Peeps Taste Test – Last One

We had two more flavors to try: strawberry, and cherry limeade. Now the strawberry, I thought would be pretty good. The cherry limeade, I thought that that one would be pretty weird.

The strawberry ones were ok. They tasted very similar to strawberry Nestle Quik. So, as long as you are ready for that sort-of-strawberry flavor, it’s actually ok. I liked the dipped part, too. The girls were both big fans of this one.

The cherry limeade one was, well, weird. It was sour and just….well, it was weird. The girls liked it (big girl asked if it was watermelon because it looked like a watermelon and kept referring to it as watermelon even though it definitely did not taste like watermelon). But, this one was just too weird tasting for me…..but it does look pretty cool.

Peeps Taste Test – Number 3

For this next round of Peeps taste testing, we had two of the more non-traditional flavors. Or at least one was really non-traditional (in my opinion).

First up was the vanilla one.

I like the way it looks. The sprinkles give it a bit of a funfetti look.

Now, in the last taste test, I mentioned that I was really beginning to enjoy the addition of the “dipped” element on the new Peeps. This one, however, I didn’t like very much. I thought that the dipped part had a weird taste to it. My girls, however, liked this one a lot. I think I was looking for a vanilla flavor and I didn’t really get it.

Next up, the raspberry one. I had high hopes for this one because I love all things raspberry.

This one wasn’t bad. Although, my girls and I were not in agreement on this one. I liked it, big girl liked it (I think…at least….she ate it), little girl didn’t like it so much.

The taste is a sort-of-raspberry-sort-of-berry taste. So, not full-on raspberry but still yummy.

Results: Mixed. Stay tuned for the final taste test to be posted soon……

Peeps Taste Test – Number 2

For this next Peeps taste test, we went for the new filled varieties. I will go ahead and say that I was prepared to not like these at all. A filled Peep? It just sounds kinda gross. However, I was pleasantly surprised.

Now, the girls and I are already fans of the Peeps with the chocolate coating on the bottom. And these two varieties both have that crunchy chocolate part.

The taste? Everyone, including Ryan, liked the Triple Chocolate ones. They are chocolatey but not too chocolatey. And the chocolate filling is actually kind of light.

(please excuse my nails…..I will be repainting them soon…..)

Now, the Vanilla Caramel Brownie ones we were all a little split about. I liked them. I thought that they tasted like some kind of Starbucks Frappuccino that had been solidified into a Peeps shape. Not bad. Big girl liked this one, too. Baby girl and Ryan – not so much.

I don’t really understand the “Brownie” part of the name. But, it’s definitely got a caramel taste and that’s the main taste in the filling.

The verdict? I liked them both. I’m becoming a big fan of the chocolate on the bottom of the Peeps. The crunch is a nice addition to the soft texture of the marshmallow.

Peeps Taste Test – Number 1

Spring is arriving and that means – Peeps! Peeps in every flavor!

Every possible flavor!

The girls were very excited to find Peeps that had been dipped in chocolate and Oreos that were Peeps flavored. Big girl was especially excited to see how many different flavors of Peeps there were this year. (That’s my kid alright!) So, we’ve decided to make this a year when we try to taste as many flavors as we can. I am not nearly as excited as the girls because I am a bigger fan of the regular ones, not necessarily the flavored ones. But, we shall see. I might just find one that I really like……and while we’re at it, the girls will eat a ton of sugar…..so that’ll be interesting too…..

We ate the chocolate covered ones and Peeps Oreos.

I will say, not all of my girls were that interested. Buddy only wanted to check them out for a few seconds and then was officially done with Peeps.

The verdict: Every loved the chocolate covered Peeps. This is actually one of my favorite non-plain Peeps. Mmmmm. Sugar with more sugar.

The Oreos?

They are pink. Really really pink. Really, really, really pink. There were reports that the Peeps Oreos had some, um, colorful side effects. (Thankfully, that wasn’t an issue in our house.)

They are sweet. Really, really, really sweet. As pink as they are? That’s how sweet they are. And, they don’t necessarily have a Peeps or marshmallow flavor, more like a generically sweet flavor. But, they are good. And we quickly finished off that package.

First Peeps Flavor Testing Experiment: Good stuff. 🙂

Stayed tuned for taste test #2…….

Spring is springing

I love all signs of spring. Flowers. Grass becoming greener and greener. Warmer temperatures. Swapping out coats for jackets. Buds on trees. More sunlight. Spring rain showers. And……Peeps. So many many Peeps. Chocolate dipped Peeps. Peeps on sticks. Peeps pillows. Doesn’t this just look springy to you? I am tempted to try out those new flavors but for now, I will just dream of the spring season to come.

So. Much. Candy.

We are having an epidemic in our house. An epidemic of too much candy. We have Christmas candy. We have leftover Halloween candy. And soon, there will be Valentine candy. So. Much. Candy. Now, normally, I would say that that just isn’t a problem. However, there comes a point when it’s just too much and you know it won’t be eaten.

