Dairy Free Easter Treats

So the (now) traditional 'this is where to get your dairy free Easter egg' post has been up on the blog for some while, this post is a bit of a follow-up really - where to get some other bits and pieces that may come in handy!

Easter Egg Hunts:

I'm kicking off with these fab mini eggs from D & D chocolates. They are dairy free, gluten free and nut free. They are only available online at the mo. Being foil-wrapped, they are all good to go. However, you have to get your skates on to get these, as they may sell out fairly quickly. There are other dairy free treats available on their site though. To see their range, click here!

We love these!

Ingredients:
Cocoa Mass, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Emulsifier: Sunflower Lecithin, Vanilla. 

Allergy Advice: May contain traces of soya. Made in a nut free environment.



These Plamil Dairy Free Chocolate Halves, are great slipped into plastic eggs from Poundland:

Great for egg hunts!

They are also gluten free, Vegan and nut free, and made without soya, but 'may contain soya'). You can buy them from Holland and Barrett (currently buy one, get one half price). If your Holland and Barrett don't stock them, you can now order them online and have them delivered to your local store.

Ingredients:
Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Rice Powder, Rice Syrup, Rice Starch, Rice Flour, Cocoa Mass. Emulsifier: Sunflower Lecithin.

Allergy Advice: May contain soya.

Plamil also these chocolate bunnies; both of which you can buy at Holland and Barrett. Why two? Well the one on the right has the same ingredients as the chocolate egg halves, whereas the one on the left is made under their 'Lots of this, None of that' label. Lots of This, None of That is made completely soya free.

Similar but different!

Lots of This, none of That ingredients:
Cocoa butter, Sugar, Rice Powder (rice syrup powder, rice starch, rice flour), Cocoa Mass, Chicory Root Extract. Emulsifier: Sunflower Lecithin.


Choices also make chocolate bunnies that you can find easily in the main supermarkets (Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's). There are two to choose from, one white, one dairy free 'milk chocolate'. 

99p in Asda!

Prices vary from store to store, but generally they are priced around £1 each. Choices chocolate is dairy, gluten and egg free but made with soya lecithin.


Haribo

Such fun!

Haribo make these great sweets in mini packs. They are dairy free, gluen free and nut soya free. You can buy a multipack like this, or even a bucket of them if you wish, in places like Tesco and Waitrose.

Ingredients:
Glucose Syrup; Sugar; Gelatine; Dextrose; Citric Acid; flavouring fruit and plant concentrates: apple, aronia, blackcurrant, elderberry, grape, kiwi, lemon, mango, orange, passion fruit, safflower, spirulina; Glazing Agents: beeswax, caranuba wax; Caramelised Sugar Syrup; Elderberry Extract.




Cake Decoration:

You may have seen Easter nests appearing in cafes, or local schools and play groups may be making them and you may wonder how to make them yourself (in which case click here) or how to replace those eggs on the top. These mini eggs from Waitrose could be your answer!

A little larger than Cadbury mini eggs!

OK, so they're a little larger than your Cadbury mini eggs, that other people use on theirs, but hey, they're better than nothing!

The ones on the left are basically like jelly beans (also an acceptable alternative, although make sure you read ingredients labels carefully, some contain milk etc.). 

Point to note, for Vegans, these eggs are not Vegan.

Ingredients: 
Sugar, *wheat glucose syrup, thickener gum arabic, gelling agent pectin, acidity regulators citric acid and trisodium citrate, flavourings apricot, orange, pear, pineapple and raspberry, glazing agents beeswax, white and yellow and shellac, colours beta-carotene, chorophyllins, cochineal, riboflavin and vegetable carbon. 

Allergy Advice: May contain nuts and peanuts.
*Wheat glucose syrup is technically gluten free, due to way it is manufactured.


The eggs on the left are made with marzipan, so no good for the nut allergic, I'm afraid!

Ingredients:
Sugar, Marzipan (almonds, sugar, water invert sugar syrup), rice starch, wheat glucose syrup, alcohol, thickener gum arabic, colours chorophyllins and plain caramel, pork gelatine, invert sugar syrup, invertase, glazing agent coconut oil

Allergy Advice: Almonds. May also contain other nuts and peanuts.


