web1_BestofTL21.jpg

Readers’ Choice Award winners

web1_Abigail-and-Grace-4.jpg

Happy birthday Abigail Rose and Grace Marie Crahall!

<p>HANOVER TWP. &#8212; For the staff of Michael Mootz Candies, Good Friday is their Black Friday.</p><p>The store has been a mainstay on the Sans Souci Parkway in Hanover Township since it was founded by Michael in 1975.</p><p>The store&#8217;s owner and Michael&#8217;s son, Jason Mootz, said the Easter season is the busiest time of his year, with Good Friday acting as the absolute peak of the holiday rush.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know how much we&#8217;ll sell, but we&#8217;re expecting to see around 1,200 customers today,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;ll get busy later.&#8221;</p><p>And he wasn&#8217;t lying. When Times Leader reporters got to the store at 9 a.m., it was relatively calm. Within 20 minutes, though, the check-out line snaked through much of the store.</p><p>The store&#8217;s shelves were stocked with a dizzying number of chocolate molds. Of course, you could find the typical Easter favorites &#8212; like chocolate bunnies with long ears, perfect for biting off &#8212; to more unusual shapes, like chicken wing-shaped chocolates.</p><p>But the most popular of all the cocoa confections?</p><p>Peanut butter meltaway eggs.</p><p>&#8220;We sell thousands and thousands,&#8221; Mootz said.</p><p>Ronda Hess, 52, of Benton, vouched for the quality of the eggs, saying they&#8217;re part of what keeps her coming back.</p><p>&#8220;I come here every year, even though my kids are fully grown,&#8221; she said while picking out a large chocolate egg. &#8220;I just love it.&#8221;</p><p>With that kind of volume being pushed out of the store, it takes quite a bit of preparation.</p><p>According to Mootz, the first chocolate Easter eggs hit store shelves Jan. 15.</p><p>&#8220;By the nature of the candy, they actually taste a bit better after they&#8217;ve sat for about a month or so,&#8221; Mootz said, explaining the early start for the candies.</p><p>Mootz also acknowledged that not all of those January candies will make it all the way to Easter, but that&#8217;s more than OK for him.</p><p>&#8220;As they get eaten, we make more to replace them,&#8221; he said.</p><p>And while Michael Mootz Candies does craft many Easter favorites, staffers put in extra effort to put their own spin on their creations.</p><p>Take B.J. Bunny, for example. The large chocolate rabbit is a playful way of honoring Jason&#8217;s grandfather, &#8220;Big Jim.&#8221; B.J. Bunny is molded with a little hollow basket slung over his shoulder, which is filled with smaller treats in true Peter Cottontail fashion.</p><p>Similarly, the store also offers hollow eggs that can be described only as &#8220;giant,&#8221; and much like B.J.&#8217;s basket, this egg is filled to the brim with other candies</p><p>Many of the chocolates at Michael Mootz Candies are hand-decorated with colored icing. Eggs are topped of with red icing roses, and can be personalized with names or holiday greetings. And while these decorations do take some added time, Mootz said his employees work quickly, churning out the eggs fast.</p><p><strong>&#8216;Don&#8217;t hold candle to Easter&#8217;</strong></p><p>Meanwhile, at the Gertrude Hawk Chocolates factory, in Dunmore, Easter production has already come to a close.</p><p>That news comes from Melanie Nardozzo, the company&#8217;s art and marketing director.</p><p>With no new Easter candy being made, the only thing left to do is wait for the product to move &#8212; and with Good Friday and Holy Saturday being Gertrude Hawk&#8217;s biggest selling days across the company&#8217;s over 60 retail locations, it shouldn&#8217;t take long for the chocolate to disappear.</p><p>&#8220;People think Christmas and Valentine&#8217;s Day are big for us, but they don&#8217;t hold a candle to Easter,&#8221; Nardozzo said.</p><p>Gertrude Hawk begins candy production in early January, and by now has already moved on to the next batch of themed candies.</p><p>Much like Mootz, Nardozzo said people clamor for peanut butter candies. She said the company typically sells approximately 75,000 pounds of peanut butter Smidgens each Easter, and that&#8217;s only one flavor.</p><p>Nardozzo said Gertrude Hawk also prepares for the holiday in other ways. In recent years, the chocolatiers have been stocking pre-made Easter baskets in their stores.</p><p>&#8220;We try to make Easter easy for the shopper that comes in,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a way to keep the tradition alive, but you can let us do the work.&#8221;</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL033018Mootz1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Meagan Simkulak writes &#8216;Happy Easter&#8217; on a 1-pound, peanut butter-covered chocolate egg at Michael Mootz Candies in Hanover Township on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL033018Mootz1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Meagan Simkulak writes &#8216;Happy Easter&#8217; on a 1-pound, peanut butter-covered chocolate egg at Michael Mootz Candies in Hanover Township on Friday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL033018Mootz3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Jodi Herstek re-stocks crosses made out of milk chocolate at the Michael Mootz Candies store in Hanover Township on Friday morning.  </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL033018Mootz3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Jodi Herstek re-stocks crosses made out of milk chocolate at the Michael Mootz Candies store in Hanover Township on Friday morning.  </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL033018Mootz4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The Friday before Easter is one of the busiest days at Michael Mootz Candies in Hanover Township, often with lines of customers snaking through the store. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL033018Mootz4.jpg</photo2><caption2>The Friday before Easter is one of the busiest days at Michael Mootz Candies in Hanover Township, often with lines of customers snaking through the store. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL033018Mootz5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Kaaren Mazarki and Debi Mootz check out customers at Michael Mootz Candies in Hanover Township on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL033018Mootz5.jpg</photo3><caption3>Kaaren Mazarki and Debi Mootz check out customers at Michael Mootz Candies in Hanover Township on Friday. </caption3><photoCredit3>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL033018Mootz2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Elaine Lasecki makes sure to always stop at Michael Mootz Candies for her Easter candy. The store in Hanover Township was expecting about 1,200 customers to come through its doors Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL033018Mootz2.jpg</photo4><caption4>Elaine Lasecki makes sure to always stop at Michael Mootz Candies for her Easter candy. The store in Hanover Township was expecting about 1,200 customers to come through its doors Friday. </caption4><photoCredit4>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Customers line up at Hanover Twp. store</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Patrick Kernan</p><p>pkernan@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan</p></shirttailMeta></div>

How sweet it is! Easter best season for candy stores