Here’s the bowl of candy. As you can see, there is an abundant amount of candy canes. Like a crazy amount of candy canes. Now, I like candy canes. They are fine. But I won’t sit down and snack on three or four of them at a time. Nope. Just not gonna happen. I will, however, sit down and snack on three or four pieces of peppermint bark…..

And that’s just what I did. Get rid of those candy canes by smashing them and them topping them with white chocolate.

Easter Dessert

So, Easter was a few weeks ago…..but I only recently have had anything resembling spare time. So, here’s a post about Easter dessert….almost in May…..

I’ve made these nest cookies before and thought that I had everything ready to go once I was ready to start.  It is important with these cookies to move pretty quickly once you start because the melted chips start to set up pretty quickly.

1) Melt butterscotch chips.

2) Mix melted chips in with a bag of chow mein noodles. (the crunchy ones)

3) Form into nest shapes.

4) Add chocolate eggs or jelly beans.

5) Allow them time to set up. (Or you can just put them in the fridge and hope that they get cold quickly.)

6) Eat and enjoy.

And, that’s how it should go. This should be a simple, no-stress dessert.

Should be.

So, I started melting the chips and realized that one bag was just not going to cut it. Well, that’s fine because I had purchased two more bags earlier in the week. Of course, though, those extra bags were nowhere to be found! Ah!

Problem solving husband to the rescue! Ryan reminded me that we had a partial bag of chocolate chips. Would those work?

Chips, chips, and more chips

The chocolate melted quickly and smelled great with the melted butterscotch. I tossed the newly melted chips in with the already semi-coated noodles.

Here goes nothing….

The chocolate/butterscotch combo smelled great but was sure messy! Far messier than just the butterscotch would be. So, it was hard to get the noodles in a nest shape without being covered in chocolate and butterscotch. As a result, the cookies ended up being a bit….um….huge. But, portion control is not my concern when it comes to dessert.

I decided to top half of the cookies with chocolate eggs and the other half with jelly beans. Big girl helped out by sticking the eggs onto the nests.

Mmmmmmmmm

They ended up being very yummy. On Easter, there were already requests for me to make them next year. The chocolate/butterscotch combo is really tasty but I do miss the taste of just butterscotch. I think that next year, I’ll make a batch with chocolate and butterscotch and another batch with just butterscotch.

 

Oh…and those bags of butterscotch chips that disappeared? We found them the week after Easter.

On the kitchen table.

One of the Saddest Sights in the Spring

*sigh*

Oh peanut butter eggs.  How I love thee! How I wish that there were more of you in the package. But alas, the time has come for us to part.

All. Gone.

Pretzel Chocolate Goodness

Chocolate covered pretzels. Peppermint bark. And now…Pretzel/chocolate/M&M yummies.  Ok. I don’t have a name for these.  Does anyone have a name for these?  If not, I’m just going to go ahead and call them yummies.  Because they really are.  And they are easy.  Super, super easy.

The most time consuming part of this whole process is unwrapping the Kisses.  Anyone have an idea of what one can do with a giant pile of Kisses wrappers?

Big pile of empty wrappers

1) Set your oven to 250 degrees.

2) Cover a cookie sheet with pretzels.  I would like to make these with round pretzels but can’t find those anywhere.  The square ones work just fine.

3) Put a Hershey Kiss on each pretzel.

4) Place in the oven for 1-2 minutes.

5) When the Kisses are very near melting, push an M&M onto the Kiss.  The M&M should sink down into the Kiss without much resistance.  If the M&M doesn’t sink easily, put the pretzels back in the oven for 1 minute.  (Keep an eye on them and test them frequently. You don’t want to have chocolate soup covering your pretzels…….or maybe……hmmm…..chocolate pretzel soup…..)

6) Allow them to cool completely before enjoying. The salty and sweet combination is delicious!

Yummies!!!

Peppermint Bark

I recently posted about chocolate covered pretzels. Well, as a continuation of super easy desserts, today I bring you peppermint bark.
I know that I said that chocolate covered pretzels might be the easiest dessert ever. I am going to update that a bit and say that peppermint bark might actually be the easiest dessert ever.
1) Melt white chocolate. I use the microwave. Microwave for 1 minute, stir, and add 10-15 second increments as needed.

2) Break candy canes. Trial and error taught me to put the candy canes in a sandwich bag and then put that bag into a freezer bag. That will contain all of the peppermint dust that will inevitably come out.

3) Pour candy cane pieces/dust onto wax paper that you have placed on a cookie sheet.

4) Pour melted white chocolate on top of the candy canes.

5) Stir the chocolate and candy canes together.

6) Top with some more candy cane pieces.

7) Spread the mixture out in an even layer across the wax paper and let it set up.

8) When completely cooled, break the bark into smaller pieces.

9) Enjoy! Yum!

Peppermint Bark