Bunny Cookies

Kids and adults alike will have fun shaping and baking these colorful bunny cookies! The spring colors and free-form shapes look great tucked in Easter baskets or displayed on the Easter treats table. The recipe makes 12 cookies, 3 of each color.

Prep1 hr
Total Time2 hr 15 min
Skill LevelBeginner

Amount12 cookies

Ingredients & Tools
Instructions

Instructions

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Make the dough. Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and salt together with an electric mixer on medium speed until it’s light and fluffy. Next, beat in the egg and extracts.
Add flour 1 cup at a time to the mixture, mixing well after each addition. If the dough becomes too stiff, add water, a teaspoon at a time.
Color the dough. First, divide the dough into four equal portions. Next, color each dough portion one at a time. Start by adding white food coloring, then add in each of the four food colors; pink, violet, green and blue, until each portion is a unique color.
Form the cookies. Pick one of the colored dough portions and break off a piece to make a 1 1/2 inch diameter ball.
Roll that ball into a rope directly on an ungreased cookie sheet, making an 8-inch long rope, wider in the center and tapering the ends.
Pick up both ends. Leaving the wider center on the cookie on the baking sheet, twist the rope once and then lay the ends up to form bunny ears.
Then, shape a 1/2 inch diameter ball of the same color dough, roll in some pastel-colored nonpareils and place the ball in the center of the cookie base.
Repeat these steps with the remaining dough. When done forming the cookies from dough, there should be three bunny cookies of each color (pink, violet, green and blue) to bake.
Bake the cookies. Place the pan with the formed cookies in the center rack of the preheated oven. Bake for between 11 to 13 minutes, or until the cookies just start to brown. Remove from the oven and cool first on the pan on a cooling grid or wire rack for 2 to 3 minutes, before transferring the cookies to the wire rack or cooling grid to cool completely.