Eight Days of Easter: Day 7

I've been doing a Peeps Edition of Eight Days of Easter by experimenting with different projects you can do with the classic Easter treat: Peeps. For day seven, I decided to make some homemade Peeps. Basically all a Peep is is a marshmallow covered in sugar that just happens to be in a holiday shape. The original and most classic are chicks and bunnies for Easter but now Peeps makes everything from ghosts to Christmas trees. A homemade Peep takes the concept of a Peep and simplifies it down to the marshmallow and the sugar.

Ingredients:
Large marshmallows
Sticks
Water
Colored Sugar

Simply take the large marshmallows and put them on lollipop sticks. Next dip them in a cup or bowl of water. Dab on a paper towel if needed. Then sprinkle colored sugar over top or dip in a bowl of colored sugar. For Easter it's fun to use Spring colors such as Yellow, Pink, Purple, Green, Blue, Orange, etc. I used the four colors that I had sugar crystals in. I also had red and black but those colors aren't very Easter or Springy. I used my cake pop trays to let them dry, you could also use a Styrofoam block.

Eight Days of Easter: Day 6

For day six of my Eight Days of Easter: Peeps Edition, I decided to experiment with something a little random. I saw a recipe for Peep Mousse on Pinterest and it caught my interest (and no I didn't mean for that to rhyme.) I'm not sure if my turned out quite right, I used heavy cream instead of whipping cream, I never really got a solid answer on the difference between those two. You can use bunnies or chicks and in any color. It makes the most sense to have your sugar or sprinkles match the color of the Peeps you use.

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
10 Peeps marshmallow candies
Sparkling sugar or sprinkles for dusting

Heat ½ cup of the cream in a large saucepan over medium heat. Drop in the Peeps and stir until melted and smooth.  Leave the melted Peep base to cool, stirring occasionally.  The mixture will separate, but will come back together with stirring.

When the Peep base is cool, whip the remaining 1 cup of cream until stiff peaks form.  Drop a large spoon full of the cream into the Peep base and stir to combine.  Gently fold in the remaining cream in two batches until everything is combined and evenly colored.  If you want, spoon the mousse into 4 small bowls, cover the top with plastic wrap and chill for several hours or overnight.

Serve sprinkled with decorative sugar and a Peep on top.

I was a little worried that mine was too runny and not a mousse like substance but after it chilled over night, it firmed up quite nicely. I tried a spoonful and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. I also tried dipping a couple strawberries in it, it makes a delicious fruit dip! I give this two thumbs up for sure. I wouldn't eat a whole bowl of it but split up into tiny portions or used as a dip, A+!

Eight Days of Easter: Day 5

For day five of my Eight Days of Easter: Peeps Edition, I decided to experiment with candy and vodka again. Back in December during my 25 Days of Christmas, I made Candy Cane Vodka and it turned out quite tasty so ever since then I have been wanting to try it with other kinds of candy.

For the candy cane vodka I needed to soak the candy canes in vodka for 2 days. Today will equal 1 day for my Peeps vodka so I am going to give it another day and see how it turns out. To make Peeps vodka, I put 4 pink bunny Peeps in a mason jar, poured vodka over them and sealed up the jar.

Above is what it looks like right after pouring the vodka over the Peeps. Below is what it looks like after a day. The Peeps are still not dissolved but it looks like they are starting to a little bit. It may take longer than two days.

UPDATE: After 4 days most of the marshmallow is finally dissolved. I gave it a few good shakes to take it from looking like the picture above to the one bellow. The little brown eyes from the Peeps are floating in the vodka and there is still a foamy marshmallow head on it but other than that the Peeps are mostly dissolved. I attached one of the Peep Pops from Day 1 to decorate the jar. I haven't tried the vodka yet, I want to give it a couple more days to see if the marshmallow will completely dissolve.

Final Update: The Peep Vodka didn't turn out like I had hoped. It really didn't have much flavor to it. It basically just tasted like regular vodka, maybe a hint of Peep. I think if one of the companies like Three Olives or Pinnacle took on the task, they could make a tasty Peep Vodka but for the homemade version, this didn't turn out like my Candy Cane Vodka did.

Eight Days of Easter: Day 4

For day four of my Eight Days of Easter: Peeps Edition, I decided to dip Peeps in white chocolate and cover in Spring themed sprinkles to make fancy Peeps. You can do this with bunnies and chicks.Package them in a box, cellophane baggy or basket for a cute Easter gift or display over edible Easter grass at a party.

Eight Days of Easter: Day 3

For day three of my Eight Days of Easter: Peeps Edition, I wanted to make a favorite of mine, a Peep-tini!

Honestly a Peep-tini is any kind of martini with a Peep in it. I like using the chicks for this but you could use the bunnies too. I originally discovered Peep-tinis on the show The Girls Next Door. They were enjoying them during an Easter egg painting party. I first made my own Peep-tini in college with a recipe called a Blue Mother*****. I then had them at an Easter egg dying party with some girls from work. I used Smirnoff pre-made Cosmopolitan drinks with pink chick Peeps. This time I decided to make a new favorite recipe of mine, Electric Lemonade made with Idol Vodka which is a wine flavored vodka. The drink is blue, I thought about using blue Peeps to match the drink but I decided to rim the martini glass with yellow sugar and go with a classic yellow Peep. Below is the recipe for the Electric Lemonade.

Ingredients:
2 oz Idol Vodka
2 oz lemonade
1/2 oz Blue Curacao

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake. Rim martini glass with sugar, strain into martini glass, and garnish with a Peep! For a non Easter version, garnish with a lemon wedge.

Eight Days of Easter: Day 2

For day two of my Eight Days of Easter "Peeps Edition," I decided to go for an Easter twist on a classic snack:  Peeps S'mores. You simply replace the marshmallow part of the S'more with a Peep. They're just as tasty as regular S'mores but have a fun colorful sugary twist. You can use bunnies or chicks and the more colors you can find the better they look if you're making multiple ones for a party or get together.

I have a S'more maker that you fill with water and it makes S'mores in the microwave in just 30 seconds!

Eight Days of Easter: Day 1

I almost want to call this series "Eight Days of Peeps" because each day is going to involve Peeps somehow but I like the alliteration of eight and Easter too much to not use it. Since I just got back from spending the weekend in Maryland and Virginia, I wanted to keep it simple for day one.

For the first day, I made a few Peep Pops. To make a Peep Pop, all you need to do is stick a bunny Peep on a lollipop stick. You could probably do it with the chick Peeps as well but the bunny ones just look better on a stick. Add some cute spring colored ribbon to add to the look.

I made them into a cute display by putting the pops in an Easter egg bucket and adding edible Easter grass as filler.

I love the idea of the edible Easter grass but in actuality it doesn't taste good at all. I guess it still makes a decent filler but the edible part could be left up to debate. The display of Peep pops makes a great decoration whether it's at a party, your Easter dinner table or wherever.