Monty Python Rabbit Peeps
"Run away! Run away!"
If the mark of a great comedy is its number of quotable lines, surely Monty Python and the Holy Grail easily sits in the top five. Ostensibly about King Arthur's search for the Holy Grail, everyone knows the plot is just an excuse to set up one ridiculous sketch after another, from trading insults with a particularly rude frenchman ("Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!") to a duel with an increasingly limb-less Black Knight ("It's just a flesh wound!") and a song-and-dance cutaway in Camelot ("We're knights of the round table! We dance whenever we're able!"), it can actually be difficult to keep track of the story in Monty Python, but who cares when you're laughing so hard?
One of the more memorable scenes has our knights confronting the dreaded Rabbit of Caerbannog. Though its lair has all the markings of an evil den, it appears to be simple snow write rabbit before its evil, surprisingly bloodthirsty nature reveals itself. With marshmallow rabbits all over the stores for Easter, I couldn't help making my own version inspired by this scene.
Of course, because inspiration didn't strike until yesterday, I didn't have time to find a bunny cookie cutter at the store, so instead I used my trustysnowman cookie cutter from Christmas time, cutting the head/top hat into bunny ears, which is why they look a little scraggly. Not bad in a pinch, though.
Monty Python Rabbit Peeps
- Vegetable oil cooking spray
- 2 envelopes (1/4 ounce each) gelatin (1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons)
- 2/3 cup cold water, plus 1/2 cup room-temperature water
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- sugar, for sprinkling and rolling
Coat a 9 1/2-by-13-inch rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in the bowl of a mixer. Let stand for 5 minutes to soften.
Meanwhile, heat granulated sugar, salt and room-temperature water in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Wash down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush. Cook until syrup reaches 238 degrees on a candy thermometer. Stir syrup into softened gelatin, and keep stirring for a few minutes to cool. Whisk on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, 8 to 10 minutes. Whisk in vanilla. Spread mixture into baking sheet using an offset spatula. Let stand for 1 hour to set.
Use a rabbit (or snowman) cookie cutter sprayed with cooking spray to cut your marshmallow into shapes. Keep a shallow dish of sugar on the side and roll cut sides until covered.
Icing
- 1 egg white
- 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- red food coloring
- brown food coloring
Mix egg white and powdered sugar in a mixer with a whisk attachment until thick and stiff (like toothpaste). Add more sugar if needed. Divide icing into 3 separate containers - mix one with red food coloring (eyes), and one with brown (nose). In another container, mix a few drops of red food coloring with one drop brown (blood). Use a pastry brush the red and brown food coloring directly onto the peeps, where the mouth will go. Transfer the red, brown and white icings into separate decorator bags or icing pens. Draw on the eyes, nose and teeth once the food coloring on the peeps has dried.
Make sure you've got your holy hand grenade nearby.