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Please help, looking for a traditional fruit and nut egg

Please help, looking for a traditional fruit and nut egg
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  • Please help, looking for a traditional fruit and nut egg

    Post #1 - March 6th, 2013, 4:56 pm
    Post #1 - March 6th, 2013, 4:56 pm Post #1 - March 6th, 2013, 4:56 pm
    Late 60's, to mid-70's my father used to get a dark chocolate "fruit and nut egg" from one
    of the Chicagoland chains. The family moved east so I am not sure how long they lasted. This appears to have been a Chicago thing, since above the cheddar curtain they look at me and tell me they have not heard of such a thing with the exception of an elderly confectioner who told me he never did them, but told me he seemed to remember them.

    Today I was at the local Fannie May, and their version is nothing like I remember. To be honest, the
    Fannie May current prices are freaking awful! (And what I got was not great).

    If anyone could point me in the right direction I would be very grateful.

    1) dark chocolate outside (milk chocolate was also available)
    2) very, very thick white nougat (not the whipped stuff prevalent today)
    3) not the whipped strawberry filling I am currently finding.
    4) lots of candied fruit and some smaller nut chunks (I believe walnut and pecan, far less nuts than fruit).
    The confection was very heavy, and had to be cut with a knife into thin slices. The nougat was very thick, solid.
    5) maybe four inches long, two inches high, flat bottom and shaped to look like 2/3 of an egg.

    If it helps any, I remember walking to Woodfield and getting him a couple there as a gift. There were two candy stores that sold them. But they were available "all over". The last one I remember also getting a sourdough from Boudin's at Woodfield as well when back in the area on a business trip.
  • Post #2 - March 6th, 2013, 5:39 pm
    Post #2 - March 6th, 2013, 5:39 pm Post #2 - March 6th, 2013, 5:39 pm
    There are a lot of fruit and nut eggs on the Internet. I found a couple that seem like they might come close, though no exact matches.

    Redstone makes one with white nougat and lots of fruit and nuts, but just in milk chocolate.
    http://www.redstonecandies.com/Products_Easter.html

    Vermont Country Store (a great place for almost anything that has vanished) has milk and dark, but the inside is kind of a blush pink (though a lot less pink than Fannie May's.
    http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/stor ... _Egg/48062

    Hope that gets you closer to your goal.
    "All great change in America begins at the dinner table." Ronald Reagan

    http://midwestmaize.wordpress.com
  • Post #3 - March 6th, 2013, 5:55 pm
    Post #3 - March 6th, 2013, 5:55 pm Post #3 - March 6th, 2013, 5:55 pm
    Thank you, the Redstone looks "close".
    The Vermont country store is a good attempt, but not quite "right".

    If anyone has a Chicago area confectioner....
  • Post #4 - March 6th, 2013, 6:14 pm
    Post #4 - March 6th, 2013, 6:14 pm Post #4 - March 6th, 2013, 6:14 pm
    How about this one -- really white -- out of Pennsylvania, but popped up in a search for fruit and nut eggs in Chicago.
    http://www.betsyann.com/store/details.h ... ct_id=7590

    (Just in case no one does know a local confectioner who makes what you're looking for -- because nothing else pops up in searches.)
    "All great change in America begins at the dinner table." Ronald Reagan

    http://midwestmaize.wordpress.com
  • Post #5 - March 6th, 2013, 6:30 pm
    Post #5 - March 6th, 2013, 6:30 pm Post #5 - March 6th, 2013, 6:30 pm
    Thanks for the help. That one looks "wrong". Too many nuts, it looks, well, I wish I could say a better description than "wrong".

    If there is nothing anyone can point out in the Chicago area, this weekend I am ordering the Redstone you pointed out. I am also surprised at the cost. I seem to remember paying close to their price years ago.
    I really appreciate your help!
  • Post #6 - March 6th, 2013, 7:59 pm
    Post #6 - March 6th, 2013, 7:59 pm Post #6 - March 6th, 2013, 7:59 pm
    Try Old Fashioned Candies in Berwyn. Their fruit & nut eggs won't meet your requirements exactly but they're likely to be pretty good in their own way. I never tried an OFCFNE; even as a kid I didn't care for the things.

