Homemade Peeps

Don't let nobody say I don't aim to please. After last week's Passoverpalooza, I now bring a bit of Easter love. In the form of homemade Peeps (or, as the litigation-happy Just Born candy manufacturer would prefer I call them, marshmallow chicks).

The New York Times recently came up with a similar marshmallow menagerie, in flavors as delicious-sounding as saffron-honey and green tea-ginger. But boring old me, I went with the classic vanilla variation. And while the cookie-cutter version is much, much easier, I wanted a piped marshmallow (the kind that sets up well when squeezed from a bag), to get chicks that sat upright, with tapered-off beaks and upturned tails. This does not come without its price. Namely: it's a big sticky mess.

But if you're willing to deal with marshmallow fingerprints all over your kitchen, you can make these delicious chicks. If my experience is to be universalized, you may initially be a bit dismayed at how your poor motor control leaves you with lopsided little lumps of chicklets. But then you will show them to your friends in despair, and your friends will kindly overlook their shortcomings, and instead ooh and aah over the homespun cuteness. And then there's the delicate texture, just a whisper of sweet foam, a far cry from industrial staleness. You can find my painfully detailed recipe at The Oregonian.