So what’s up with that little fluffy yellow chick on the shelf of your supermarket? You know, the one peeking from behind the plastic, sandwiched into a box like a little yellow sardine? Why are people so into Peeps?

I confess I was a late bloomer when it comes to Peeps — I never ate one of these puff balls until I was about 38 years old. They weren’t something you found in my neck of the bunny forest growing up. A colleague brought boxes of the marshmallow treats for my daughter’s Easter basket — purple, her favorite color — and a tradition was born.

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JOEY IVANSCO/jivansco@ajc.com

Just two disks of marshmallow create homemade chicks, in a color and size of your liking.

RELATED:

• • Step-by-step guide to making Peeps
• make cream-filled eggs at home
• • More Easter recipes

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And now, Peeps are everywhere.

Fluffy, cute, sugar-coated marshmallow chicks (and bunnies) have become as much a rite of passage into springtime each year as pollen and dogwood blossoms. Why? They’re so adorable. They come in yellow, pink, purple, blue and white. They squish when you eat them. And make your mouth turn funny colors. They have only 32 calories and no fat.

They even make a great dashboard ornament.

And all they are is a marshmallow.

So when I mentioned in passing to a colleague that I could make Peeps-style chicks from scratch, she was ready to put me to the challenge. Using the marshmallow recipe I shared in February in Food & Drink, I took an afternoon and mixed up batches of yellow, pink and blue, with sugar sprinkles to match.

With a pastry bag and a large round tip (I use Ateco), my small kitchen became a Peep-style factory. I piped a large round disk for my chick’s bottom, then a small round disk for his head (see the accompanying step-by-step photos for how to give the chick a tail and a beak). A sprinkle of sugar and two candy eyes later, and even Martha would be green (or a more Easter color) with envy.

DID YOU KNOW …

• The Peeps brand, from Just Born candy manufacturers, began more than 50 years ago.

• The company produces enough Peeps in one year to circle the globe twice. That’s a lotta Peepin’.

• Yellow is the most popular color for chicks.

• It takes six minutes to create a Peep chick.

• The chicks have a new color for Easter: red.

• It would take more than 70 million Peeps chicks, beak to tail, to reach from New York City to Los Angeles.

Source: www.marshmallowpeeps.com.