Easter is right around the corner and marshmallow Peeps are everywhere. While I love marshmallows I was never a huge fan of the taste of Peeps. I knew I could make them better! So, I decided to make an every tastier homemade version decorated to look like the iconic storehouse and sometimes sweet ride of the Final Fantasy series. Behold my Final Fantasy Fat Chocobo Peeps.
By the way, if you are vegan, this recipe does use gelatin. However, I have seen some vegan marshmallow recipes that use agar agar as a substitute.
To make the marshmallow Peeps you will need:
- 2 cups of granulated sugar, divided into two 1 c. amounts
- 1/4 c. water plus 1/3 c. water divided
- 1 packet unflavored gelatin
- Vanilla extract (or any favoring of your choice)
- Yellow food coloring
- Black gel icing
- Some Orange taffy candy like Starburst
Let me show you how it’s done!
- Color 1 cup of the sugar with a few drops of the food coloring. Mix well in a small ziploc bag until the color is uniform. Strain through a fine sieve into a small baking dish or cake tin. Set aside.
- Add the 1/3 c. of water and packet of gelatin to the bowl of a mixer and set aside.
- In a heavy-bottomed saucepan add the remaining cup of sugar and 1/4 c. water. Stir to combine and then stop stirring and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Wash down the insides of the pan with wet pastry brush to prevent crystallization. You can swirl the pan gently if you want at this point but do not stir anymore! Add a candy thermometer and bring the mixture up to 238 degrees F, then remove from the heat.
- Pour the hot sugar mixture into the bowl of the mixer over the gelatin. Be careful, it’s hot!!! Gently stir together to make sure all of the gelatin has melted. Then add a whisk attachment and whip on medium speed for 8-9 minutes.
- When the mixture has cooled significantly and become a soft marshmallow fluff, turn the mixer off and add in about 1 tsp. of the flavored extract. Whip on high for a few seconds to combine.
- Fill the piping bag with the flavored marshmallow and let sit for a minute or two to cool slightly and start to set. Important: The window for piping good looking Peeps is short. The marshmallow needs to be firm enough to hold its shape when piped, but not so firm than you can’t pipe it out of the bag. You can do a few practice Peeps until you get the hang of it.
- Pipe a blob of marshmallow for the body of the Chocobo directly into the pan of yellow-colored sugar. Then add two wings (arms) and a smaller blob for the head.
- Immediately cover the entire Peep in more yellow sugar until coated.
- Make the beak and feet decorations. Knead an Orange Startburst in your fingers to soften it. Cut off a small piece and mold it into a beak shape. Then, take three smaller pieces, roll them into thin rice-sized pieces and stick them together in a “Y” shape to make the feet. Make one beak for each Chocobo and two feet.
- Use a skewer to poke a whole in the center of the face of each Peep and insert a beak. Then scratch two little circles on the bottom of the Chocobo bodies to let some of the sticky marshmallow show through and attach the feet.
- Finally, add the eyes with two little drops of black gel icing.
And there they are – My Final Fantasy Fat Chocobo Peeps!
