In today’s post: Get the recipe for these adorable Easter bunny cookies that look like they are hugging an Easter egg!
Adorable Easter Bunny Cookies
I first saw the idea for “bunny hug” cookies on Hello Yummy. It’s such an adorable idea to have a bunny cookie that’s hugging an Easter egg! To make my own version I used my chocolate sugar cookie recipe and simplified the baking process.
Make it the Easy Way
Other recipes I’ve seen for making similar cookies tell you to form small balls of foil, bake the cookies with the bunny arms wrapped around the foil, then let the cookies cool, remove the foil, and use frosting to attach a mini chocolate egg. That felt like too much work to me! I wanted this to be an easy process, which meant ditching the foil balls and just baking the cookies holding the candy eggs. The only problem is that chocolate expands when it gets hot, causing the eggs to crack!
This, of course, required some very scientific testing, so I tried making these cookies with different candies. Cadbury Mini Eggs and Hershey’s Candy Coated Eggs both cracked pretty consistently, so I ruled them out. Jordan almonds hardly cracked at all, but they’re so crunchy I worried people would break their teeth on them. My mother-in-law helped me come up with the winning candy: Peanut M&Ms! Now, some of the Peanut M&Ms did crack during baking, but only about a third of them and the cracks weren’t as noticeable, so I deem them the winner. (Obviously if you want to use a different candy and ensure it doesn’t crack you can use the foil ball method.)
The Perfect Bunny Cookie Cutter
To make these adorable cookies, you’ll want this cookie cutter you can order from Amazon, or a similar bunny cutter that has arms.
If you cannot find a bunny cookie cutter with arms, you can also use a gingerbread person cookie cutter, turned upside down. Pinch the ends of the legs to give them a little point so they look like ears!
How to Make Bunny Hug Cookies
Mix Dough and Roll out
You’ll start with my chocolate sugar cookie dough recipe (found in the recipe card below). Mix it up and roll in out to about 1/4 inch thickness, using flour as needed to make sure it doesn’t stick. Try not to use more flour than you need, because lots of extra flour will show after the cookies are baked. Cut out the cookies and transfer them to a lightly greased or lined cookie sheet.
Form the hug
Place a peanut M&M on each bunny. Gently bring the arms around the M&M and press down. It’s ok if the arms touch each other but they don’t have to; as long as you press them down gently they should stay in place. Also, use a toothpick to poke little holes for eyes.
Bake
Bake the cookies at 350 degrees fahrenheit for around 9-10 minutes, until the edges feel quite set. You can bake them longer if you’d like them crispy; we prefer sugar cookies somewhat soft. As previously mentioned, some of the M&Ms will probably crack a little, but it shouldn’t be too noticeable. Allow the cookies to cool completely before handling, otherwise they may break. If you want to remove them from the baking sheet to cool, use a spatula and transfer carefully.
Chocolate Bunny Hug Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Butter softened
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 Egg Yolk
- 2 tablespoons Milk
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour
- 1/2 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder aka Baking Cocoa
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1/8 teaspoon Salt
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper or cookie sheet liners.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add egg and egg yolk and milk and mix until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix to combine. Dough should be fairly stiff – if it's quite sticky you can mix in another few tablespoons of flour.
- Spread some flour on your countertop. Scoop out about 1/3 of the cookie dough. Flour a rolling pin and roll the dough to 1/4 inch thick. Use more flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the counter or rolling pin, but try not to use more than you need: if the dough ends up with lots of extra flour on it, it may be visible after cooking.
- Use a bunny cookie cutter to cut out cookies and transfer them to a baking sheet. Place one Peanut M&M on the center of each cookie, and fold the arms around it, pressing them down gently. Use a toothpick to poke eyes on each bunny.
- Bake for approximately 10 minutes until the edges of the cookies feel set and the tops are starting to crack a little.
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for at least a few minutes and be very careful when transferring to cooling rack. Let them cool completely before picking them up or they may break.
Chelle says
OMG Autumn, these are SO cute!! Makes me almost want little ones around again!