Happy Easter to All and to All a Good Night

As seen on http://www.chicagotribune.com/, here is the story behind a sweet little Easter treat. How Peeps are made.....

It all starts with the Peep batter

squeezed into the perfect chick shape

and given a sugary bath. (Actually this picture is of the sugar getting dyed yellow before it's added to the little guys.)

The Army of Peeps then march down the assembly line

to the eyeball machine.

Mishaped chicks and others who are found unsuitable are delicately removed and/or otherwise exterminated.

The rest are lovingly placed into their box.

Although I was fascinated by how they are made, I'm not actually a big fan of this sugary treat. Turns out, I'm not the only one. On the website http://www.seriouseats.com/ I found two recipes that make a good use of Peeps for those non-marshmallow eaters like myself.

The first recipe is for 'S'meeps' (S'more peeps.)

The recipie is pretty simple:

S'meeps
- makes 4 s'meeps -

Ingredients:
4 Peeps (1 package)

4 graham crackers, separated into 8 halves

4 1-ounce squares semisweet or dark chocolate (depending on preference)

Procedure:
1. Preheat the oven or toaster oven to 350°F.
2. Place a 1-ounce square of chocolate on 4 of the graham cracker halves. Top each chocolate with a Peep. Say your goodbyes.
3. Put your Peep sacrifice laden graham crackers on an aluminum foil covered tray and pop them in the oven for 2 to 3 minutes. Watch them carefully as toasting Peeps can turn into burn victims beyond repair in the blink of an eye. Vigilance!
4. Once the Peeps are toasted to your liking, take them out of the oven and squish them with a graham cracker half. Feast.

The second recipe is for those who think Peeps alone just don't have enough calories by themselves. Here it is: Fried Peeps.

Deep Fried Peeps:
- makes five Peeps -

Ingredients:
2 egg whites, mixed

4 sheets Graham crackers crushed into crumbs

1 cup shredded coconut

5 Peeps

Vegetable oil for frying

Procedure:
1. Dip Peep in egg whites, then roll in crumbs. Dip in egg whites again and roll in crumbs for a second coating. Dip in egg whites a third time and roll in shredded coconut. Pat coconut into the breading. Make sure the Peep is well coated so it ends up with an impenetrable graham cracker-shell armor.
2. Heat oil to 350°F and fry Peeps one at a time, rolling it over once one side has browned. Fry until the Peep is golden brown or starts to leak, about 30 seconds.
3. Place finished Peeps on paper towel-lined plate. Allow to cool a bit before eating, but eat it while the innards are still molten.

The best news is that those of you who are all together 'anti-sugar' no longer need to let your Easter candy go to waste. On www.keypad.org/bunnies there are all sorts of science experiment suggestions. For example: what happens when a marshmallow bunny is electrocuted/dropped into boiling water/hit with a laser beam?

Go ahead, try one out!

And speaking of bunnies, this last picture was also found on http://www.chicagotribune.com/. This is a picture of Karl Szmolinsky, who raises a breed of rabbits called giant grays. The rabbit shown below is named Robert, an 8.5kg giant gray who is 74cm long and has ears 25.5cm long, in the backyard of his house in Eberswalde, Germany in 2006. Karl Szmolinsky sold eight giant grays to a delegation from North Korea that wanted to raise the breed as a source of meat for the North Korean population. Szmolinsky said his rabbits reach a maximum weight of 10.5 kg (23.1lbs.).

I guess the Easter Bunny really does exist!