Peeps

As far as I am concerned, when it comes to marshmallows, there are only 3 three acceptable formats and limited use cases.  Mini white ones, for use in hot chocolate and atop sweet potatoes exactly once a year; big white ones, for roasting over a bonfire and making into s’mores; and Peeps, the highly seasonal bunny and chick shaped confections.  The UK is largely unfamiliar with all three.  You can find big white ones but they are almost always in a bag with pink marshmallows. Why would you want your marshmallows pink? We Americans like to transform our marshmallows, the best example probably being the Rice Krispie Treat, but in all of these applications the pink ones have no use, surely the English don’t just eat the marshmallows as is?   Given I have never seen anyone buying marshmallows in this country, the mystery will likely remain unsolved. 

Of all the above, I have a particular affinity for Peeps as I have mentioned before.  If my mother is not around over Easter, she sends me Peeps by mail.  This year I decided to make them myself.  If you would like to attempt them and live in the UK there are several steps/consequences you need to keep in mind.

·        You must buy the mould from the states and have someone mule it over for you

·        You can buy the corn syrup on Amazon but in far higher quantity than you want because it’s otherwise unavailable

·        At the finish, you will most likely buy a stand mixer because the thought of mixing with a hand mixer for 10 minutes ever again is unfathomable and you might as well make more peeps given the sunk costs above.

Turns out making Peeps is quite an expensive endeavour.  I won’t bore you with the actual recipe as Food 52 have a good one.  But let’s just say, I doubt any of these will be getting stale!  Hope you had a great Easter.