Another Favorite Bird of Mine

Since I shared with you pictures of a favorite little bird, the wren, I thought it time to share one of my all time favorite spring time birds, PEEPS ! I also like the Bunnies. Yes, I know they are made of unhealthy stuff and they have colors not found in beet juice extract etc.
Now I know there has been lots of health food talk from me of late, but if I have a weakness, it is for these little marshmallow chicks. Actually on my family email list, ( I have a email list for all my family, cousins, aunts, etc) we have had discussions on the best way to eat them and we share the first sightings of new peeps on the market for each holiday. There was quite a stir the Christmas they came out with red cardinals ! We all made mad rushes to the store to get them before they were gone. Its a real family thing with us. Since peeps first came out as an Easter treat, that is the most traditional form. I happen to like mine stale best. Open the package and then let them get a bit stale. When my sisters and I were kids we would see who could hold out the longest and not eat them until they were almost rock hard. I never could let mine go as long as my sister Janine. She was good at just checking them each day. Touch them carefully to see how hard they were getting. I would cave in and have to eat mine at first sign of any hardness. Texas is humid this time of the year so its hard to get the peeps to get hard. So I eat them pretty quick. I blame the climate and not my weakness .
We have tried roasting the Halloween shaped Peeps and that is not pretty. I put the ghosts and bats on a stick like you roast a marshmallow. Oh what a sight ! The ghosts faces all melted and made them more a fright, and the sugar caramelized and made a rather brittle coating. The bats, well they got really ugly, melting into strange sights and the color was not too appealing and again the sugar caramelized. They just didn't taste all that wonderful either. Best to stick with the traditional way of eating them and leave the roasting to marshmallows.
I bought three packages of these little Easter treats yesterday. I was so happy with the colors in the basket, and then last night my daughter told me of a store that has them in a turquoise/blue color. Guess it means another trip to town !
There are all kinds of PEEPS web pages out there. The two following sites have some interesting information.
http://www.marshmallowpeeps.com/
http://www.peepresearch.org/