Peep Week 2014 - Day 6

 In years past, I have done a peep cocktail as Peep Week winds down - probably because I want a cocktail by that point. This year, however, I decided to do a non-alcoholic cocktail because I have a lot of sober friends and because I knew my kids would love a chance to try a Peep Week signature drink!

So, last night, I made Peep Mai Tais! I got the recipe from Peeps: Recipes and Crafts to Make with Your Favorite Marshmallow Treat by Charity Ferreira.

The recipe is for one drink so I doubled it because I have two kids. MATH!

Ingredients: 

• 1 wooden skewer
• 1 peeps of your choice
• pineapple wedges
• maraschino cherries
• 1 paper umbrella
• ice
• 1 cup ginger ale
• 2 tbs lime juice
• 1 tbs almond syrup (I omitted this because of the sweetness)
• splash of grenadine

Directions:

1. Spear peep, cherry and pineapple on skewer. I used two pineapple wedges instead of one because my kids love pineapple.
2. Insert paper umbrella into peep.
3. Fill glass with ice.
4. The recipe calls for the liquids to be shaken in a cocktail shaker but I served it over ice without shaking because I like the way it looks when the grenadine settles to the bottom. The presentation is more dramatic that way.
5. Add the skewer and serve. The skewer can be used as a stirring stick.
6. The recipe did say that you could add 1/4 cup light rum and 2 tbs dark rum to make an alcoholic cocktail but I didn't try that because rum. Blech.

The kids absolutely loved these!

Peep Week 2014 - Day 5

It's already Day 5 of Peep Week - time is really flying by in that "Wow! I should probably build a set and come up with a shot list and figure out that whole peep movie thing that is supposed to be done in two days!" HA HA HA HA! Ha. Heh. Ahem.

But today is about pie - lemon peep pie, to be precise! In preparing for Peep Week, I thought about how much I love lemon meringue pie and then I thought about how much meringue is like marshmallow and then I thought about how peeps are just marshmallows and then I thought, "Let's make a lemon peep pie!"

So, we did.

I used a whole wheat pie crust from the coop because that makes the pie healthy. Kidding. I used a whole wheat pie crust from the coop because Luisa was going to the coop and I was all, "OH MY GOD PIE CRUST FOR PEEP PIE NEED NOW PLEASE!"

For the filling, I used a recipe from the Joy of Cooking:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup strained lemon juice
• 2 generous tsp grated lemon zest
• 4 large egg yolks
• 3 tbs butter
• I package of pink peeps

Directions:

1. Whisk sugar, cornstarch and salt in a medium saucepan.
2. Whisk in water, lemon juice and zest.
3. Whisk in egg yolks until no yellow streaks remain.
4. Add butter.
5. Stir constantly and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
6. Once simmering, cook for 1 minute.
7. Pour into the crust and put plastic wrap directly on the surface. I have no idea why.
8. Open your peep packages and decide how you want them arranged.
9. Remove plastic wrap and place your peeps.
10. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes and that's it!

It started out looking so fresh and springy!

And then I baked it and it looked like this...

We had friends over for dinner that night so I had plenty of help with tasting. The overwhelming opinion was - "YES! LEMON PEEP PIE IS AMAZE-MAZE!" It was so good that we didn't hesitate to finish it off the next day. This is something I would consider making again which means it was a success!

Bon appepeep!

Peep Week 2014 - Day 4

Are we all peeped out? Maybe a little bit? Well, I am running on marshmallow fumes over here. On Tuesday, after spending the day at the mall, I came home and made peep cupcakes before heading out to an evening event for Listen To Your Mother. The best thing about this collision of events is that I knew I'd see Tracy and Galit and could give them some cupcakes so that I wouldn't be stuck with two dozen peepy cupcakes! The greatest challenge of Peep Week isn't always coming up with the ideas. Sometimes, it's scheduling everything so that you don't have to eat more than one peep concoction per day or are not forced into a situation where you must allow your kids to eat more than one peep concoction per day. But when things go awry, we get by with a little help from our friends.

So let's talk cupcakes! I found these cupcake liners and adorable bunny ears on a previous trip to Peeps & Company.

I knew I would be pressed for time so I didn't try to make cupcakes from scratch and instead bought a Pillsbury funfetti cake mix and some plain white frosting. I felt that peeps required funfetti even though I have no idea what the little bits in the mix actually are. While Zeca and I made them, I asked that very question aloud and she patted my shoulder and said, "I think it's best if we don't think about that." Smart girl.

So, we whipped up a batch of funfetti cupcakes and baked them in the peep liners and then decorated them according to the picture on the package, though I didn't pipe the icing.

I had to rush out the door and didn't get to see my kids eat their peep cupcakes but Tracy and Galit were kind enough to send me pictures of their kids enjoying these cute little funfetti peep cupcakes!

This is probably one of my favorite peep things ever because it was easy and because those peeps in bunny ears are irresistible!