One other option for those okay with traces are these (follow this link) from Carluccio's. Made without dairy, wheat, nuts etc. They are made with soya lecithin and may contain milk, gluten, and nuts. Thanks Nia (@ChubbaNia on Twitter) for the head's-up!!

Other Easter Treats:

Not to be missed out, we also love these mini chicks by Cocoa Libre. You can buy them from Holland and Barrett.

Cute!

These are dairy and gluten free. 

Ingredients:
Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Rice Powder (rice syrup, rice flour) Dietary Fibre (inulin), Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin, Natural Vanilla Flavouring, Natural Cocoa Flavouring.


Bassett's Jelly Bunnies

These cute bunnies, by the makers of Jelly Babies are hard to resist. Available in most supermarkets, they're dairy and soya free, but watch out if gluten free or allergic to wheat - they may contain wheat! Also not suitable for Vegans and Vegetarians.

Another alternative!

Ingredients:
Sugar, Glucose Syrup(contains sulphites), Water, Bovine Gelatine, Concentrated Fruit Juices (apple, lime, orange, strawberry, blackcurrant, lemon, raspberry), citric acid flavourings, Colours (anthocyanins, vegetable carbon, paprika extract, lutein), concentrated vegetable extract (spinach, stinging nettle, tumeric).

Allergy Advice: 
Contians Sulphites. May contain wheat.


This list is not exhaustive, there are online sites that may be able to provide other treats, but many have a last date for ordering. For a list of these, check out this post (the list is near the bottom).


Please note: 
This post is not an advert. I have not been paid to write this post. I am not sponsored in any way, even by advertising. I do not receive products free to review, although I have often been offered them. This is to try and maintain an unbiased approach. All views expressed are my own (unless I've asked for The Hub's or Kiddo's).


Links to Related Posts:

The Great Big Dairy Free Easter Egg Hunt 2016

Have yourself a dairy free Easter Egg hunt!

Howzat? On turning a 'normal' Easter Egg into one which is dairy free!

Free From Frozen Egg-spiration for Easter

Cocoa Libre Dairy Free Milk Chocolate

It's hard work photographing these little beauties!

Partly because they're quite tiny and I didn't have a very good camera to hand when The Hub brought them home, and partly because they don't last very long - they're much too yummy to leave hanging around!

How empty are these packets?! They don't last long - too yummy!

To be honest, my photography does not do them nearly enough justice!!

So let me tell you about them instead.

I've been aware of Cocoa Libre for some time, however, I hadn't tried them, because it involved buying online, and usually I prefer not too - as post and packaging bumps up the price of everything! And they seemed quite expensive too - costing £4.69 for a pack containing ten - I know, I know, they're handmade chocolate, so that always bumps up the price. SO I was very excited when The Hub brought some home, as a special treat, not long before Christmas!

He brought two lots home - a box of owl-shaped choccies and a box of sheep (ideal for an Easter treat methinks - they now have Easter chicks too).

'Baby' was immediately entranced with them, but not liking her chocolate flavoured with anything, she plumped for the sheep and took ownership of the whole packet (don't worry I didn't let her eat them all at once)! Just rude!!

Cute!

However, I didn't miss out on anything with the owls, no, not at all! 

What are they like?

I think I've said before that I'm not a huge fan of mint chocolate, but these... well these are something else! 

Cocoa Libre chocolate is smooth, silky, creamy, yummy, gorgeous... I could go on! They're incredibly moreish. I really had to exercise a lot of self-control not to gobble them down all at once! Of course, you'll have to take my word for it, as the only way you'll know how good they taste is if you try them for yourself! 

Where can they be found?

Cocoa Libre's website carries the full range. A list of other stockists can be found here, although I hear they may soon be more widely available - which, now that I'm a convert, I find very exciting!

What's in them?

Milk Chocolate Sheep:

Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Rice Powder (Rice Syrup, Rice Flour) 13.5%, Dietary Fibre (inulin), Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin, Natural Vanilla Flavouring, Natural Cocoa Flavouring.

Dark Mint Chocolate Owls:

Cocoa mass, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Emulsifer: Soya Lecithin, Natural Vanilla Flavouring, Peppermint Oil.

Be the Easter Bunny!

