Eggs, an Easter tradition

That's why the best mass market chocolate-covered marshmallow egg available is the one made by Missouri's own Russell Stover company, headquartered in Kansas City.

If you were asked to identify the biggest candy holiday in America you might very well select Valentine's Day, when heart-shaped boxes of chocolates crowd out nearly every other confection on store shelves. But you'd be wrong.

It turns out that by next week, on Easter Sunday, Americans will have spent twice as much on candy as they did on Valentine's Day.

On second thought, perhaps this should not be that surprising given the wide variety of Easter candies available: chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, Peeps, and the most iconic, and my favorite, the chocolate-covered marshmallow egg.

Most iconic because eggs have been symbolic of Easter for centuries. In fact, one legend, from Poland, says that when Mary Magdalene went to the sepulcher to anoint the body of Jesus she was carrying a basket of eggs which, by the time she arrived, had miraculously assumed the colors of the rainbow. Ever since, the egg has been seen by Christians as a symbol of life and resurrection.

Chocolate-covered marshmallow eggs, of course, are a much more recent phenomenon. Simple chocolate eggs without the marshmallow began making their appearance in the early 19th century and it took a while for them to take hold because initially they weren't very good. Only after advanced chocolate-making techniques were developed by the Dutch inventor Van Houten and the British Cadbury brothers (whose famous egg was not introduced until 1905), did the mass production of molded chocolate eggs became feasible. Before long, candy-makers also figured out how to mass produce marshmallows and the stage was set for the creation of the chocolate-covered marshmallow egg.

This is not to suggest that manufacturing such confections is easy. Like any concoction with few ingredients (here only two), it all depends on the raw materials, namely the marshmallow and the chocolate. Obviously, an egg made with inferior chocolate will itself be inferior, but, I have discovered, even eggs covered with pretty good chocolate can be flawed by stiff and insipid marshmallow.

That's why the best mass market chocolate-covered marshmallow egg available is the one made by Missouri's own Russell Stover company, headquartered in Kansas City. Having gone through a dozen in writing this, I can assure you they get both the chocolate and the marshmallow right.

They've had lots of practice. The company traces it roots back nearly a hundred years to when Russell first met his future wife, Clara, fittingly in a sweets shop. The couple got into the candy business by selling confections Clara made in their little home kitchen. They called their operation Mrs. Stover's Bungalow Candies.

Today it would take a bunch of bungalows to house the company's output. The third-largest chocolate company in the country behind Hershey and Mars (to whom they happily entrust the candy bar business), Stover sells nearly 100 million pounds of chocolate annually at more than 70,000 retail stores plus 45 company-owned shops like the beautiful new one in St. Louis. Today, the company is valued at something around $1 billion.

No wonder, then, that it was a box of Russell Stover chocolates that Forrest Gump had with him on that bench in the opening scene of his eponymous movie. I wouldn't be surprised if around Easter time he was a fan of the chocolate-covered marshmallow eggs too.

TOM HARTE

Easter Puffs

In 1969 Edna Walker of Hopkins, Minn., won the 20th annual Pillsbury Bake Off and took home $25,000 for a recipe which essentially was little more than marshmallows baked in crescent dough. This recipe resurrects that concept for Easter and goes one step further than Edna did: Instead of crescent dough we've substituted genuine puff pastry and in place of mere marshmallows we've used Russell Stover chocolate-covered marshmallow eggs.

2 sheets (10x15-inches each) puff pastry dough

12 Russell Stover chocolate-covered marshmallow eggs

2 tablespoons melted butter

On a surface lightly dusted with flour, spread out puff pastry sheets and cut each into 6 rectangles, roughly 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches. Roll up one marshmallow egg into each rectangle making sure to seal edges so that egg is completely covered. Place on baking sheet and brush the tops with melted butter. Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes until golden. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Tom Harte's book, "Stirring Words," is available at local bookstores. A Harte Appetite airs Fridays 8:49 a.m. on KRCU, 90.9 FM. Contact Tom at semissourian.com or at the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699.

An Easter puff hot from the oven oozes chocolate and marshmallow.