Peeps Commentary

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Where I speak of the joys of the wonderful marshmellow and sugar delicacies known as Peeps.

One day (the 6th of October, 2004 to be specific) I wrote an email to a mailing list of a bunch of my friends. It generated a good number of responses.

Subject: [Table] you can all rest easy now

Date: Wed, 06 Oct 2004 13:12:37

You can all relax. I am sure you have all been worried that Just Born (the makers of Peeps) was stagnating and no longer innovating. Fear not. In the last couple of years they have come out with Peeps for all seasons. Chirstmas Valentine's Day (aren't the slightly deformed hearts cute?)

For this Halloween season, they have come out with Cocoa covered Peeps and more importantly, for this is the truly inspired one; Marshmellow Peeps Delightfills. Chocolate Cream filled Marshmellow Pumpkins.

It will be a couple of days before I can give a real review, but my initial impressions from the one I just had that was plucked fresh from the package is positive. Not too much chocolate cream, not too little. Just enough to give a pleasant chocolate flavor throughout. At a comfortable ambient temperature around 70 degrees the chocolate cream did not ooze (which is a problem with some filled candies).

A few months later I wrote another email with about Marshmellow Peeps. This one mostly brought about the questioning of mental well being.

Subject: [Table] Easter time Candy

Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 11:06:49

It is after Valentine's Day. That means it's Easter Candy time! And that of course means it is time for a review of the season's Peeps.

My apologies for missing the Valentine season. I was unaware that they offered anything other than simple heart shaped plain marshmellow Peeps. But apparently they have strawberry and vanilla creme filled ones. I look forward to next valentine's day for those.

This year for Easter, Just Born has quite an array of marshmellow treats. They of course have the five colors of Peep Chicks and Peep Bunnies. They also have a Marshmellow Peep Giant Bunny (only in three colors). I have not yet seen one of these, but I do expect this to be a pleasurable treat, as the size should allow more of the interior to stay soft and squishy even while the outside is ripening nicely.

New this season appears to be Orange Creme Eggs to go with the Vanilla and Strawberry Creme Eggs (which I am pretty sure were introduced for the Valentine season this year). I anticipate all three of these being wonderful delights. The chocolate ones I enjoyed last halloween were interesting but the chocolate creme really just didn't jive fully with the marshemellow. The tasting for these will have to wait, as they were not available at the store I was at this morning.

Now the most excellent thing I found this morning (but I am not finding on the Peeps website) is a hollow chocolate egg with a plain yellow marshmellow Peep in it. It comes in a squareish box with clear plastic to cradle the egg. The egg itself is wrapped in a lovely pale blue foil that has a yellow peep in the center. A nice touch to aid in possible ripening processes, is a one inch flat bottom on the chocolate egg. The chocolate is about an eighth of an inch thick. As would be expected, sealed in a basically airtight chocolate shell, upon initial opening the peep (more on that in a moment) is quite tender and soft. Obviously in need of further ripening.

Now the peep itself is quite a specimen. It is a single peep. Single peeps are not normally available. Normally the best looking peeps out there have to live with one side exposing their squishy and white center. This peep has perfect rounded delightfully yellow sugared sides. One of the loveliest peeps I have seen.

The chocolate of the egg is nothing to write home about. It's not good, but it's not bad. Actually, as I munch on it... hersheys is definitely better.

This new enclosure method does provide some interesting possibilities for ripening (and for the cessation of ripening). One could for example bore a hole through the chocolate, allow the peep to ripen (one could get an appreciation of the ripeness with the blunt end of a skewer), and than reseal the hole with some melted chocolate. This of course allows the creation of an entirely new market, "Peep Ripeners". I look forward to experimenting with this wonderful new Peep enclosure.

To wrap up, I present one craft idea, and one recipe from Just Born's recipe center.

Festive PEEPS Garland

Ingredients:

MARSHMALLOW PEEPS
MARSHMALLOW PEEPS Bunnies
Clear fishing line

Directions:

String MARSHMALLOW PEEPS and Bunnies on clear fishing line (at desired length)
Swag over windows or doorways for a one-of-a-kind holiday dress up

PEEPS-ZA

PEEPS - Pink , Blue, Yellow and Purple

Your favorite Oatmeal raisin cookie recipe.

Pastel colored candy coated chocolate candies

one pizza box

Directions:

Prepare the cookie recipe
Form dough into one (or two, depending on size of your batch/pizza box) big round cookies
After forming the circle, decorate the top with the pastel colored candy coated chocolate candies. Bake the cookie.
Immediately after pulling the big cookie out of the oven, place the PEEPS face out around the outer edge of the cookie or wait til it cools and adhere them with a bit of frosting
Put into pizza box, and deliver to your visitors. Serve by cutting with a PEEPS-ZA cutter into pizza shaped slices.