Find your inner bunny!

Ok, so you might be glad to know that I don't actually mean literally donning a bunny costume and hopping around (although you can if you like)! All I'm suggesting is that, if you can't find a dairy free Easter egg to suit your tastes, you might like to go DIY - dairy-free it yourself!

I have to say, it's not always cheaper to make your own - as I discovered once, when I made a dress to wear to a friend's wedding. The blood, sweat and tears that it caused, along with the time it took and the surprising cost of materials, made me wonder if it had all been worth the effort - especially as I never wore that dress again! 


However, there may have been times when you've invested a little bit of personal effort that have been very well rewarded - in which case you might like to be a bit creative this year and create your own dairy-free alternative. 


You may well have some better ideas (in which case, please share) but here are some that came to my mind. You could:

1. Make your own eggs using chocolate moulds - I bought some moulds (from a good independent kitchen goods retailer) last year (having looked online) but have just found some much cheaper at The Works. It cost 99p for a kit containing one sheet of small egg moulds as well as a larger egg mould. Larger branches of Sainsbury's also sell some nice silicon Easter egg moulds in the seasonal aisle, these start from around £1.50.

These (Hobby Craft) could be useful, if you want to make your own.

If you're planning to make your own, you could use the following:

Kinnerton produce a bar of dark chocolate, which is not as bitter as some can be. Baby definitely seems to enjoy it. Most of the supermarkets seem to stock this on their Free From shelves.

Moo Free chocolate produce a bar of 'milk' chocolate. You can usually buy this at Waitrose, or online at Ocado (although just recently it has been strangely absent, so maybe there have been some problems with supply).

If you're not sure how to go about it, I found an excellent step-by-step guide, with pictures, which might prove useful. I have to admit, not having tried this yet, I'm not sure how well dairy free chocolate will work, but hopefully just as well!


These could be packaged using various craft options for Easter Baskets etc, or using a tip I found on one website (and I honestly can't remember where) you could buy a 'normal' chocolate egg for the packaging and substitute it with your own homemade dairy free version.


Alternatively, you might like to buy a mug or egg cup to accompany your offering. If you fancy being crafty and designing your own, Hobby Craft sell plain ones, that you can decorate yourself with ceramic paints or pens. 

Cute little chickies - always a winner!

2. Make/buy an Easter basket and fill it with goodies - such as Dairy Free chocolate buttons (available at most supermarkets) along with colourful shredded paper and a fluffy bunny or chick. Waitrose sell some lovely large felt baskets, whilst Hobby Craft sell more traditional style baskets. I love the  gorgeous Easter baskets by Gisela Graham, which you can find on Amazon, (if you can't find them locally). Or you could always make your own, if you're feeling really crafty.

Paint by numbers

3. If, however, you don't fancy making your own chocolate eggs, you could always buy a cardboard Easter Egg and fill it - with dairy free chocolate buttons or at larger branches of Waitrose you can buy packets of sweets that look a bit like smarties - these can be found in the Free From section. If you want to give this idea a go, cardboard eggs can be found on Amazon but also on the high street, in good local card shops. Hobby craft also sell them, either completely plain (ready to be decorated) or with a 'paint by numbers' style picture.

Filled jars can look very attractive

4. Fill a jar - with yummy treats. This is easy to do and can look really attractive. It can also work out quite cheaply, depending on how you got about it. Either use a preserving jar (you could always tie a pretty ribbon around the top of the jar and add a label) or an ordinary jam jar (in which case, why not cut a circle of left-over fabric to tie over the top). Free From chocolate coins from Sainsbury's might come in useful for filling the jar, or maybe chocolate caramels that those made by 'Choices'.


5. Get crafty - if you're feeling inspired, are quite crafty and want a project you can really get your teeth into, then I found a site online that provides ideas for all kinds of Easter projects and they're all free (well the ideas are anyway)!!




Whether you do decide to DIY, or whether (like me) you end up 'cheating' and buy one, enjoy!! Do let us know how you got on! Oh, and Happy Easter!

More on the Easter Bunny's progress

Getting a bit impatient with the Sainsbury's/Kinnerton's Dairy Free Easter Bunny now. Supposedly available in 'selected' stores, I've been to the three Sainsbury's near me several times (two of which are large stores) and am yet to find one - and I have family (in different parts of the UK) on the case too!

