JOE RAY

Creme eggs ($4.95-$5.95) are an Easter tradition at Li-Lac Chocolates.

No other holiday inspires sugar addicts to go hunting for their favorite once-a-year releases quite like Easter.

But there’s more on store shelves than just chewy jellybeans and neon-hued marshmallows.

From carrot-infused chocolate to Swedish marzipan eggs with a cult following, here’s how local candy makers and chocolatiers have taken Easter sweets up a notch.

HOMEMADE PEEPS

With marshmallows as their specialty, it only made sense that Marla D’Urso, Kiyomi Toda-Burke and Sandra Palmer — the trio behind Chelsea’s cozy Three Tarts Bakery and Boutique — would churn out fluffy treats inspired by Easter’s much-talked-about candy. The squishy vanilla-flavored chicks — piped by hand and dusted in pale pink or yellow sanding sugars — are so popular, Three Tarts introduced a new product this year: Chicks in a Coop, a box filled with a dozen homemade peeps and paper ‘hay ’ ($23.50). They also come as a pair for $2.50.

164 Ninth Ave., at W. 20th St., (212) 462-4392; Plaza Food Hall, 1 W. 59th St., (646) 755-3232.

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Cheetah and zebra print chocolate eggs at Francois Payard’s Houston St. store.

BUNNY BUTT TART

The adorably named Bunny Butt Tart ($6.95) at Bouchon Bakery’s Rockefeller Center shop is a dessert to keep to yourself. The Easter-inspired tart is filled with coconut custard and vanilla mousse, then topped with two dainty macaron shell ‘paws’ and a swirly pink ‘tail.’

1 Rockefeller Plaza, (212) 782-3890.

JUNGLE WILD CHOCOLATE EGGS

Traditionally red Greek Easter eggs ($48 for 6), at Chocolat Moderne.

Leave it to renowned pastry chef François Payard to make the season’s most fashionable Easter eggs. His take, available at two FP Patisserie locations, gives the holiday special a chic “Jungle Wild” makeover. The 8-inch ovals, made from Valrhona chocolate and filled with baby cocoa eggs, are intricately painted in cheetah print, zebra stripes or covered with a mosaic of bright yellow squares ($38).

1293 Third Ave., at 74th St., (212) 717-5252; Plaza Food Hall, 1 W. 59th St., (212) 75 9-1600.

LI’L EGGS

Tumbador pastry chef Jean-François Bonnet has crafted a grown-up version of a classic lunchbox treat. Li’l Eggs, egg-shaped versions of their signature Li’l Devils, are rounds of moist devil’s food cake filled with a caramel cream ($36 for set of nine).

34 34th St., Brooklyn, (718) 788-0200.

The Bunny Butt Tart at Bouchon Bakery’s Rockefeller Center location.

SWEDISH SWEETS

When Stefan Ernberg and Florencia Baras opened Sockerbit two years ago, they never imagined their tiny Scandinavian candy store would gain such a strong following — customers call weeks ahead to see when seasonal specials will arrive. For Easter, the sugar-loving duo has brought a longtime Swedish tradition stateside. Buy hollow papier-mâché eggs ($4-$8) and fill them with any of the hundred-plus candies and chocolates, all of which are made with real sugar and natural colorings ($13 per pound). Holiday favorites include fågelägg (marzipan covered in dark chocolate and candied crust), skumägg (Swedish jelly beans) and påskhare (rabbit-shaped pineapple and vanilla marshmallows).

89 Christopher St., (212) 206-8170.

CRISPY CARROT RABBIT

Vitamins in your chocolate? The cocoa wizards at Vosges have made it happen (they are, after all, the masterminds behind bacon truffles). The haute confection ery’s new 7-inch Regal Rabbit ($50) is made with a deep milk chocolate that’s infused with crunchy carrot confit and Valencia oranges.

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Kathleen Wilson helps customer Prinny Alavi select chocolate at Jacques Torres.

13 2 Spring St., (212) 625-2929; 1100 Madison Ave. , at E. 82nd St ., (212) 717-2929.

EAT YOUR VEGGIES MIX

Vosges isn’t the only one jumping on the veggie wagon. Papabubble, the downtown makers of haute hard candies, is selling a new collection dubbed Eat Your Veggies. Don’t worry, they don’t actually taste like greens — the rabbit, carrot and tomato-emblazoned rounds are flavored with guava, orange vanilla and grapefruit clove ($5.50-$25).

380 Broome St., (212) 966-2599.

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Homemade peeps at Three Tarts, a bakery in Chelsea that’s known for variously flavored marshmallow.

BLUE HARE TRUFFLES

The artsy Blue Hare Truffles ($50) from Christopher Norman Chocolates are some of the prettiest bonbons on the Easter market. The illustrations on each piece — the set comes with three flavors (caramel, wild cherry and vanilla) — are inspired by the company’s founder , John Down, a painter-turned-chocolatier. The former FiDi-based company recently moved upstate, but the goods are available on their website : christophernormanchocolates.com.

EASTER BOX

Jacques Torres’ spring-themed Easter Box ($21.50) is packed with some of his holiday best sellers. Stuffed inside the pastel egg are a chocolate bunny family, Easter bar, two foil eggs and two lollipops.

66 Water St., Brooklyn, (718) 875-1269.

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The bins at Sockerbit, in the West Village, are stocked with Swedish Easter candy, including the best-selling marzipan eggs.

CREME EGGS

The chocolatiers at Li-Lac are still using the same recipes created by founder George Demetrious in the 1920s. They stock plenty of festive creations this time of year — chocolate bunnies, lambs and even crosses — but it’s the addictive creme eggs ($4.95-$5.95) that are worth a trip to the Greenwich Village cocoa house. Choose from a milk or dark chocolate shell and nine fillings. Our advice? Get one of each.

40 Eighth Ave., at W. Fourth St., (212) 924-2280; Grand Central Market, E. 43rd St. and Lexington Ave.

DIPPED CAKE POPS

This set of 10 cake pops ($45) at Dylan’s Candy Bar are hand-dipped in rich Belgian chocolate, then decorated for the season — a perfect alternative to the usual candy and chocolate offerings.

1011 Third Ave., at E. 60th St., (646) 735-0078.

GREEK EASTER EGGS

In Greece, Easter eggs are normally dyed red , a custom that inspired Chocolat Moderne’s Joan Coukos Todd to create her beautiful crimson chocolates ($48 for box of 6). The fillings also have a Mediterranean twist — the solid red egg holds a honey thyme caramel while the rose patterned one boasts a baklava-like stuffing of crunchy walnut praline, orange zest and sweet spices.