Birthday Cake S’mOreos

So Easter was yesterday.

Admittedly, Easter isn’t one of my favorite holidays. One, I’m not a fan of the traditional food served. Ham and scalloped potatoes kind of give me the heebie jeebies. And aside from jelly beans, I am kind of blase with the rest of the candy selection. Don’t even get me started on those scary chocolate bunnies with faces. When I eat chocolate, I’d prefer it to NOT be in the shape of an animal, or have a face, or sometimes wear clothes or look like a gangster bunny because that is WEIRD and makes me feel like a barbarian.

And also, because of this:

I was a pretty fearless child. I didn’t mind sitting on Santa’s lap, I didn’t cower in the presence of walking characters in costume, and it wasn’t until I was older and wiser that I finally realized how frightening the animatronic Chuck-E Cheese characters are, especially when they sing Happy Birthday to you in the party room.

However, when I found this Polaroid a few years ago, I felt a strange sensation deep within my stomach.  Like, have you ever been an innocent child wearing flower pants while holding your prized baby blanket and a cool balloon when your parents, the people you entrust not to screw your childhood up, assured you it was perfectly okay to pose with a terrifying rodent somewhere?

Not only is that Easter Bunny (or terrifying rodent; can you blame me that the terms are interchangeable?) staring into the camera with beady, soulless eyes and freakishly long whiskers, he is also touching the future home of my boobs.

Frankly, I’m surprised I don’t have Easter PTSD or something. If being grabbed by an evil bunny impostor person wasn’t frightening enough, they also confused my feeble child mind with a Merry Christmas decoration in the background. And to top it off, Santa looks like he’s pooping in the chimney. It’s a miracle that I even celebrate holidays after such a traumatic experience of cross-holiday contamination and rodent assault.

Oh, and when I went to New York, my childhood fears of creeps in costume were reignited when I walked around Times Square and realized I was swarmed with knockoff characters that I’m presuming weren’t sanctioned by Disney or Nickelodeon..

How come Elmo looks so strange, Mommy? Why does SpongeBob have a weird, electrical tape unibrow? And how come Mickey only has one eyebrow? Where did his other eyebrow go, Mommy? Did it run away screaming like I did when they came up behind me and said, “Come here baby!” ?

Even his pupils are devoid. Like, literally, there are holes in his pupils and it looked and smelled even more frightening in person. But I read somewhere that confronting your fear is the key to overcoming it, but somehow this just made me more creeped out by weirdos in costume. Also, I gave SpongeBob a dollar, so I’m one-dollar poorer and still ooged out. Fear-facing fail.

Anywhoooooo, one thing I do like about Easter is the candy. Pastel-colored errrythang, jelly beans, even PEEPS! While I’m not typically a huge PEEPS kinda girl, I couldn’t resist passing up the limited edition Party Cake PEEPS at Walmart. Cake-flavored marshmallows? Yes friggin’ please.

So I took a not-so-original idea (a S’mOreo) and updated the classic flavors with a celebratory, sprinkly spin.

I promise, there’s no reason to be afraid.

Birthday Cake S’mOreos *s’mOreo idea adapted from CakeSpy

So as a non-PEEP fan, I feel like it’s my obligation to introduce y’all to toasted PEEPS. They are AMAZING. The sugary coating on the marshmallow caramelizes in the oven, giving the PEEPS an irresistible crunch which is SO tasty against the gooey, melty marshmallow center. You’ll be so surprised how much these taste like birthday cake!

Have a wonderful day!!

xo, Hayley