They may, of course, just be waiting for Mother's Day to be over and done with first - to make more room in the seasonal aisle. But time is running out now... (taps toe in frustration).

Meanwhile, the dairy free 'milk' chocolate egg that I was looking for in Tescos has made an appearance elsewhere! Spotted in Holland & Barrett alongside a 'white chocolate' one!! The white one is smaller but has cute bunnies on it - now that's a bit more like it!! The packaging on the others hasn't changed from last year, but at least I know what to look for. And if you're shopping in Holland & Barrett right now it's 'Buy one get one half price time' - bargainous!! 

Woo hoo! Choices - aptly named!

One a penny, two a penny...

I like mine with marmalade.

Well apart from the packaging and possibly size (maybe the Sainos one is slightly bigger) I can't really tell the two apart.

With Easter just around the corner, I'm looking at Tescos and Sainsbury's Free From hot cross buns. Baby's not fussed, 'cos she doesn't know what she's missing, but me (being brought by parents who loved them) can't quite feel that I've 'done' Easter without them.

There's really not much difference between the two - neither have that lovely gooeyiness that you have with 'normal' hot cross buns (bought from the shop). Both are dry and have a funny graininess about them. Tescos handily packages them individually - good idea because (being dry enough already) unless you've got your whole family eating free from, you're hardly going to want to use them all in one sitting. 

Like stale bread, best recommendation is that you slice them in half like a tea cake; toast them; slap on a bit of dairy free spread and then a bit of home made marmalade. 

Marmalade? I you hear you ask why? Well it was what my parents did and funnily enough it does seem to go quite well - it certainly takes off the dryness. Haven't convinced Baby yet though. Ah well! Took me a few years to develop a taste for food that had dried fruit as an ingredient. She'll get there eventually!

Update on the hunt for the Dairy Free Easter Bunny

Wow! That was unexpected! No sooner have I posted on the subject of dairy free Easter eggs, than there is an important update, or two in fact!

First of all, the Easter bunny has visited Tescos! Kinnerton's dark chocolate bar has morphed into the form of an egg. The egg's packaging very much reflects the design of the chocolate bar's and so perhaps appeals more to adults.

Secondly, at some Sainsbury's, it is apparently possible to obtain perhaps the most normal looking dairy free Easter egg I have come across so far!! Kinnerton's have created an egg definitely aimed at children - clearly packaged with the intention of appealing to the Simpson's and Winnie the Pooh fans in our midst! It looks like it could be a 'milk' chocolate type of egg, accompanied by jelly sweets.

So now all I have to do is hunt that Sainsbury's Easter bunny. I think Baby might well be up for one of those Winnie the Pooh ones... now how to track one down?

On the trail of the Dairy Free Easter Bunny!

The Hub has made it easy for me this year (not that he's dairy free anyway). 'Don't buy me anything,' he said (having left his eggs of previous years gloriously uneaten). Baby, however, has already caused me problems by diving on tubs of creme eggs, left (quite negligently, in my opinion) within her reach in the aisles of the supermarkets or by grabbing chocolate bunnies from the shelves. She clearly has her eyes on the prize - chocolate!! 

No one has had to teach Baby, funnily enough, how to enjoy chocolate - she just does! Neither has anyone had to teach her how to spot it in the supermarket - she just can -even when it's disguised as a brightly coloured bunny!! What she doesn't yet know, though, is how to tell apart the chocolate she's allowed from the chocolate that would make her feel bad. And is it just  me, or have you also noticed that the big stores have been selling Easter Eggs since Christmas? So much temptation in Baby's way, whenever we go to the supermarket! 

Last year it wasn't so bad - Baby was in ignorant bliss of the chocolate lined shelves and was quite happy with the big fluffy bunny that Granny gave her... as well as the odd morsel of dairy free chocolate that she filched from me, but this year... Thinking that (come Easter) Baby might like an Easter Egg of her own, I've been desperately scanning the shelves at Tescos for weeks now - looking for the dairy free egg they stocked last year, right alongside all the others. 

