My favorite Easter candy is Peeps.  I have always loved the super-sugary sweetness of Peeps.  I delight in biting off the heads first, letting the sugar melt in my mouth, and then chewing the rest of the soft marshmallow.  Because I am a purist, my favorite Peeps are the originals:  the yellow chicks.  Every Easter I buy one small sleeve of the yellow chicks and eat them all on Easter Sunday (my sugar rush for the month).  I can’t be trusted to have any more than that around and buying them at other times of the year is not a temptation.

Peeps were “born” in 1953.  Their papa was Sam Born, a Russian immigrant to the United States who founded the Just Born Company with Peeps as the main product.  The original colors were yellow, pink, and white chicks.  Bunnies made their debut in the 1960’s.  And, of course, the product line has expanded so that you can now find Peeps for sale all through the year in many different shapes. But the ingredients are the same as the originals:  sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, and food dye.  Doesn’t that make your mouth water?

I recently found a different kind of Peep in a chocolate store in Brevard, NC:  a milk chocolate coated giant Peep.  Despite puritan streak, I had to try this – surely the wonderful deliciousness of the Peep would be even better covered in milk chocolate.  Unfortunately, while the chocolate was melt-in-your-mouth wonderful, the combination was just too sweet.  Who knew there was such a thing as too sweet?

When I bought the Peeps, the sales lady told me that she didn’t like to eat them, but she did like to joust with them.  Every year she buys a pack of them and then she and her kids have jousts in the microwave to see whose Peep will be victorious.  This sounds like great fun, but I wasn’t willing to sacrifice any of my five Peeps for jousting.

Do you have a favorite holiday candy?  What is your favorite way to eat it?  Have you ever tried to do something different with a Peep?