Peeps and grocery-store chocolate candies are all well and good, but the end of Lent calls for something of a splurge. Fortunately, the purveyors of fine chocolate and other goodies are more than happy to oblige the impulse to celebrate the season. Here at Slashfood, we are happy to indulge whenever the opportunity arises, but these luxury Easter chocolates are really ideal for a special occasion.

1. Harry and David may not be the "go-to" chocolatier for some, but their Chocolate Praline Eggs are somehow shaped inside a colorful, real eggshell and need to be broken out before eating. A half dozen eggs are $29.99.
2. Robert L. Strohecker's Assorted Rabbits are chocolate bunnies designed to have three different flavors of filling inside different parts of the rabbit: toasted almond ears, an almond butter crunch head, and a caramel pecan body. Available in both milk and dark chocolate, this is one bunny you won’t get bored with. They are $30.95 a pair.
3. Neiman Marcus' Chocolate Easter Bunny is hand poured, hand decorated and hand wrapped. At nearly 5-pounds, it is one very big, but festive, bunny. Use it as a centerpiece, then serve it for dessert. Each bunny is $99.

 PeepBlog is a blog that keeps up with all things in the world of those tasty marshmallow critters. Some people, as it turns out, use them when showing off their car decorating skills, but Peeps are meant to be eaten. PeepBlog has a whole recipe section dedicated to cooking with Peeps. Beginning with how to select the appropriate Peep for your purposes, the cooking section covers basic techniques, including baking, frying, grilling and poaching. Once the basics have been mastered, PeepBlog suggests that you move on to more complex recipes, like Peep Salad and Peep and Sour Sauce, which - apparently - is perfect for kicking up a stir fry.

Is there any end to the usefulness of the Peep?

I love Peeps. Not the creepy new ones that Just Born is releasing at every conceivable holiday, though. In fact, the black Halloween ones are just downright wrong, as are the filled marshmallows. But the marshmallow yellow chicks and purple bunnies are simply perfect. They're sweet and sugary, light and fluffy. They're made out of sugar, corn syrup and gelatin, in much the same way as homemade marshmallows. I always buy them around Easter and in the grand scheme of Easter confections, the low-cal, no-fat Peeps are not a bad option, with only 32 calories per peep.

As the season for Peeps is upon us once more, people begin to look to Peeps for more than just a sweet snack. The fluffy marshmallow critters, chicks and bunnies alike, can provide hours of entertainment when properly utilized. Strangely, it is not only children who play with their food in this instance, but adults. Since they inspire far more fascination than your average marshmallow, one can only attribute their entertainment value to the fact that the chicks and bunnies look so much more realistic - "realistic" in the sense that they do have an actual form, unlike a more traditional marshmallow. Alternatively, it could be the bright colors that people find so appealing.

PeepResearch.org is a wealth of information, detailing the outcome of nearly every likely situation a Peep  is likely to be in, including extreme heat and extreme cold, as well as chronicling the effects of smoking and alcohol on Peeps who have given in to temptation.

Bunny Survival Tests is slightly more disturbing than PeepResearch.org because there seems to be a degree of enjoyment from the creators of the site in seeing what happens to the sweet little Peep Bunnies when exposed to a variety of hazardous situations.

Other, less scientific examples of Peep amusements include how to joust Peeps and Peep-henge, in addition to the very cool PeepsShow.

[Photo by PeepResearch.org]