Homemade Peeps

With Easter around the corner, I thought I would do something a little festive today.   As Jacob mentioned here, I have been on a low-glycemic diet lately, which essentially means my sweet-tooth has been getting the shaft.  Fortunately, I have found some online sources that feature scrumptious desserts for dieters, diabetics, and celiacs alike.   Here's one I thought would be appropriate to make this weekend for kids and even adults:

Image via

Homemade Marshmallow Chicks 

(Note - you can always make these in the shape of bunnies or nest eggs.)  

Ingredients

1 cup of water, split into 2 half cups

3 tablespoons of gelatin

1 cup of honey

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon of salt

Directions

1) Cover with parchment paper a 9 by 13 inch pan, or jelly roll pan (if not using a stand mixer, you will probably only need a 9 by 9 inch pan). Then grease the parchment paper.

2) Put 1/2 cup of water in a medium bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer with attached whisk), and sprinkle the gelatin over the water. Set aside to soften.

3) In a small pot, place the honey, salt and the other 1/2 cup of water. Heat on medium heat. Using a candy thermometer, bring the mixture to 240 degrees. (You can also test it by carefully dribbling a little of the liquid into a bowl of ice cold water. It should be in the soft candy stage — which will form little soft balls when cooled in the water and taken out. It takes about 7-8 minutes to reach this temperature.) Remove from the heat as soon as it reaches the right temperature.

4) With the mixer on low, very carefully mix in the hot syrup into the gelatin mixture by pouring the hot syrup in a drizzle down the side of the bowl. Once it’s all combined, add the vanilla and increase speed slowly to high. Beat for 7-15 minutes, or until the mixture is thick and fluffy and holds its shape when you lift the beaters out of the mixture. (It will look like marshmallow fluff.) Scrape into the prepared pan. I think it works best if the mixture is about 1/2 inch thick. How much the mixture fluffs up will make a difference in how thick the mixture is and how big of a pan you need to use. Adjust pan size at will.

5) Leave uncovered for 4-12 hours to dry.  Use greased cookie cutters to cut into desired shapes. Roll in sugar immediately. If desired, make a mixture of cocoa powder and water to make eyes. Dab on with toothpick or chopstick. Keep covered in an airtight container for up to one week.

* Recipe adapted from the Nourishing Gourmet here