid’s chocolate egg
M&S Chicky Chicky Bang Bang, £10
"Ideal for an Easter egg hunt, this playful egg has universal appeal thanks to the quality chocolate that adults will love too."
Best hot cross buns
Luxury hot cross buns, £1.50, M&S
"The clear winner of this round, these buns are sticky, light, perfectly spiced and packed with juicy fruit."
Best gluten-free hot cross buns
Free-from hot cross buns, £2, Tesco
"The most similar to a traditional hot cross bun, we liked the light texture and even fruit distribution."
Best flavoured hot cross buns
Salted caramel and chocolate hot cross buns, £1.50, M&S
"These decadent buns are generously filled with rich caramel and chocolate chips."
Natalie Hardwick, reviews editor for BBC Good Food, said: “We love Easter as it’s when supermarkets really use their creativity to develop fun, eye-catching bakery and chocolate products.
"We were impressed by this year’s Easter egg categories, with some winning products rivalling those made by expensive chocolatiers.
"Free-from categories continue to go from strength to strength which is encouraging.
"As for the all-important hot cross bun categories, after tasting dozens of contenders, some of our favourite products were the flavoured buns – they may not be traditional, but with berries and chocolate being this year’s on-trend flavours, we’re on board with this growing category.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel