We decided to make our own kinda peeps this year - I have a great marshmallow recipe, and got a silly little running bunny cookie cutter at Home Cake Decorating Supply Co. (one of the coolest stores EVER, absolutely stuffed with all sorts of things you never knew existed).

It really helps to have a stand mixer - you have to mix the batter for a good 10 minutes to incorporate enough air for fluffy marshmallows. Once I tried making marshmallows in a food processor and it didn’t work at all, they were kind of dense and rubbery and weird. You can, of course, use a hand mixer. It’s also very helpful to have a candy thermometer - you’re going to be cooking a sugar syrup to 240°, which is called soft ball stage. You can find instructions on the Internet about how to check the temperature of cooked candy by using a cup of cold water, but the thermometer is much easier and they’re cheap.

How to make peeps (or marshmallows in any shape):

Prepare a baking sheet or 9 by 13 pan by greasing it and sprinkling it with powdered sugar.

In your mixer bowl, put 6 tablespoons of water, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and sprinkle 2 packets of gelatin over the surface. I also put in a few drops of gel food coloring. Let that sit while you cook the syrup.

In a saucepan, put 1 1/2 cups sugar, 6 tablespoons of water, 2 tablespoons of honey OR glucose syrup OR corn syrup (this keeps the mixture from crystallizing), and a pinch of salt. Cook this over medium heat, stirring, until it reaches 240°. Pour the syrup into the mixing bowl over the gelatin, and beat at medium speed for about 4 minutes. You’ll see the color starting to get lighter - turn the mixer speed up to about medium-high, and beat another 6 minutes. It fluffs up a LOT, and gets much paler - mine started out a fairly dark green, but ended up being really light green.

Pour your marshmallow batter into your prepared pan. It’s really just a big lump of fluff at this point. I put a little water on my hand and smoosh it out into the pan so it’s pretty even. If you try this with dry hands, it will totally, utterly stick to you. Leave it in a safe place to set up overnight. I used to have a cat who would eat marshmallows, so you might want to put it in a cupboard if you have pets.

After your marshmallow sheet is set up, you can use your cute cookie cutter to cut out shapes. The cutter won’t stick as badly if you dip it in powdered sugar. But it’s a messy messy process no matter what. You want to dust the cut edges of your marshmallows in more powdered sugar, or you can use granulated sugar for that authentic, gritty peep texture. Or you can dust them with cocoa, or roll them in toasted coconut. Have fun with your peeps!

I found a bunch of fun peep links!
Chicago Tribune photo gallery of the Peeps factory
Smeeps
Martha Stewart Peep Wreath
Martha Stewart marshmallow bunnies and chicks (piped from a pastry bag)
Peep culture (about a million fascinating links here, also, Starry Night!)
Washington Post Peeps Diorama Contest (Wonderful stuff here! Don’t miss No Country for Old Peeps and the Star Trek diorama)
Making marshmallows on Cooking for Engineers
Peeps Lip Balm
Peeps costume??!!