REVIEW: Peeps Pancakes & Syrup

Well, it seems that Valentine’s Day has come and gone. Left in its wake are wilted roses, broken hearts, and a ransacked holiday aisle at the grocery store.

But wait! What’s that, beyond the carnage of unwanted Sweethearts and Palmer’s chocolate-flavored hearts? It’s Easter to the rescue! Here comes the (REAL) chocolate bunnies! The Reese’s Eggs! The Cadbury Crème Eggs! Jellybeans! And let’s not forget a rainbow of marshmallow Peeps! Yellow Peeps, pink Peeps, blue Peeps, green Peeps, and…brown Peeps?

Taking the next step in marrying breakfast with dessert, Just Born Inc. teamed up with Kroger to bring Pancakes & Syrup Peeps into Easter baskets everywhere for the frugal price of only $1.99 per ten-chick pack. Being the cash strapped, deal hunting college student that I am, I decided to pick up two packs, on sale, for $3.00.

Ripping open the bag, I immediately pick up on the promised syrup aspect, although I can’t say I smell anything that reminds me of pancakes. I’d compare the smell more to maple extract than to a pancake breakfast complete with all the fixin’s.

Before I taste them, though, let’s take a moment to dissect how these chicks look. Now, I understand that they were trying to make me think “syrup” by coloring this variety of Peeps light brown, but this particular shade, combined with the shape that Peeps normally have, reminds me of a small pile of poop. Not that I want my marshmallows to be particularly photogenic or anything, but I still think that Peeps & Co. could have stood to work on the aesthetics of these guys a little more before they hit shelves.

But the big question is, “How do they taste?”

Well, I definitely get the syrup flavor. It’s not like an authentic maple syrup flavor, though. It’s more of like a “pancake” syrup flavor that’s going to remind you of Aunt Jemima’s. It actually kind of makes me nostalgic for my old dieting days when I doused everything with Walden Farms Sugar-Free Syrup. I guess that that’s maybe where the “natural & artificial flavor” is shining through.

I’m still not getting anything that reminds me of pancakes, though. Either they forgot to put it in, or the syrup flavor is overpowering it. Other than that, it’s a standard Peeps experience, complete with soft, plushy chicks that have a crunchy sugared coating.

Normally I’d just end it here, but I want to pursue this breakfast/dessert merger for a minute and bring these Peeps into the realm of syrup-ception by dicing up a few, cooking them INTO pancakes, and then dousing THEM in syrup for the ultimate in early morning sugar bomb.

And the results are nothing short of spectacular!

The Peeps kind of melt into the dough to create these little maple-marshmallow pockets in the pancakes, and the lake of real maple syrup on top just brings the whole experience full circle. Forget about cereal, THIS is the way marshmallows were meant to be eaten for breakfast!

(Nutrition Facts – 4 chicks – 110 calories, 0 calories from fat, 0 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 0 milligrams of sodium, 27 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 24 grams of sugars, and 1 gram of protein.)

Purchased Price: $1.50 (on sale)
Size: 10 chicks
Purchased at: Kroger
Rating: 6 out of 10
Pros: Signs of spring! On sale! Soft and plushy! Delicious when cooked into real pancakes!
Cons: Tastes like “pancake” syrup. No pancake flavor on their own. Kind of looks like little piles of poop.