Columbus shops offer handmade Easter candy
These treats are crafted the old-fashioned way
Chocolate bunnies. Foil-wrapped chocolate eggs, Reese’s peanut butter eggs, Whoppers malted milk eggs and Cadbury eggs. Starburst jelly beans — or if you’re feeling fancy, Jelly Bellies. The much-loved (or loathed) Peeps.
All of these sweets are as synonymous with Easter as Peter Cottontail. But anyone can hippity-hoppity down to Target or Walmart and walk out with an armful of pre-fab, preservative-laden sugar bombs.
Whatever happened to old-fashioned candymaking where experienced chocolatiers mix and craft treats themselves? As the late ’60s hit by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell said, “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing, Baby.”
Don’t worry, there are still several businesses that offer mouth-watering morsels made by hand. Candymaking has a long history in Columbus, with some family-owned shops going back several generations.
Here are a few places in the area where you can pick up a variety of handcrafted treats:
Eagle Family Candy Co.
4590 N. High St., Clintonville (614266-6259)
When Easter rolls around, chocolatier James Peck and his wife Dee Dee Eagle, owners of this almost-80-year-old Clintonville shop, are up to their ears in cute little bug-eyed rabbits.
“My bunnies are our most popular sellers. They’re hand-poured and solid,” Peck said.
The store’s other Easter creations include one-pound and half-pound Easter eggs with fillings, Buckeye eggs and mint meltaway eggs.
More information: bit.ly/43pimlp
Winans Coffee & Chocolate
897 S. 3rd St., German Village (614445-6464); 611 N. High St., Short North (614-745-0040); 1125 Yard St., Grandview Yard (614-429-3561); and 52 S. High St., Dublin (614-766-7061)
Fill your baskets with Easter treats from Winans, which has been handcrafting candies since 1961. The shelves at all of the Columbus locations (German Village, Short North, Grandview Yard and Dublin) are fully stocked with Easter favorites, according to a spokesperson for Winans.
Egg-a-holics can enjoy the many flavors of Winans’ cream-filled chocolate eggs: butter cream, maple cream, caramel, salted caramel, chocolate mousse, cookie dough, peanut butter and espresso truffle. Other Easter offerings include
solid chocolate bunnies and crosses, chocolate-covered Peeps and Oreos, speckled malt eggs and tangerine jelly beans in carrot-shaped packaging.
More information: winanschocolate.com
Goumas Candyland
19 Claren Drive, Heath (740-5226294); 113 N. Prospect St., Granville (740587-4726); and 18 N. Park Place, Newark (740-345-7440)
Women-owned and operated, Goumas offers a wide selection of Easter goodies, some traditional, others not so much.
The Goumas chocolate egg is a traditional treat that’s been passed down for four generations. Emblazoned with the family name, the eggs can be ordered with a variety of different fillings. Owner Keely Goumas Perry said it’s one of the shop’s most popular customer picks.
In the “not so much” category is an animal you don’t usually see crafted from chocolate — a dinosaur — and Goumas’ deceptively realistic devilish eggs made from white chocolate and pecans.
“When Easter falls in April, the devilish eggs are popular on April Fool’s Day. People buy them as a joke because they look so similar ot the real thing,” said Perry, who runs the business with her sister, mother and aunt.
More information: goumascandyland.com
Anthony-thomas Chocolates
777 Arlingate Lane (877-226 3921) In business for more than 70 years, Anthony-thomas also has shops at 1941 W. 5th Ave. (614-488-2531), 5040 N. High St. (614-436-2809), 4636 W. Broad St. (614-870-8899) and 4727 Reed Road (614-451-6389), as well as in Bexley, Dublin, Gahanna, Grove City, Powell, Reynoldsburg and Westerville.
Nick Trifelos, a fifth-generation member of the candymaking family, said Easter candy is selling fast, especially the stores’ chocolate molded rabbits which range from 2.5 ounces to a 35-pound semi-solid bunny nicknamed “Big Pete.”
“Our pectin jelly beans are also a huge hit this time of year,” Trifelos said, “Our large wicker baskets have everything from foil-wrapped candy to molded rabbits, 6-ounce eggs and much more.”
More information: anthony-thomas.com
Lohcally Artisan Chocolates
77 W. Olentangy St., Powell (614-5458980)
Lohcally’s abstract bunny truffles feature white splatter and Easter colors in the following flavors: milk chocolate caramel; milk chocolate ganache and marshmallow; dark coconut almond; dark mint chocolate ganache; orange zest; and “Velvet Elvis,” which contains peanut butter and banana caramel.
“All of our confections are created by hand at our Powell storefront. We handpaint all of our truffles using all-natural colored cocoa butters, creating beautiful color and shine,” said Denise Steele, professional chocolatier and owner of Lohcally.
The store also offers solid milk chocolate cross boxes that include six colored “gem” truffles that correspond to a key describing the Easter story.
More information: lohcally.com
Pure Imagination Chocolatier
1205 Grandview Ave., Grandview Heights (614-488-3070); also located in Polaris Fashion Place, 1500 Polaris Parkway (614-468-1308)
This shop, whose title is a nod to Willy Wonka, doesn’t do “massively huge” business leading up to Easter compared to its Valentine’s Day candy crush, said owner Dan Cooper. However, what Easter sweets the store does sell have a long history, like its handcrafted truffles.
Pure Imagination does offer a couple of confections that come pre-made — strawberries and Peeps — but the chocolate they’re coated in is handmade.
“When we first started in 1993, dipping Peeps in chocolate wasn’t really a thing yet,” Cooper said.
More information: pureimaginationchocolatiers.com
bpaschal@dispatch.com