Easter is only a couple of days away now, meaning that it is almost that other time of year where you can indulge in as much chocolate as you want - if you haven't already.
From chocolate Easter eggs all the way to hot cross buns, there are so many delicious snacks that you can delight your tastebuds with during this time of year.
However, while I am partial to those aforementioned snacks, there is one other snack that I think is truly the unsung hero of Easter - the milk chocolate bunny.
Available in a variety of different shapes and sizes, these scrumptious, and rather delicious, little bunnies are the perfect chocolate snack for everyone, no matter what age you are.
While there are so many options for Easter chocolate on the supermarket shelves these days, there are two major brands that tend to be hugely popular at this time of year - Lindt and Cadbury.
While Lindt is the O.G of the chocolate bunnies, Cadbury has been a family favourite for its Easter chocolate since before even I was born. But, is branded Easter chocolate bunny better than one you can buy from the supermarket?
Well, to answer that question, I decided to pit milk chocolate Easter bunnies from Lindt and Cadbury against ones bought from Asda and Sainsbury's. Here is how I got on.
Lindt
Price: £2.75
Starting out with the superstar of chocolate bunnies, I will admit right now that I am a massive fan of Lindt chocolate and find it to be far superior, albeit a bit pricier, to a lot out there.
With its classic gold foil wrapping and red bow tie around its neck, it already wins hand down on the appearance side of things - but, this is mostly about the taste.
The quality of the chocolate is evident from literally the first bite. It is velvety smooth, rich and creamy, which all add to its luxurious reputation. Another thing that I love about Lindt chocolate is that it is rather chunky and has a good thickness to it, meaning you are well getting your money's worth.
Honestly, despite being the most expensive, and the smallest, of the bunch, Lindt still manages to set the benchmark for the rest of the test.
Rating: 5/5
Cadbury
Price: £2 for 100g
Next up on the list was an adorable hollow milk chocolate bunny from another popular chocolate company, Cadbury, that comes in a sweet Peter Rabbit packaging.
Like many of generations across the country, I grew up hunting down Cadbury chocolate eggs in the garden at Easter, so I have a bit of a soft spot for it.
Now, I don't know if my tastebuds have changed as I have gotten older, but I did find that Cadbury's milk chocolate was quite sweet and sugary tasting, especially when compared to Lindt's. I also found it to be quite sickly and it stuck to your teeth, which was a really weird aftertaste.
That being said, I did find the chocolate of the bunny itself to be quite thick, which is the kind of chocolate that I like, as it usually means decent quality, so it gets points there.
Rating: 3/5
Sainsbury's
Price: £1.65 for 100g
Now that the branded chocolate bunnies were all well and truly polished off, it was time to grab one from a supermarket, and the first up is Sainsbury's
First things first, this little guy's packaging might seem quite basic, but I actually appreciated the attention to detail, as it has the realistic eyes, cute paws, whiskers and tail to make it look like a real bunny. Solid marks for effort there.
Outside of his packaging, he also looked fairly similar to the iconic Lindt bunny, so it was really interesting to see if the quality of the chocolate was also the same.
Overall, I quite liked this bunny. It's chocolate was a decent thickness, though a little bit thin in some places, and it was slightly creamy and smooth. That being said, compared to Lindt, it was a little underwhelming and never quite reached the same luxurious taste.
However, when compared to the overly-sweet Cadbury milk chocolate bunny, Sainsbury's was a bit off a step up.
Rating: 4/5
Asda
Price: £1.25 for 100g
Last, but certainly not least, was this rather interesting looking milk chocolate hollow Easter bunny from supermarket giant Asda.
The cheapest of the bunch by quite a bit, the first thing that is instantly recognisable about this bunny is that it looks a little startled and comes in a bit more of a dull packaging compared to the others, save for a few flowers. Can't say I was expecting too much.
That being said, one bite of Asda's chocolate made me completely rethink my ideas about what this chocolate would taste like.
I'll say firstly, outside of its packaging, this bunny was similar to Sainsbury's, in that it resembled the iconic Lindt Golden Bunny - and the similarities didn't stop there.
From its perfect creaminess and velvety smooth chocolate to its decent chunky structure, this affordable Easter treat was pretty much identical to the master Chocolatier bunny.
Despite my initial thoughts, this deceptive Easter bunny just smoked Cadbury and Sainsbury's out the water and can easily stand side by side with Lindt in my opinion.
Rating: 5/5
Overall thoughts
Well, well, well.... while Lindt still remains an absolute master for milk chocolate bunnies, I came away from this taste test realising that Asda was just as good.
Despite its rather startled appearance, the supermarket's Easter treat makes it up with milk chocolate that closely resembles the master chocolatier's O.G - just without the price tag. At just £1.25, it is a great value option for luxurious tasting chocolate that will save you £1.50 when compared to Lindt.
Interestingly enough, the next best buy didn't come from my childhood favourite brand, but from Sainsbury's, with its decent, and cutely packaged milk chocolate bunny. While not completely blowing me away, it still tasted nice enough and was never to overly sweet.
Sadly, Cadbury comes in last place, with its chocolate bunny that was a little sickly and overly-sweet taste that, weirdly enough, stuck to the teeth just a little bit.
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