Just Born is always expanding their Peeps lineup, as the sugar-coated marshmallows are one of their most popular products. Instead of only offering yellow chick Peeps at Easter, they have chicks, bunnies and egg shapes in a variety of colors and flavors. And for other holidays, they have themed Peeps, with hearts on Valentine's Day and trees at Christmas.

At Halloween, Just Born introduced cocoa-flavored black cat Peeps, which I passed on because I was somewhat put off by the color. I am a huge fan of Peeps, but I like my Peeps in the spring. While shopping this week, however, I came across Cocoa Bunny Peeps and, as they were Eastery-enough to meet my standards, I picked up a package for a taste test.

The important thing to note about these candies is that they are not chocolate marshmallows, despite the promising light chocolate color. They are merely cocoa-flavored and that flavoring is entirely limited to the sugary coating on the outside of the bunny. The subtle chocolate flavor didn't really do anything to enhance the Peep and, although I would eat them again, if I really want chocolate with my Peeps, I'll stick with Milk Chocolate Peep Eggs - or better yet, a dark chocolate Peeps s'more using a regular Peep.

For a closer look at the cocoa bunnies, click past the jump. *warning - the photo after the jump is graphic, and may not be suitable for all viewers*

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]