Regarding the Abuse of Peeps

I don't know what my coworker Suzy Hotrod has against marshmallow Peeps.

For the past couple of years, we've done an Eastover potluck (Easter + Passover dishes), and this year, we made it a St. Eastover potluck, incorporating St. Pat's day in the mix.



Last year, Suzy made a Peeps Fondue, dunking the poor things in a bath of thick, rich chocolate lava.



This year, it was Peeps S'mores, their little pink and yellow bodies crushed between slabs of graham cracker.

Now, it was more than a month ago when all this abuse went down, but I couldn't help but notice this week that the Peeps S'more is suddenly hot.

Over at Serious Eats, they profiled this very version of Peeps abuse, as sourced from a Peeps cookbook. Looks like the heating action happens in an oven.

As I recall, Suzy came up with hers independently, working out a system in the microwave. I believe she placed Peeps atop squares of chocolate and spaced those out across a on a piece of parchment. Then she microwaved them (apparently they inflate like you wouldn't believe), and she moved the hot piles of gooey sugar to the graham crackers for sandwiching.



I actually thought they'd be kind of gross, but they were surprisingly good. The crunchy sugar on the outside of the Peeps adds an extra texture aspect. Crisp, gooey, sweet and chewy. The only thing missing was that burnt-sugar flavor you get from campfire s'mores.



I'd feel terrible if I neglected to mention that the other impressive dish at this year's St. Eastover fest was Ryn's Mini Easter Baskets, cleverly constructed with cupcake liners, jelly beans and foil-wrapped eggs. I think you'll agree the mint is a nice touch for the platter.



What kind of Peeps abuse will next year hold? Peep skewers? Peeps on a stick? Peeps pâté? Only Suzy knows.

Late-Breaking Addendum: Aaron Cohen wants you to know that he's compiled a survey of marshmallow Peeps on the Internet, revealing that the abuse of peeps is far more widespread than we ever suspected. The time to take legislative action to protect Peeps is long past, I'm afraid.

Meanwhile, Happy Holidays & Happy Eating!