Easter bunny cookies
These cute Easter bunny cookies or bunny hug cookies are an adorable (and delicious) Easter bake for kids.
Easter bunny cookies are the most adorable bake you can make with your kids this Easter. The cute bunnies look like they’re giving a ‘hug’ and were a huge hit with my kids.
This simple recipe for a basic sugar cookie is so easy to make and adapt to different shapes making it perfect for cute kids’ bakes.
My kids love making different Easter bakes but without a specific Easter cookie cutter we couldn’t make the Easter bunny cookies they wanted to make. These bunny hug biscuits are perfect because they use a gingerbread man cookie cutter – which we did have in our cupboard.
How much these biscuits end up looking like rabbits sort of depends on the proportions of your gingerbread man. I think if you have a longer legged gingerbread man, you’ll end up with a very cute long eared bunny. Ours weren’t quite so bunny like, but that didnt seem to bother either of my kids!
How can kids help to make these Easter bunny cookies?
This is my favourite biscuit recipe to use for anything like this as it’s so easy for kids to make and holds its shape well making it perfect for any cookie cutter recipe.
Kids can help measure and mix the ingredients to make the biscuit dough, or if you like you can get ahead and do this step and just get your kids to make and decorate the biscuits.
My kids always enjoy rolling and cutting out cookies. If your kids enjoy playing with play dough they’ll probably be quite good at this!
Mine also enjoyed getting to form the bunny hugs. It’s a really simple but effective way of using Mini Eggs and a bit of decoration to turn the basic biscuit dough into something different.
How do you store the bunny hug cookies?
These cookies will keep in an air tight container for a few days (if they last that long!)
What can you use for the bunny hug?
We made these at Easter so to carry on the Easter theme we used Cadbury Mini Eggs. My kids love Mini Eggs so love baking anything with them. We seem to be able to find Mini Eggs in the shops as soon as Christmas is over right through to Easter. If you love them as much as we do, you can stock up on them during that time.
If you don’t like or can’t find Mini Eggs, something like a colourful sugared almond would work just as well.
Other easy Easter bakes
If you liked these Easter bunny cookies out some of our other easy Easter bakes for kids.
Hot cross buns
Mini Egg cupcakes
Chocolate hot cross buns
Easer bunny cookies
Mini egg cookies
Easter fudge
Easter rocky road
Mini Egg cheesecake
Chocolate nests
Easter bunny cupcakes
Hot cross muffins
Easter cookie bar
Mini Egg loaf cake
Useful equipment
You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make these bunny hug cookies
Digital scales
Freestanding mixer
Mixing bowl
Hand held mixer
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Rolling pin
Baking tray
Wire rack
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.. You will not be charged anything extra for this. Please refer to my Privacy Policy Page for more details.
Ingredients
250g (1 cup) butter
250g (1 cup) caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
400g (2 1/2 cups) plain / all purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
Mini eggs
To decorate:
100g (1 cup) icing / confectioners sugar or white chocolate
Sprinkles
How to make Easter bunny cookies
Preheat your oven to 190C / 170C Fan / 375F and line 2 baking trays with baking or parchment paper.
Beat the butter and sugar together
Get your kids to measure out the sugar and butter. Chop the butter into small pieces before you put it into a large mixing bowl or free-standing mixer to make it easier to mix.
If your butter is too hard, pop it in the microwave for a few seconds before you add it (do it for long enough to soften but no so long that it starts to melt).
Using the k paddle of your free-standing mixer, a hand held mixer or wooden spoons, beat the butter and sugar together until it is light and fluffy. If you need to, get your kids to scrape down the sides of your bowl to make sure everything is getting mixed in.
Add the flour and baking powder
Get your kids to measure the flour and baking powder and add them to your mixing bowl. Make sure your kids level the top of the teaspoon with their finger so you’re adding just the right amount.
Mix everything together. At this point the mixture will be quite dry and crumbly, but that’s fine.
Add the egg and vanilla
Get your kids to crack the egg into a small bowl, before adding it to your large mixing bowl. We always do it in a small bowl first in case any shell goes in. I you do get shell in, use a larger piece of shell to fish it out as it shell sticks to shell better than your finger.
Add the vanilla extract. If your kids are quite young and need help with this, you can either hold the spoon while they pour in the vanilla or vice versa. Older children might manage this themselves.
Mix everything together until it comes together into a nice soft biscuit dough. You might find it easier to tip the mixture out on your work surface and use your hands to bring it together.
Make the Easter bunny cookies
Divide your mixture into two portions to make it easier to roll out.
Sprinkle a little flour down on your work surface and get your kids to roll out the dough until it is about 5mm (¼ inch) thick. Every few rolls, rotate the dough 90 degrees so that it doesn’t stick. When it gets bigger, you can use your rolling pin to help lift and turn it.
Alternatively, you can use a sheet of baking paper on top of your dough and another underneath your dough to stop it sticking.
Using a gingerbread man cutter get your kids to cut out the bunny cookies and then put them on your prepared baking trays. Place them with their ‘legs’ at the top as these will become the bunnies ears. You can use a small palette knife to make lifting the cookies off the worktop a little bit easier.
Leave a little room between each cookie for them to spread slightly in the oven.
When you can’t cut out any more bring the scraps of dough back together, get your kids to re-roll it and cut out some more. Repeat that until you’ve used all the dough. My kids found it a bit easier to roll when it had been rolled out more than once as the dough becomes a little bit smaller and softer.
To make the bunny ‘hugs’, get your kids to place a mini egg on each bunny’s tummy then wrap their arms around it. You need to try and press the arms together otherwise they might unfurl in the oven.
Use a cocktail stick or skewer to poke some eyes and a nose on to the bunny’s face.
Chill the cookies in the fridge for 15 minutes or so to stop them spreading too much in the oven.
Bake the Easter bunny cookies
Bake the cookies in the oven for 8-10 minutes. Keep an eye on them – they’re ready when they’ve started to turn a nice golden brown colour at the edges.
Remove the cookies from the oven and leave them to cool on the baking trays for a few minutes before removing them carefully from the trays and putting them on a wire rack to cool completely. If any of the faces have disappeared during baking, you can use a cocktail stick to form them again.
Decorate the Easter bunny cookies
Mix together the icing sugar with a splash of water until it is runny enough to spread but not so runny that it will run straight off the biscuit.
Alternatively, if you are using white chocolate, melt it gently in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water, (a double boiler) stirring all the time.
Get your kids to either dip each ear of the bunny into the icing/white chocolate, or spoon a little on to each ear, then add some sprinkles on top. We also had some sugar flowers my kids added on to some ears.
Leave the cookies to set, then serve and enjoy.
Pin it for later
Similar recipes
If you liked these chocolate nests, you’ll love our Easter rocky road and our other easy Easter bakes for kids.
Leave a Reply