No matter how one feels about Jesus -- or maintaining a healthy weight -- Easter candy is hard to resist. In the coldest part of winter, harbingers of spring begin to fill store shelves, replacing the red velvet overkill of Valentine's Day with a rainbow of colors primary and pastel. Jellybeans, Peeps, and Cadbury Cream Eggs have their fans, but when we indulge, the sweet of choice is a Zitner's Easter Egg.

Unlike the aforementioned mass-produced treats, Zitner's Eggs are made mostly of natural ingredients, partially by hand, and sold fresh off the factory line. They are available for just two months of the year and only then in the Philadelphia area, where the mere mention of the Zitner name will elicit smiles. Scarcity may be cause for some lament, but it also provides a ready excuse to munch early and often while they are around. And we do. You bet your oddly jovial, pinstriped suit-clad bunny rabbit mascot we do.

Zitner's makes eight flavors, but we only profess our undying love for the Butter Krak and Double Cocoanut (sic) varieties. The egg that launched thousands of self-proclaimed "Krak Addicts" consists of a buttercream and coconut center enrobed in dark chocolate and toasted coconut, while the Double's solid coconut center is wrapped in dark chocolate alone. These lumpen, barely ovoid candies may not look as pretty as most Easter treats, but they sure do taste better than all the rest.

Our Philly source plies us with the four ($2.49) or nine-count ($5) boxes of single-serving-size eggs for ease of postprandial eating, but the decorated quarter, half pound, and one-pound beauties make lovely presentation pieces for any Easter basket you might be assembling. Only a fool would make do with a single serving pack ($0.59). You will not want to eat just one.