It was almost unique in the dairy free Easter Egg world for being the nearest thing to a milk chocolate egg that (even if it was a bit on the small side) looked 'normal'. The reason I've been keeping my eyes open, is that last year (not surprisingly) it disappeared quickly from their shelves. However, this year it has been disappointingly absent... so far! Thankfully, should it not appear on the shelves, there are some other options!

Speciality Chocolate 

A lot of speciality chocolate makers also make chocolate that is Vegan and therefore dairy free but the chocolate they produce tends to be dark chocolate.

The prize for the most extravagant should almost certainly be awarded to Hotel Chocolat for their Gianduja  egg. Thankfully they also produce a smaller cheaper version as well as some Dark Chocolate Tiddly Chicks which are cute! These are all marked as Vegan.

Cocoa Loco - makers of organic chocolate, who produce Vegan and dairy free chocolate as part of their range. Look out for their dark chocolate bunny lollies.

Montezumas - apparently one of the Guardian's Top Ten ethical traders, they produce 'Traded Fairly' chocolate, some of which is also Vegan.

Willie's Produce dark chocolate slabs, but not eggs unfortunately. Definitely aimed at the discerning customer, you may think that they're very expensive (for what you get) but then you are buying artisan chocolate! These are available from Waitrose. 

Dairy Free Easter Eggs Online

Chocolate makers that solely produce dairy free chocolate do exist. Not always quite so widely available, but obtainable online, these often produce a chocolate which is more like milk chocolate.

Moo Free chocolate prides itself on being organic. I've read reviews that rate this chocolate quite highly. In my opinion, it is quite similar to milk chocolate but is a bit sugary for my liking. 

D & D Chocolates also seem to produce a 'milk' chocolate. I've not personally tried these. Their selection offers eggs of various sizes, from the bunny hunt variety to the larger boxed version.

Siesta Carob produce a pack of small hollow eggs which are available from Goodness Direct (who sell quite a range of different options, some of which have been featured here).

Perhaps the most decadent looking of the dairy free options, and certainly the most exquisitely packaged, are Booja Booja's  truffle-filled papier-mache eggs. These can be bought online, but their website can also direct you to your nearest stockist. They are organic but be warned - they aren't that big and are quite a pricey option!

If you're interested in investigating some of these options, then it could be worth taking a look at Animal Aid - which is basically an online Vegan shop. 

Dairy Free Easter Eggs at the Supermarkets

There are not many options in this category, but there are a few!

Celtic Chocolate's Easter Egg is available at Ocado and Waitrose and is made of dark chocolate. It's fine, if you like dark chocolate, but the packaging is a bit uninspiring - although you could buy one of these as well as a 'normal' Easter egg in more interesting packaging and do a swap!

Sainsbury's Free From Easter Egg is also dark chocolate (it's not on their website unfortunately). Not that attractively packaged in my opinion! I'd want to sprinkle some (tasteful) spring daisy stickers all over it.

Humdinger's Dairy Free Easter Bunny milk chocolate bar (not an egg unfortunately) really is an Easter Bunny - if a little on the flat side! It is another milk chocolate alternative. It was available from Sainsbury's last year and is apparently also being sold at Waitrose this year.

'May contain traces of milk'

Available at supermarkets and therefore fairy easily obtainable. These are suitable for those that are comfortable with the fact that a minuscule amount of milk may find it's way into the chocolate, during production.

The dark chocolate bunny!

Divine - chocolate manufacturers that pride themselves on their fair trade credentials. They produce some dark chocolate eggs which may be suitable for you.

Green and Black's  Also produce dark chocolate eggs. They pride themselves on producing organic chocolate that also now bears the fair trade logo. Their 'Maya Gold' is Vegan and therefore guaranteed Dairy Free!

Lindt dark chocolate bunnies - spotted in Waitrose only, so far! Watch out, 'cos it looks very similar to the other bunnies. You'll know it's the right one, if you pick up the one with the dark brown ribbon.

Feeling the pinch or feeling creative?

It's not always cheaper to make your own, but in this case, it may pay - as dairy free options are not cheap! If you need any ideas on this score, look out I'll be addressing this one shortly, in the meantime...

Whatever most appeals to you, I hope you can find at least one helpful suggestion here and that you truly do have a most enjoyable and blessed Easter.