Oh, PEEPS. How silly, iconic, sweet, ubiquitous and a little bizarre you are. I know you arrive at every season, but Easter is really where you shine. Take your spotlight, Peeps. Enjoy it. Just don’t get too close to the spotlight (those things pack a lot of heat). When Michelle from Sugar Swings! Serve Some and Christi of Love From the Oven invited me to join them and fellow bloggers in a Peeps extravaganza, the Spring Hop Along PEEPS Party, the answer was kind of a no-brainer. Duh. Of course. We’re talking Peeps here. Be sure to hop along to everyone’s post, and there’s even a PEEPtastic GIVEAWAY!!

Scroll to the end of the post for all the links to the PEEPs party and for the GIVEAWAY details.

I went out and bought a plethora of PEEPS bunnies. I’ll call these Peeps bunnies in chocolate pudding egg shells. Seems a mouthful (literally, that’s how you have to eat them), but I can think of no better description. Peeps bunnies in chocolate eggs? Probably better. They are pretty easy to make, too.

how to make Peeps bunnies in chocolate eggs

you will need:*

Peeps bunnies

Wilton brownie pop silicone mold

semi-sweet chocolate chips

disposable decorating bags

paint brush

scissors

green candy melts

baking tray

wax paper

pudding or mousse

small spoon

royal icing flowers (optional)

*Find the brownie mold, disposable decorating bags, paint brush and candy melts at the craft store. I just piped the flowers with leftover royal icing I had, but you can also purchase pre-made flowers at the craft store.

step one: make your chocolate eggs

Place just over half a cup of chocolate chips in a disposable decorating bag. Melt in the microwave at 60 percent power for 90 seconds. Repeat at 30 second intervals until the chocolate is completely melted. Snip 1/4-inch from the tip and pipe a dollop of chocolate in a cavity of the brownie mold. Use the paint brush to brush the chocolate about 3/4 of the way up the sides. I used a good bit of chocolate to minimize breakage. A half of cup of chips should fill 8 cavities of the mold. Place in the fridge to harden about two hours. Carefully pop the chocolate eggs out of the mold and store in the fridge.

step two: make your grass

Line a baking tray with wax paper. Follow the same instructions above to melt green candy melts in a disposable decorating bag. Snip 1/4-inch from the end, and working with one egg at a time, loosely pipe a blob for grass and set a chocolate egg on top. Repeat with all the eggs and let set in the fridge to harden. If desired, add royal icing flowers before the candy melts harden, or pipe them after they harden.

step three: assemble your Peeps in eggs

Place a dollop of pudding or mousse in each egg. Snip the bottom off of a bunny and place in the cup.

 The Spring Hop Along PEEPS Party!!!

Be sure to visit all of the stops on the Hop Along PEEPS party! Here is the crew of talented bloggers knee deep in PEEPS.

And now… THE GIVEAWAY!!!

Our fabulous hosts, Sugar Swings! Serve Some and Love from the Oven, are giving away this PEEPS packed prize package.

Open to US Residents Only.  Use the Rafflecopter Widget below to enter, please remember it can be slow to load.  Good luck! Click here to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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You know the drill. In my part-laziness, part-actual-exhaustion-from-life thing I am capitalizing on the wealth of stuff in my archives to get me through seasons. No, I mean, I’m sharing these things for all you folks new to my blog. Yeah. It’s total consideration for the new folks. Let’s go with that.

Above are little lamb cookies, now in 3D! As always, find everything seasonal up in that Seasonal button, but below you’ll find links to a few that I especially like.

BUNNIES! Lots o’ bunnies. Some peeking bunny cookies, fuzzy bunny tail cookie pops, easy Peeps cupcakes, raining jellybean marshmallows, super easy bunny candy pops, and bunnies and a silly chick.

This was a roundup of Easter egg decorating ideas I did for Reader’s Digest. It was a few years ago, and still one of my favorites.

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!

