Easter Bunny Button Cookies

Miniature, one-bite cookies made with pastel candy centers. Easter Bunny Button Cookies are a great Easter gift idea, and can be easily packaged for gift-giving, or just save them all for yourself! Whatever you decide, a double batch just might be a good idea!

EASTER BUNNY BUTTON COOKIES

When it comes to baking with sprinkles or candies, I’m a big kid at heart! It certainly doesn’t help that I have the likes of John.e and McKenna cheering me on! You see, Dear Reader, once the photographs are done, they get to eat – and who doesn’t like to eat cookies?

I spent weeks thinking about what I could prepare this year to add to my list of Easter recipes. I thought about making Hot Cross Buns, but going back to that kid thing, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to bake with those pastel M&Ms. Besides, I can’t top Kylee’s version – looks amazing, right?

INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR THIS RECIPE:

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare these Easter Bunny Button Cookies. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Butter – Make sure your butter is at room temperature! To be perfectly honest, I have made these with both salted and unsalted butter and there’s no difference in taste or appearance once all is said and done. Use what you have on hand.
• Sugar – Sugar will caramelize when baked, which will help to brown cookies and cakes.  In cookies, the sugar will help the dough to spread, and will create a crispness to the bottom of the cookie.
• Eggs – Actually, you’ll only need the yolks. Whenever you set out to bake, make sure your eggs are at room temperature too – just like your butter!
• Vanilla Extract – Probably the most common extract and the most common flavouring used in cakes and cookies.  
• Flour – No need for anything special. Just use regular all-purpose flour. I have not tried this recipe with any other type of flour.
• Sanding Sugar – Coarse sugar, sometimes referred to as sanding sugar, is used sometimes for decorative purposes.  It is sometimes called pearl sugar or coarse baking sugar.
• Candy Coated Chocolate

ANY CANDY-COATED CHOCOLATE WILL DO!

Just before Christmas, I was searching for red and green M&Ms on Amazon. I found them, but I also found these pastel colours. They, of course, were added to my cart, but I waited until February to place the order. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them, but I had to have them.

If you are unable to find these particular M&Ms, you can use your favourite brand of candy-coated chocolate. I would consider using Smarties (if you’re in Canada; they are not the same in the United States!) You could use regular M&Ms, and even the peanut ones will do. The center will just be bigger, obviously.

They don’t even need to be pastel colours. There are most certainly a lot of bright colours at Easter time too. Bright pinks, greens, blues, and yellows can be found in almost any brand of candy-coated chocolate.

SANDING VS GRANULATED SUGAR

I use coarse sanding sugar quite a bit, so I hope it hasn’t been too difficult for you to find. Sanding sugar is sometimes referred to as baking sugar, and there are some substitutes.

You can use other sugars – which are basically the same, but named something differently – there’s pearl sugar and coarse sugar. You cannot, however, use granulated sugar. Let me explain why. Whereas an individual granule of sanding sugar is large and hard, a single granule of granulated sugar is quite small. Sanding sugar will hold up to the heat in your oven without melting; granulated sugar will not.

If you can only find granulated sugar, you can either skip the coating in the sugar step, or you can use turbinado sugar. Turbinado sugar is a golden brown though, so it will throw off the colour of your finished cookie.

If you can only find granulated sugar, I’m afraid this recipe is not right for you. You can find sanding sugars online, but they tend to be more expensive online. If you’re in Canada, go to your local Bulk Barn or your local baking supply store. They have lots of different colours and the price is much, much lower.

HOW TO MAKE EASTER BUNNY BUTTON COOKIES

So, let’s get started! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and set it aside. Next, in a mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the egg yolks and vanilla extract. Beat to combine. Now, add the flour and mix into the butter mixture until just combined. Don’t over-mix!

Portion into one teaspoon amounts and roll into balls. Roll each ball into the sanding sugar and place it on the prepared baking sheet. Place a single candy-coated chocolate onto each cookie and gently, but firmly, push it into the rolled cookie dough so that it sticks.

Bake for 11 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the cookie to cool on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.

EAT THEM, SHARE THEM, OR GIVE THEM AS A GIFT!

It’s really no secret that I love to bake cookies. Seriously, I baked a lot of cookies! You can see a complete list of them here. Honestly, 90% of all the cookies I prepare for Lord Byron’s Kitchen, do not stay in our home. McKenna takes them to school, or John.e takes them to work. If they don’t go with them, I just give them to our neighbours.

Because there are so many cookies, John.e will often suggest making them smaller. I think that he thinks if they are smaller he would be eating less sugar. But, let’s face it, he would just eat two or three of the smaller cookies in place of one regular-sized cookie!

This time, I decided to give it a go. I’m so glad I did because I was able to keep these Easter Bunny Button Cookies small. They are the perfect one-bite size!

And, yes, I know a bunny has a light and fluffy tail without colour, but what is an Easter cookie without colour!? I did roll the cookies into sugar before baking to give them that glistening look. Because, you know, what’s Easter without sugar!?

One of my favourite things to do is to cook and bake for someone. If McKenna didn’t tote these off to school with her, I would have gladly wrapped them up as gifts.

Since these cookies are bite-sized, they are the perfect cookies to place into a cellophane bag, tie with a ribbon, and gift to teachers, friends, etc. And, since they are so easy, inexpensive, and fun to make, you could prepare gifts for everyone!