Cooking with FOX 7: Easter Peeps

Executive Pastry Chef at the Four Seasons Amanda Pallagi Naim makes a seasonal treat.

The recipe for Easter Peeps is as follows:

Ingredients

1 ½ cup    Granulated sugar
8               Egg whites
1 ea.         Vanilla bean, scraped
3 ea.         Gelatin sheets

Instructions

•    Bloom the gelatin sheets by soaking in ice water until soft, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. 
•    In a metal or glass bowl, combine the sugar and egg whites with a whisk. 
•    Transfer to a small sauce pot and cook over a double boiler on low. Whisk occasionally until the sugar is completely dissolved. 
•    Squeeze out any excess water from the gelatin sheets and add them to the sauce pot, whisking until the gelatin is dissolved. 
•    Transfer the mixture to an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add the vanilla bean and whisk on medium-high speed until cool. When ready, it should resemble a marshmallow fluff. 
•    Spread the mixture into a sheet pan lined liberally with colored sugar. Top the exposed marshmallow with the sugar as well. Let cool completely. 
•    Once fully cooled, cut into desired shapes with Easter-themed cookie cutters. Use the leftover sugar to cover the exposed areas of marshmallow. 

Notes

*To make lemon-flavored Peeps, replace the vanilla bean with 1 Tbsp. of lemon zest. 
* Instead of spreading into a sheet pan, another option is to pipe the marshmallow mixture into kiss shapes or duck shapes and let them cool. For this, place a piece of parchment paper with a layer of colored sugar on top. Pipe onto the sugar and use the excess sugar to lightly coat the tops and sides of the shapes. Let cool completely before moving to a tray for serving.  
*To make your own colored sugar, add a few drops of food coloring to granulated sugar and mix until the color is dispersed evenly.