Easter Bunkie here, with the Best Candy in the Basket Rating for 2004:

10) Yellow or pink Peeps. Yeah, I know they're mostly made of chemicals, but they're so danged cute! It's big fun to smash them together in a wad and see how long it takes for them to puff back up.

9) Egg bubble gum. Not a perennial favorite, mind you, but the colors are nice.

8) The Inevitable Chocolate Bunny. Why, you may ask, is it so low on the list of faves? Let's be perfectly honest, kiddies, how many truly delicious chocolate bunnies have you ever tasted? Oh sure, it's a hoot to do your best Hannibal Lector and bite off the eyes or remove the facial area, but that stuff's not exactly Ghirardelli, now, is it?

7) Malted milk eggs. The first dozen or so are WONDERFUL. Throw the rest away, or you'll be on the toilet for a very long time.

6) Cadbury Creme Eggs (the original, gooey ones). These are not my personal favorites, but in honor of my baby sister, who could consume mass quantities of this little item, it makes the list, simply because those Cadbury guys got the inside of the egg looking so real, you're ready with the skillet and a rasher of bacon. Not my idea of a tasty candy, however.

5) Cadbury Hard-shell Eggs. Now we're talkin'. These dandies have yummy chocolate centers surrounded by delicious crunchy candy shells, in beautifully speckled patterns. I'll take 5 pounds, please.

4) The Reese's/Snickers/Butterfinger/You-Name-It Eggs. Capitalism at its finest. Take your respective best-selling candy bars, shape them into eggs, and voila, Easter sales boost.

3) Jellybeans. How can you go wrong with these tiny little bursts of pure sugar? And what other candy lasts so well in the bottom of the Easter grass, a full year or two after it's been lost there? Easter Bunkie loves the orange ones; green ones are the work of the devil.

2) Cadbury Caramel Creme Eggs. A play on the original, without the nasty realism of the raw item.

1) The all-time best Easter Candy as rated by Chocolate Expert, Easter Bunkie: Solid chocolate eggs. The perfect size to hide in your mouth, it takes an origami master a month to wrap those little suckers in pastel foil, and it's pure, unadulterated chocolate. I'm in love!

Happy Easter from the Easter Bunkie!