Walking by the front windows of Granite State Candy Shoppe is hard enough under normal circumstances, but these days, it’s down right impossible.
Because it’s hard not to think about how much we’d enjoy tearing into that giant chocolate bunny that’s currently sitting all nicely presented on a little white table in one of the store’s giant windows.
It’s kind of like what we all do when we buy a lottery ticket, except this prize won’t allow you to quit your job – although it might require you to take a sick day depending on how much you eat in one sitting.
The first giant bunny was created at Granite State Candy in the 1970s. For the last 20 years, Granite State Candy has been making these 36-inch-tall, 50-pound, semi-solid bunnies to raffle off to one lucky winner for Easter at both their Concord and Manchester locations. And it’s free.
“This is a dentist’s dream or nightmare, depending on the dentist,” said head chocolatier Caleb Ruopp.
If you didn’t know about the annual raffle, you’re a little behind the eight ball, but no need to worry. It only takes one entry to win. But from now until Thursday, when the contest ends at the close of business (8 p.m.), you are allowed to put in one entry per day. That’s a possibility of three entries, if you see this Insider on its publication date.
The winner will be selected at noon on Friday and will not only receive the 3-foot chocolate bunny, but also a $100 gift certificate to the store. Not bad for merely filling out a piece of paper and putting into a box. You just have to pick it up by Saturday during normal business hours, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. You are also responsible for transporting your winnings from the store. They will not ship it to you.
“Some lucky family will take it home,” Ruopp said.
The bunny was made a couple weeks ago using a trusty heavy plastic mold. It requires more than 100 metal clips to secure and is quite the process to create.
It’s made using a mixture of milk, dark and white tempered chocolate, between two and three gallons total.
“I take a generous helping of each,” Ruopp said.
The bunny is filled and placed in the fridge, ears down, to cool. Then another helping of mixed chocolate is added to give it that semi-solid finish. The ears and head are definitely solid and the remaining part of the bunny is upwards of half an inch thick.
It takes an entire day to create both bunnies, and not until the very end do you know if it’s a success.
“There’s a lot of crossed fingers,” Ruopp said. “This year we got lucky.”
Last year, not so much.
They add coconut to the tail and fill the basket with more candy – as if 50 pounds of chocolate isn’t enough. And Ruopp even has an idea of something else he would add.
“I believe we should give it away with a hammer,” he said.
So make your way down to Granite State Candy before they close on Thursday to get your entries in. You have to buy Easter candy anyway, why not try to win more chocolate than you could ever eat, too?
March 29, 2018
Crossing out funny ears for a sơn. Happy Easter