Easter Bunny Cookies
Ingredients
- Cookies
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons plain or vanilla yogurt placed in a liquid measuring cup, and add enough milk to measure 2/3 cup; whisking together
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 11 tablespoons (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- Simple White Icing and Decorations
- 6 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted if lumpy
- 4 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 4 tablespoons or more water to thin icing
- Large marshmallows, sliced crosswise into ¼ inch thick slices for ears
- Pink sugar
- Mini chocolate chips
- 5 pieces thin spaghetti, broken into ½ inch pieces
- ¼ recipe Chef Gail Sokol’s Royal Icing, dying ½ light pink
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Add vanilla to the yogurt and milk in the liquid measuring cup. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition.
- Add ½ of the dry ingredients on low speed, followed by ½ of the yogurt mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Add the remaining yogurt mixture followed by the remaining dry ingredients. Blend the batter until all ingredients are well combined. Do not over mix.
- Using a 2-ounce ice cream scoop or large tablespoon and rubber spatula, scoop out the batter and place it on 2 parchment-lined sheet pans, leaving a space between each cookie.
- Bake for approximately 14 minutes, or until cookies are light brown and puffy. Cool.
- To make the icing, in a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, and enough water to create a smooth and spreadable icing.
- To assemble the bunnies, using a small offset spatula, frost each cookie (rounded side up) with some icing.
- Using a pastry bag filled with white royal icing, with a small round tip, pipe eyes onto the cookie, about halfway down. Place a small chocolate chip in the center of each for pupils.
- Pipe two round cheeks with the white royal icing. Insert three small pieces of spaghetti into each cheek for whiskers.
- Using a pastry bag fitted with a smaller round tip and filled with pink royal icing, draw an upside down triangle between the eyes for a nose. Extend the lines on either side to create a mouth.
- Take two slices of marshmallow and place one sticky side of each into the pink sugar. Attach them to the bunny head with white royal icing as glue above the eyes.
- Allow to dry on a waxed paper-lined sheet pan.
Notes
Makes approximately 14 cookies