I’ve a good bit o’ Irish in me, but long gone are the days of heading to an Irish pub in the wee hours to spend St. Patrick’s Day. Now I would so gripe about the long bathroom lines, spilled Guinness, and kids today. The most nuts I’d get this year may be to have neighbors over for said Guinness. And maybe crock pot Irish stew. And super duper crazy easy St. Patrick’s Day pops.

Melted candy on sticks is my go-to  for everything. See all these from Halloween? And it’s so easy, my kid helps me make these all the time. A couple of weeks ago when Maeve’s cousins were over, we pulled out some baking trays, candy melts, lollipop sticks and sprinkles and they all made their own candy pops. Totally unplanned. Because that’s how low-stress these are, and I always have all the supplies and ingredients on hand.

To make these…

you will need:*

green candy melts

disposable decorating bags

scissors

rubberbands

baking tray

wax paper

lollipop sticks

*Find the candy melts, decorating bags and lollipop sticks in the craft store.

what to do: Line a baking tray with wax paper. Place about 1/2 cup of candy melts in a decorating bag. Microwave at 60 percent power for 90 seconds. Massage the candy and repeat at 30 second intervals until the candy is completely melted. Close the bag with a rubber band if you wish. Snip 1/4 inch from the tip of the bag and pipe a dot the size of a dime on the wax paper. Place the lollipop stick on the dot of candy and pipe a shamrock on top. Repeat to fill the tray, using additional decorating bags and candy melts as needed. Let set well, a couple hours at room temperature or in the fridge.

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!

Remember that scene in Stand By Me where the boys are sitting around chatting about important issues like if Goofy is a dog? And Vern says if he could only have one food for the rest of his life, it’d be Pez?  I have my own food list (because I would simply demand more than one thing from whomever made up the one-food rule). On that list, next to mac n’ cheese and ice cream, would be wine and chocolate and cheese. Yes. I would survive on wine and chocolate and cheese forever if one could survive on wine and chocolate and cheese forever. Though I might also request some crackers for the cheese. So I would say I very much enjoyed this gift from Brookside. And I think you will, too.

These fruity chocolates are so so good, the perfect bite of dark, smooth chocolate with a burst of fruit flavor. Seriously. I know I sound like a commercial, but that’s a pretty accurate description. I got a package of each flavor: Dark Chocolate Açai with Blueberry, Dark Chocolate Pomegranate and Dark Chocolate Goji with Raspberry. My favorite is the Pomegranate, methinks. I had to stop myself from eating them all before snapping the photo. And I did pour myself some red wine to taste with my chocolates. It was about ten in the morning, but given it was for “work,” I felt that was OK. I also got two stemless wine glasses, a white ceramic cheese board, a cutie cheese knife, a white ceramic serving bowl and even a $30 AmEx gift card. Aah, the perks of this gig! Do you want the same gift?

THE GIVEAWAY!!!

The Prize: One of you gets what I got:

·         1 pkg. Brookside® Dark Chocolate Pomegranate

·         1 pkg. Brookside® Dark Chocolate Açai with Blueberry

·         1 pkg. Brookside® Dark Chocolate Goji with Raspberry

·         3 serving bowls with a central loop handle (each bowl is an 8 oz. well)

·         Stainless Steel Server

·         Cheese Grip Board

·         2 Stemless Wine Glasses

·         Grocery Gift Card ($30)

·         Gaiam® Exercise Headband

To enter: Leave a comment to this post before Sunday, February 3, midnight, EST. One winner will be drawn randomly.

The details: Winner has 48 hours after being notified before another winner is drawn. Prize ships directly from Brookside to US address only.

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!

Instead, you all get my hearts and pink and red and Xs and Os. Here are some goodies from the archives, in case you missed them the first or second time around.  As always, you can find the entire collection up there in the SEASONAL button.

warm and fuzzy cotton candy heart cookies

romance novel cupcakes

stamped conversation heart cookies

x and o cookie bites

marshmallows on a string

sparkly stained glass heart cookie pops

chocolate sandwich cookies

mod rose marshmallow pops

conversation heart cookie pops

kid-friendly candy heart pops

marshmallow subway art

Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!