I’ve been making my own homemade peeps for 8 years now! They are so so SO easy and seriously SO DELICIOUS! These little guys are only 4 ingredients and just take a little time and voila, the most delicious peeps you will ever have!
Making your own marshmallow is easier than you’d think! This recipe is just a normal marshmallow but instead of pouring it into a pan and letting it set you pipe it into the classic chick shape!
To get the color you can just buy colored sugar for the peeps, OR you can easily make your own. I wanted UBER bright yellow and to get such a large amount of colored sugar can be expensive so it was simply easier (and cheaper) to make my own. PLUS just thing of all the fun you can have creating some pretty awesome shades of sugar to personalize your peeps!
Just take me to the Marshmallow Recipe already!
If you’d rather skip my tips and tricks for shaping your peeps, along with links to other marshmallow recipes and get straight to this delicious recipe – simply scroll to the bottom of the page where you can find the printable recipe card.
Tips and tricks for making homemade peeps
- Beating – you want it to get thick enough that it holds the bubbles that keep the marshmallow fluffy. BUT be careful not to over beat though or the marshmallows will get too dense.
- When the mixture is the right texture when you stop beating you’ll see the ribboning in the mixture hold it’s shape until the count of 8 before it smoothes itself out.
- Once it’s thick and white you can’t pipe the shapes right away – it’s super warm and runny still and you’ll just end up with a puddle – you want to let it cool and start to set so it holds the shape. I put the mixture in the piping bag and every few mins I do a test pipe to see how it holds the shape.
- start by piping the base of the peeps – and do a few sets of 5 – if it’s still a little warm and here it’s okay – then start with the body – if it’s too droopy just wait a few mins and try again – the first 3 or so peeps I make are always a little droopy until I hit the perfect temp/set stage
- once you have it right don’t hesitate – pipe and pipe fast – once I took too long and the marshmallow set in the piping bag – I had a cone shaped marshmallow! Delicious but not what I was going for!
EASY PEASY, right? Like I mentioned in the tips above it’s okay if the first few peeps are more droopy than the later ones. This is another reason not to make like a double or triple batch at once, hard to get them all piped in that window of perfect texture! Seriously it might take a few tries, but it’s worth it!
And FINALLY for the eyes you can either use a toothpick or paintbrush to add some melted chocolate or some black gel food coloring. Now tear apart and enjoy!
Homemade Marshmallow Peeps
If you love marshmallow peeps as much as I do, I’d love a 5 star review. Be sure to share on social media and tag me if you make it @ashleemariecakes! If you want to stay updated on new recipes sign up for my newsletter and join my Facebook Group!
If you love these homemade peeps you’ll love these other marshmallow recipes!
Marshmallow cookies | Homemade Marshmallow Fluff | Caramel Marshmallows
S’mores cupcakes | Giant Sno Ball cake | S’more truffle pops
Connect with Ashlee Marie Online!
To watch me make these peeps in a cooking show play the video in the recipe card. There should also be a short teaser auto playing for you.
You can find all my cooking show style recipe videos on YouTube, or my short recipe videos on Facebook Watch, or my Facebook Page, or right here on our website with their corresponding recipes.
Homemade Marshmallow Peeps
Ingredients
Sugar (colored sugar)
- 3 C granulated sugar
- yellow gel food dye
Marshmallows
- 3 Tbsp powdered gelatin
- 1/3 C cold water
- 3 C granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 C water
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- black gel food dye
Instructions
Sugar
- Pour sugar into a food processor
- Add a few drops of the yellow, grind until sugar is bright yellow, but not so much it turns into a powder
- spread sugar across a cookie sheet on parchment paper and place in an oven on low, keep stirring the sugar, you just want to dry it out a bit (the gel dye can make it too wet)
Marshmallow
- Soak the gelatin in the 1/3 of a cup of cold water in a small bowl and set aside to swell for 10 minutes.
- In a large saucepan dissolve the sugar in the 1 1/2 C of water over low heat, stirring constantly.
- Add the swollen gelatin and dissolve.
- Raise the temperature and bring to a boil.
- Boil steadily, but not vigorously, for 15 minutes without stirring.
- Remove from the heat and add to the mixer
- Beat the mixture until it turns white and add the vanilla.
- Then keep beating until it's very thick and white. I listen for the sound to change as the mixer starts working harder. It should hold the ribbons left from the beaters for the count of 6 before smoothing out completely. Don't over beat or the marshmallows will get too tough.
- Once the mixture is at the right texture and you stop beating it will start to set. You want it to partiall set so it's thicker and holds it's shapped when piped but not set so much that you can't pipe anymore
- spread out 1/2 the yellow sugar on a pan
- using a large round tip and piping bag pipe a long oval about 1 inch wide and 2 inches long – pull away quickly to make the tail. I do a test one to see if it's thick enough before I pipe the rest.
- repeat doing 4-5 right next to each other slightly touching – make a few more sets
- holding the piping bag straight up and down pipe a large circle onto the rounded end of the oval
- when it's about as wide a the oval start raising your piping tip as you go but lowering the pressure creating a pyramid of marshmallow – then at the end tilt the bag by 90 degrees and stop squeezing, pull away from the mound creating the head and beak, pinch off. Do a test peep to make sure it's thick enough to hold the shape
- cover the marshmallows in more yellow sugar before they set
- use the black dye and a toothpick to dot the eyes on
Video
Nutrition
Laurie
Can I get the email newsletter it saids to get permission ? and I love peeps espically homemade peeps marshmallows
Ashlee Marie
when you sign in for the newsletter they ask for permission right there. legally you have to do it through the email service. And yes homemade marshmallows and peeps are so much fun to make and oh so delicious.
Ellen
How do I unsubscribe to your emails? I find I am getting too many emails from different sources.
Ashlee Marie
at the bottom of the emails it says “unsubscribe” just click on that.
Rachel
The recipe says to cool the mixture for 5 min … the video says an hour … which is right??
Ashlee Marie
the video says an hour? that’s crazy. I’ll have to look into that – honestly I no longer even do the 5 mins of cooling, I start beating right away, but once it’s fluffy I do let it sit a little and start to set before piping so it’s thicker.
Prissy
Hi AshleeMarie, we are new around here, but I googled peeps and this came up! Like most here in the Bay, we are sheltering in place and looking for things to do. My 5-year-old really wanted peeps and I wasn’t sure they would be available anyway.
So I found your video and boy was it helpful. Ours don’t look as pretty as yours, but pretty enough and peeps we’ve got!
Thank you, especially for the video. I will make this again-they were tasty:)
Ashlee Marie
I’m so glad you liked them! they can be a little tricky to pipe but as long as they taste good that’s all I care about!
Marie
Can I use blue jello powder instead of powdered gelatin?
Ashlee Marie
no – jello powder is more than just gelatin, so the gelatin amt wouldn’t be enough and it would also add color, flavor and sugar.
Veresa
Can jello be substituted for gelatin?
Ashlee Marie
no, jello is more than just gelatin, its also flavoring, coloring and sugar so it would totally mess up the marshmallows