Dessert Wed Mar 31 2010

DIY: Homemade Marshmallow Peeps

By Shanna Quinn

Yes, you can make homemade marshmallow peeps. OK, you can make homemade marshmallow sorta-looks-like-a-peep if you close one eye and squint. The piping technique needed to make peeps look like actual peeps was beyond my capabilities, but if you don't mind eating irregular peeps, then have no fear you can do this! This recipe is easy, fun, and cheap - so cheap you probably have everything you need in your kitchen right now!

MARSHMALLOW PEEPS
1 packets of unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup cold water for gelatin
1/4 cup cold water for syrup mix
1 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of cocoa powder
extra sugar for color coating
food coloring
piping bag and tips or quart-size plastic bag
candy thermometer

Pour extra sugar into a bowl and mix it with a few drops of food coloring (I used yellow). You will only need a few drops of coloring and you can use a fork to thoroughly mix the dye into the sugar. Once you have the desired color, sprinkle some of the sugar on a cookie sheet and set aside until your ready to pipe your peeps.

In a bowl add 1/3 cup of cold water to the gelatin packet and all it soften.

In a small pot add 1/4 cup of cold water and the cup sugar. Stir on medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Put in the candy thermometer and allow the sugar to boil over medium-high heat until the temperature 238 F (soft-ball stage) is reached. It's important not to remove the sugar syrup from the heat until 238 F has been reach or else the marshmallow won't "marsh" or "mallow" and if you let the temperature go above 238 F, the sugar will crystallize and you'll end up with a hard candy.

Combine the syrup mixture and the soften gelatin into one bowl and whisk until cool.

Using an electric beater, beat on medium-high speed until the mixture forms soft peaks. It will take about 10 minutes for the mix to reach this stage.

Take your mix and put into your piping bag. Now, if you don't have a piping bag (or pastry bag), you can take a quart-size plastic bag and cut the corner of off and use that as your peep-making machine. Add marshmallow mixture in the bag and begin pipping your peeps!

OK. Making the peeps look like "real peeps" is hard. Most of the peeps I made looked like this - and if you're lucky (or amazing!) you'll end up with a few good looking peeps, or a bunch a tasty ugly ones.

Pipe the marshmallow mix onto the sugar covered cookie sheet. It's important to cover the cookie sheet with sugar otherwise your peeps will stick and no one wants that! Pipe an oval shape for the body of your peep. You can get fancy and taper the end to make it look like a tail (I could never quite do this...so good luck). And then opposite of your tail, pipe a mound for the head.

Sprinkle the peep with the colored sugar.

Mix cocoa powder with a little bit of water and mix until it forms a paste. Using a toothpick, dot eyes onto your peeps for that 'real' look.

Store in a ziplock bag or tupperware.

Oh and wait a day or two before popping those peeps into the microwave. Unless the peep loses some of it's moisture, your nuked peep will look like this in less than 10 seconds.

This recipe was found on seriouseats.com, which says it's adapted from Martha Stewart Living.