Homemade Marshmallow Peeps

Jordan from Wayward Girls Crafts here! Easter is fast approaching and I was struck by inspiration for a craft:

Homemade marshmallow Peeps!

I thought this would be 1.) brilliant and 2.) very difficult/messy. I was pleased to be half-wrong: the marshmallows were easy to make and everything came together pretty quickly! First, I made the outside coating for the peeps. Colored sugar is OH so difficult. 1. Start with white sugar.

2. Add food coloring.

3. Mix.

4. Mix some more.

Once your colored sugar is ready, you'll need a little bed of it for each peep. I sprayed some cooking spray on a piece of foil and put down my colored sugar:

Then it was time to make the marshmallows using a recipe courtesy of About.com. Seriously, this took maybe 30 minutes:

After giving the marshmallows a couple minutes to start to set, I sprayed a spatula and the inside of a Ziploc baggie with cooking spray. I used the spatula to fill the baggie with the soft marshmallows and then piped the peeps onto their waiting beds:

The bunny is just two lines with a small circle at the base for the head (though I think trying to get the ears on top of the head is a good goal), and a larger circle below that for the body. The chick is almost a Z shape: pipe a thick line for the body, then lift up and back over the body, then forward to end in the beak. I was afraid the peeps would devolve into shapeless blobs, but they held up really well! (You might also try putting the marshmallows into a pan to set, then using greased cookie cutters.)

Sprinkle with more colored sugar (you could also shake them in a bag full of colored sugar for better coverage, but sprinkle them first: too much exposed marshmallow will stick to the inside of . . . well, anything!):

Add some chocolate sprinkle eyes:

And have a happy Easter! Oh, and the best Peeps site ever: Peep Research. (What happens when they're subjected to a "fear chamber," AKA the microwave?)