    Image

    Old Fashioned Candies
    6210 W Cermak Rd
    Berwyn IL
    708-788-6669
    http://www.oldfashionedcandiesinc.com/
  • Post #7 - March 7th, 2013, 6:51 pm
    Post #7 - March 7th, 2013, 6:51 pm Post #7 - March 7th, 2013, 6:51 pm
    What memories this thread brings back! We lived on the South Side (71st & Princeton) when my dad got recalled for Korean War. Mom bought those eggs every Easter. IIRC, we had to cut them with a knife. Boy did they taste GOOD!

    Geo
    Sooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick! :)
  • Post #8 - March 10th, 2013, 12:40 pm
    Post #8 - March 10th, 2013, 12:40 pm Post #8 - March 10th, 2013, 12:40 pm
    Do you remember where your mother bought them ?
    Any help appreciated.
    This is one on the foods that should not be allowed to be buried in time.
  • Post #9 - March 10th, 2013, 1:04 pm
    Post #9 - March 10th, 2013, 1:04 pm Post #9 - March 10th, 2013, 1:04 pm
    Just a guess but it might have been Marshall Field.

    Geo
    Sooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick! :)
  • Post #10 - March 10th, 2013, 1:34 pm
    Post #10 - March 10th, 2013, 1:34 pm Post #10 - March 10th, 2013, 1:34 pm
    Hah!
    Thanks.
  • Post #11 - March 10th, 2013, 2:17 pm
    Post #11 - March 10th, 2013, 2:17 pm Post #11 - March 10th, 2013, 2:17 pm
    You might try looking at Margie's Candies. They're a bastion of olde tyme candy making.

    Margie's Candies
    1960 N Western Ave
    Chicago, IL 60647
    (773) 384-1035
    Steve Z.

    “Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.”
    ― Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Post #12 - March 10th, 2013, 2:37 pm
    Post #12 - March 10th, 2013, 2:37 pm Post #12 - March 10th, 2013, 2:37 pm
    http://www.margiesfinecandies.com/

    Wow, I will have to visit there, but they do not show what I am looking for.
  • Post #13 - March 10th, 2013, 2:43 pm
    Post #13 - March 10th, 2013, 2:43 pm Post #13 - March 10th, 2013, 2:43 pm
    Out of disinterested curiosity, how do the fruit and nut eggs at Old Fashioned Candies differ from your ideal? They come only in milk chocolate but I don't know every detail about the innards.
  • Post #14 - March 10th, 2013, 2:59 pm
    Post #14 - March 10th, 2013, 2:59 pm Post #14 - March 10th, 2013, 2:59 pm
    Gertrude Hawk, the company that took over some of the Marshall Field's candymaking, has some large sliceable eggs for sale, though I'm not seeing exactly the filling you're describing.

    ETA There's a description of a fruit-and-nut nougat egg here, but no photo. Also in Pennsylvania.

    Just throwing it out there in case it is of help! Good luck tracking them down!
    Last edited by mamagotcha on March 10th, 2013, 3:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
    “Assuredly it is a great accomplishment to be a novelist, but it is no mediocre glory to be a cook.” -- Alexandre Dumas

    "I give you Chicago. It is no London and Harvard. It is not Paris and buttermilk. It is American in every chitling and sparerib. It is alive from tail to snout." -- H.L. Mencken
  • Post #15 - March 10th, 2013, 3:19 pm
    Post #15 - March 10th, 2013, 3:19 pm Post #15 - March 10th, 2013, 3:19 pm
    Wow, I was not understanding about Greutrude Hawk,but from what I want/need Easter Egg I still am not close to me father's Easter Egg "eggs"
  • Post #16 - March 10th, 2013, 3:26 pm
    Post #16 - March 10th, 2013, 3:26 pm Post #16 - March 10th, 2013, 3:26 pm
    Rene, my apologies for the hopeful Wisconsin understanding.
  • Post #17 - March 10th, 2013, 9:10 pm
    Post #17 - March 10th, 2013, 9:10 pm Post #17 - March 10th, 2013, 9:10 pm
    I never liked them myself.

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