How To Make An Easter Bunny Cookie Cutter

How is it Easter already?? I’m loving the excuse to eat some bunny cookies but seriously, where has this year gone? Is this part of the getting old thing, that time moves faster? Cos, if so, I’d like a refund. This is not what I signed up for.

I actually lost track of time this week and was left scrambling for an idea at the last minute so, I thought I’d give myself a little cheat week, bake something a wee bit less complicated for a change. Well, turns out my easiest project so far is my new fave! It was just really fun making the cookie cutter from scratch and playing around with new layouts and props. I don’t get to flex my craft muscles so much now that I stopped including them in the blog and I’m not gonna lie, I really bloody miss it! I’m thinking maybe I might sneak some crafts back in, like make myself some new cake stands or maybe even build like structured cakes that need like a full on support system crafted. What d’you think?

I’d forgotten how good crafts are to help you switch off the old inner monologue too. I know baking does that for me too, but you know the grass is always greener and all that jazz. I’ve started cheating a little bit with the baking which isn’t helping either. It’s supposed to be my time to switch off my thoughts and concentrate but lately I keep catching myself bingeing Netflix in the background. And worst of all, I’ve been playing TOWIE repeats. Like reality TV I’ve already watched is now interrupting my quiet time. What the flip is wrong with me? Need to sort myself out. Get back onto being good. Oh, big shout out to my little sister, the whole turning a can into a cutter thing was all her idea. She made her mum the cutest tortoise cookies for Mother’s Day from handmade cutters and at the time I thought, ‘Oh, file that away’. Who knew I’d be using it so soon. She’s a wee champ! It almost makes me want to forgive her for eating my leftover pizza last week. Almost but not quite. I mean, it was Dominos. Those wounds don’t heal.

One good thing I did manage was getting more in progress shots and videos and I even made some into a little gif. Feeling pretty pleased with myself, yup yup yup. I really need to move it onto videos for the entire project, but I honestly just get so camera shy. Even when you can’t see my face, my hands start frantically shaking. Drop me out!

What You’ll Need

Biscuits

200g toasted butter

40g brown sugar

200g plain flour

30g cornflour

1 clean empty can

Filling

350g icing sugar

100g soft cheese

70g white chocolate

Food colouring

Method

• First up, we’re gonna toast the butter in a pan. Heat the butter until it’s just brown and the kitchen’s filled with a gorgeous nutty smell. Remove from the flame quickly before it burns and transfer it into a large mixing bowl.
• Place the bowl in the fridge until it’s turned back into a solid but it’s still pretty soft.
• Next up, we’ll sort out this bespoke cutter (check me out). Carefully cut the top and bottom from the drinks can, you can throw these away (in the recycling obvs).  
• Cut the middle section into three strips (long ways). You can either cut these as they are, keeping the circle intact or like me, you can cut down the circle before cutting the strips, it’s much easier to get a cleaner line that way and it won’t affect the final shape.
• Tape the circles closed, careful not to overlap the metal. Bend the strip all around to create the bunny shape. Try not to bend the creases too sharply or they might snap. Set the cutter aside.

• Remove the butter from the fridge and whisk in 40g of brown sugar until pale(ish) and fluffy
• Sift in the flour and cornflour and gently fold together. Normally I don’t bother sifting flour but since we’re combining the two, sifting helps them spread more evenly around the bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film and return to the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Line two large baking trays with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 170°C
• Even though it’s been chilled the dough should still be quite soft so to make it easier to work with, I spread it directly over the baking trays and use a mini rolling pin to smooth the top
• Using a round cutter, cut out circles and carefully remove the excess dough
• Using the new bunny cutter, gently press an imprint into each circle of dough, making sure not to go all the way through. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden all over. When baked, remove from the oven and leave to cool on the tray for at least 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

• Add 70g of white chocolate to a large bowl and melt over a pan of boiling water. When melted allow to cool slightly until just warm
• Whisk in 100g of soft cheese and 350g of icing sugar. Split the filling equally into 3 bowls and colour yellow, green and pink
• When the cookies are completely cool, spread the filling over the bottom and then sandwich a second cookie on top
• And, you’re done! How easy was that?!