And Christmas time rolled around and I found a new type of Marshmallow Peep.

Subject: [Table] Peeps!

Date: Tue, 06 Dec 2005 12:27

With the Christmas season in full swing, Christmas Peeps are of course readily available. They of course have the Marhsmallow Peeps Trees and Marshmallow Peeps Snowmen I enjoyed last year. New to me this year (although they were not new products this year) are Marshmallow Peeps Cookie Flavored Cutouts.

I will not spend much time on the Snowmen or Trees (other than to perhaps point out that the snowmen have a tendency to look like mutants with wannabe tentacled limbs), those are simply plain Marshmallow Peeps with more decorative accents than simply eyes. The interesting product today is the Cookie Flavored Cutouts. As become typical of everything but the basic Marshmallow Peeps, they are sold resting in an injection formed plastic case (as opposed to simple cardboard frames).

In the box are three pairs of gingerbread looking marshmallow delicacies. Each pair consists of a boy and girl (no, they are not anatomically correct), attached at the hand and foot. The accents are drawn to make them look like they are facing each other. As I detached the two Marshmallow Peeps, I noted something that was different about these. Instead of having a thin layer of sugar protecting the eaters hands from the delicious sticky insides this one had a coating that cracked liked a cooled royal icing on a real gingerbread cookie. Looking at the wounds were I ripped this innocent Romeo from his Juliet I also note that the insides are not simply a white marshmallow but instead a yellowish tan the color of triple expanding foam. Now a typical Marshmallow Peep has very little in the way of a scent. This one smelled unfortunately of the chemical odors commonly associated with cheap mass produced iced sugar cookies.

My first bite (this tasting is happening before the Marshmallow Peeps have had a real chance to ripen) was pleasant. Without inhaling (to eliminate that unpleasant aspect the taste was basically Marshmallow Peep with poor imitation vanilla in the background. Subsequent bites told a more interesting story. The cracking sugar coating (not crumbling or falling off, simply creating lines across the surface) provided a slightly different texture in the mouth but really doesn't help or hinde the enjoyment. One of my bites happened to get a good number of the drawn accents on the top and I noted something odd. My immediate reaction was that perhaps it was here that the smell was emanating from. Cruelly plucking the buttons off the girl Marshmallow Peep, I sniff them carefully and taste just those. My original impression was incorrect. While they had a potent flavor that was more sugar packed than the marshmallow, the scent was coming from all parts of the little spongy delights.

All in all they are an ok addition to the Marshmallow Peeps family. They are interesting change of pace from simple marshmallow flavor and do lead to the interesting idea of more flavored marshmallow goodies. To even a Marshmallow Peep lover however, I would say they should be tasted before the seasons stockpile to be ripened is purchased as they may not be liked by everyone.

And then there was a question about "stale" peeps on Ask MetaFilter that I felt the need to respond to.

Question: How long before peeps go stale?

Date: April 1st 2006

My friends question my sanity over my love for peeps, so I think I can shed some light on the process of ripening Peeps.

How ripe someone likes their peeps is very much a matter of personal preference. I have found that most connoisseurs like them chewy, with perhaps a crunchy exterior.

The process of ripening a peep is primarily a matter of humidity. At work (very dry radiator heat in a university building), my peeps become shatterable solid in under a month, whereas at home I have peeps that are a year old that are just beginning to show signs of hardening. Note that in both cases I am talking of peeps that are still wrapped in their original packages. It is often possible to soften an overripe peep by putting in a more humid environment. One can not revive a peep that has reached the point in which it can be shattered with a hammer.

I have toyed with speeding up the hardening by both heat and airflow. Heat (halogen light close enough that if the peep were your hand, you would notice a distinct warmth) for 6 hours did not make a real difference. Airflow was much more successful. 3 hours in front of a constantly running air conditioner did wonders to a fresh squishy peep. This process did not create the luscious chewy interior that a lengthier ripening process creates

My unquestioned favorite peeps, are the ones in the chocolate eggs. The chocolate isn't very good, but if you poke a few hole (I use a hot metal skewer) and wait a bit longer than you would normally wait to ripen a package of regular peeps (with just a cut in the package (you wouldn't want to take off all of cellophane as you would get dusty peeps)) you will end up with a divine firm marshmallow peep with a glorious hint of chocolate flavor. Now if only they weren't so expensive ($3 an egg before Easter, $1-2 after).