I have a sweet tooth.  I have a sweet tooth that simply cannot be satisfied.  I would eat candy, cakes, ice cream, pies, etc. at all meals if I could.  It’s really amazing that I have a tooth left in my head the way I love sweets. That being said…I love this time of year with candy.  Between Christmas, Valentines Day, and Easter, there is a varitable influx of new and exotic candies on the market.  It’s a bit overwhelming for people like me…who just cannot say no to sweets. It’s funny though, that, even with all the new candies on the market, and all the exotic sweets all around for this four month or so period, there is still nothing that compares to an old favorite from my youth…the Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg.

I happen to believe that the combination of chocolate and peanut butter into a single candy is one of the great innovations in the history of the world. Keep your television, your sliced bread, your mobile phone. Chocolate and peanut butter. There is nothing better. Period.

Back in the 1920′s H.B. Reese began producing the now legendary Peanut Butter Cup. Somehow H.B. Reese was overlooked for a Nobel Peace Prize in his lifetime, though his product unquestionably has brought, even a few moments of bliss, into the lives of literally millions of humans in the decades since its inception. Truly the Peanut Butter Cup was the great innovation of candy in those years.

Seeking to improve on that perfection, in 1928, Reese first started manufacturing the Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg as a specialty candy for the Easter holiday. Whatever religous beliefs you have…Easter is a great time of year for candy lovers…and this has become our Mecca. Essentially, this is simply the same old Peanut Butter Cup we’ve been eating for decades…except for one small change that makes all the difference…more Reese’s Peanut Butter. Thus changing the 1.5 oz Peanut Butter Cup into the peanut butter filed 1.9 oz Peanut Butter Egg. In that .4oz this product goes to chocolate/peanut butter bliss to chocolate/peanut butter nirvana.

I first fell in love with this candy when I was just a kid, as I’m sure most of you did. These simple candies were the highlight of my Easter basket until I was too old to do the basket anymore…by which time I was earning a steady allowance and could spend my own money on such extravagances. God knows I could probably have spent a year in orbit around the Earth for the money I’ve spent on these things over the years, but I can honestly say I have never wasted money on a Peanut Butter Egg. There is nothing more perfect for a few moment of utter joy. The fact that we only get them a couple months out of the year makes it all the more special. It’s almost like Christmas for true candy freaks.

The fine people at Reese’s have tried to branch out this product over the years for other holidays: the peanut butter pumpkin, christmas tree, and heart, but it’s just not the same. The Peanut Butter Egg is the pinnacle of innovation in the chocolate/peanut butter market. There is no way to improve on it. So hit the stores now and drop 75 cents for a few moments of pure, unadulterated candy joy. And do it before Easter, because it’s going to be another year before we get them again.