Homemade Easter Peeps

Wed, Mar 27, 2013

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With our recent first marshmallow-making adventure the week before Easter it was a natural progression to transform some of them into Peeps. Unlike my mother-in-law and my son, as a kid I never paid much attention to Peeps. They are so colorful and festive but I have always opted for a chocolate egg or baked good to celebrate Easter. My tastes haven’t changed that much, but I have to admit that they seemed a lot better when we made our own. And even if that’s simply due to the satisfaction of making our own marshmallows, it definitely was a fun Easter-themed project.

My boys love any project with cookie cutters and sprinkles so they were excited to get sticky. The first time around we experimented with the only {mini} chick cookie cutter that we had. Though they didn’t look like the store-bought Peeps, (and you couldn’t really tell if they were chicks or Easter egg blobs) they were colorful. You could cut them out in any Easter shapes and decorate them with chocolate, color sprinkles and more.

The second time around, I used a pan of 24 bunny molds that I got at a Michael’s last-minute Easter clearance sale. I had one packet of gelatin remaining so I decided to make a third of a batch (which turned out to work perfectly, as long as you keep in mind that the syrup may not boil as long to reach the temperature). This time around, we were able to decorate our Peeps just like their commercial counterparts.

My visual favorites were the ones that my son created, combining all of the sprinkles for rainbow Peeps. As for taste, the chocolate & graham cracker-covered {s’more} Peeps definitely topped my list.

Adding eyes (and other features) on the marshmallows is an easy finishing touch with melted chocolate and a toothpick. I used the basic vanilla-flavored marshmallow recipe from King Arthur Flour.

Homemade Easter Peeps

Author: Itsy Bitsy Foodies

Recipe type: Dessert

Prep time: 3 hours

Cook time: 12 mins

Total time: 3 hours 12 mins

Serves: 60 bunnies

Making Easter Peeps out of homemade marshmallows is a lot easier than you might think and they make a colorful and festive Easter gift.

Ingredients

3¼-ounce packs of unflavored gelatin
1 cup cool water, divided
1½ cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
⅛ tsp salt
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
Colored sprinkles
Melted chocolate chips
Graham cracker crumbs, optional

Instructions

Combine the gelatin and ½ cup cool water in a mixing bowl fitted with the whisk attachment.
In a large saucepan, combine the remaining ½ cup cool water, 1½ cups sugar, ⅛ tsp salt and 1 cup corn syrup.
Cook the mixture over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, stirring constantly.
Increase the heat to high and cook, without stirring, until the syrup reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. If, like me, you don't have a candy thermometer, cook the syrup for 8 minutes.
Remove the syrup from the heat.
With mixer on low, pour the syrup into the softened gelatin and whisk to combine.
Increase the speed to high and beat the mixture for 8-10 minutes until it is thick, fluffy and cool enough to handle with your fingers.
Whip in the vanilla extract toward the end of the mixing time.
Dump the marshmallow mix by spoonful into the greased bunny molds, or place it in a piping bag and pipe the mix into the greased molds, or spread it into a greased 9x13 pan.
Cover the pan with a greased sheet of plastic wrap and let the marshmallow rest for several hours or overnight.
Pop the marshmallows out of the molds or cut the marshmallows with a greased knife or greased cookie cutters in the pan.
Roll the marshmallows in sprinkles or other toppings as desired.
To make s'more Peeps, dip the marshmallows in graham cracker crumbs and then dip in melted chocolate.
Melt chocolate chips in the microwave at 10 second intervals, stirring in between, until it is mostly smooth with a few chunks, then continue stirring until smooth. (If you overheat the chocolate it will seize and become hard, so after one or a few intervals, just stir the chocolate until completely melted and smooth.)
Servings depend on size of the marshmallows.