Easter Tweeps, Treats & Eggy Goodness
With Easter fast approaching, it's time to stock up on wonderful treats and eggs to later hide for kids and adults to find. Colorful jelly beans. Marshmallowy yellow chick or pink bunny Peeps®. Chocolate Easter bunnies. Once Easter is over, what do you do with the leftovers?
Turn those leftover Easter treats into other tasty goodies of course! With a few more incredients you can turn those jelly beans and Peeps® into my Butter Toffee Almond & Jelly Bean Tweeps. Another idea is to use those jelly beans for my Spiced Jelly Bean Oatmeal Cookies, which is chock full of delectable tasties like pistachios and raisins. Don't forget the extra chocolate! Crush and melt those extra chocolate bunnies for my Bunny'licious Adult Chocolate Mocha Fondue (for a more kid friendly recipe, use less brewed coffee/espresso and nix the liqueur!).
Now it's all fun and games to color and decorate those Easter eggs (seen to the right), hide them everywhere and then have all your guests (kids and adults alike) hunt for them. You can always turn those extra eggs into a classic egg salad sandwich (always yummy!) or turn them into a fantastic deviled egg appetizer. My Chipotle Deviled Eggs uses a chipotle chile puree for a slight spice kick while my Deviled Eggs N' Bacon combines two breakfast staples into a tasty appetizer.
I had a great time preparing and showing some of these tasty Easter treats today on KING 5's New Day Northwest (seen to the left). For the video clip, click here.
Butter Toffee Almond & Jelly Bean Tweeps
You can also press and mold these into muffin or cupcake tins
for fun-sized treats.
Makes 30 tweeps
3 Tbsp. butter
6 (4.5 oz) packages yellow Peeps® (you can use bunnies too for pink treats)
5 cups Rice Krispies® cereal
1 cup small jelly beans
1 package Almond Accents Butter Toffee Glazed
Pull 30 of the peeps heads off and set aside for garnish.
In a large sauce pan heat butter over low heat melt the butter until melted. Then add peeps and stir over low heat until melted (as seen to the right). Then stir in Rice Krispies, jelly beans and almonds. Stir until cereal is well coated and the jellybeans and almonds are distributed.
Place mixture in a pan sprayed 8”x8” baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and press down to compact the crispy treats. Let set for at least 15 minutes before serving. Garnish with reserved peep heads. To serve cut (5x6) into 30 squares.
Recipe ©2010 Kathy Casey Food Studios®
Bunny’licious Adult Chocolate Mocha Fondue
Makes 4 servings
6 ounces of left-over chocolate bunnies
1/4 cup hot, strong brewed coffee or espresso
1 Tbsp. liqueur such as Grand Marnier
For dipping: cut fresh fruit into chunks, such as pineapple, strawberries, raspberries, apple wedges and oranges
Other fun things for dipping include pound cake chunks, holiday cookies, small chocolate chip cookies, marshmallows, other candies such as Peeps®
Break up or cut bunnies into small pieces (chocolate chip size) into a glass or ceramic bowl and pour hot coffee over them. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. If coffee is not hot enough to melt chocolate, then microwave for 10 seconds. Stir in liqueur if desired.
Transfer mixture to a fondue pot or pretty bowl and serve warm with long forks and lots of goodies for dipping.
Recipe ©2010 Kathy Casey Food Studios®
Spiced Jelly Bean Oatmeal Cookies
My mom has made these cookies ever since I can remember but she used cut up gumdrops in them. Jelly beans taste just as great! I like to use spiced jelly beans.
Makes 24 cookies
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup shortening
6 Tbsp. brown sugar
6 Tbsp. sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup flour
1 cup oatmeal (rolled oats)
1 cup (1/2 lb) small spiced jelly beans
1/4 cup rough chopped Wonderful Pistachios, Shelled
1/4 cup raisins or chopped dried cranberries
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream butter sugars, egg and vanilla. Sift together dry ingredients and blend in. Mix in oatmeal, jelly beans, pistachios and raisins. Chill 2 hours, then drop by tablespoonfuls on a greased baking sheet. Bake about 14-16 minutes or until golden.
Recipe ©2010 Kathy Casey Food Studios®
Deviled Eggs N’ Bacon
Makes 24 stuffed eggs
1 dozen Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs (procedure follows)
3 Tbsps. regular or low-fat sour cream
3 Tbsps. mayonnaise or reduced-fat mayonnaise
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard, optional
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup finely grated medium or sharp cheddar cheese
Topping
1/4 – 1/3 cup finely chopped crispy-cooked bacon
2 Tbsps. very thinly sliced green onion
Freshly ground black pepper for sprinkling
Cut the eggs in half lengthwise and remove the yolks to a mixing bowl. Set the egg white halves on a platter, cover, and refrigerate.
Mash the egg yolks to a smooth consistency with a fork or potato masher. Mix in the sour cream, mayonnaise, salt, black pepper, mustard, and garlic until smooth. (You can also do this in a mixing bowl with a whip attachment.) Stir in the cheese until evenly mixed in.
Spoon the yolk mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain or large star tip, then squeeze (pipe) the mixture evenly into the egg white halves.
To make the topping: In a small bowl, mix together the bacon and green onion. Top each egg half with about 3/4 teaspoon of this mixture, then sprinkle with black pepper.
Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs
Place the eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water to 1 inch above the eggs. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer the eggs for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and run cool water over the eggs. When they are cool, carefully peel them under running water.
Recipe created by Kathy Casey Food Studios®.
Chipotle Deviled Eggs
My favorite deviled egg recipe and a great way to use up those leftover colorful Easter eggs!
Makes 24 stuffed eggs
1 dozen large eggs
3 Tbsps. regular or low-fat sour cream
3 Tbsps. mayonnaise
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard, optional
1 to 2 Tbsps. chipotle chile purée*
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 Tbsps. very thinly sliced green onion
Topping
1/2 cup diced (1/4-inch) tomatoes
1 Tbsp. minced white onion
2 Tbsps. minced fresh cilantro
1 to 2 tsp. chipotle chile purée*
Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cool water to 1 inch above eggs. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then 10 minutes. After eggs have cooked for 10 minutes, remove from the heat and run cool water over them. When eggs are cool, carefully peel under running water.
Cut the eggs in half lengthwise and remove the yolks to a mixing bowl. Set the egg white halves on a platter, cover, and refrigerate.
Mash the yolks to a smooth consistency with a fork or potato masher. Mix in the sour cream, mayonnaise, salt, mustard, 1 to 2 tablespoons chipotle purée, and garlic until smooth. Stir in the green onions. Spoon the yolk mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain or large star tip and then squeeze (pipe) the mixture evenly into the egg white halves.
To make the topping: In a small bowl, mix together tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and chipotle purée. Top each egg half with 1 teaspoon of the tomato mixture.
*To make chipotle purée: Place 1 can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in blender and purée until smooth. Freeze any remaining purée for another use.
© Dishing with Kathy Casey
Emily Geaman on April 21, 2011 at 10:14 AM
LOVE your recipe for Butter Toffee Almond & Jelly Bean Tweeps-- I haven't seen anything like that before! I actually have a recipe for homemade Peeps that I'll be trying this weekend, and this gives me a great idea of what to do with the leftovers. Thanks for sharing!