Fruity Pebble Bunnies for Easter

Surprise! I really hadn’t planned to post two stories in one day, but the kids are coming for Easter this weekend, and I wanted to share the bunny treats I made for the grandkids, Jonah Bear & Lilly Bug. These bunnies are fun and colorful and are as much (or as little) work as you want them to be.

Here’s what you’ll need:
1 13-oz. box of Fruity Pebble cereal
1 10-oz. bag of miniature marshmallows
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 bunny shaped cookie cutter
1 pkg. of white melting chocolate for coating
Various frostings & candies for decorating

To start, place the butter in a large saucepan and melt over medium-low heat; continue to cook, stirring often, until the butter just starts to brown lightly. Add the marshmallows and beat with a whisk until completely melted and smooth; whisk in the vanilla extract and remove the pan from the heat.

Pour in the cereal and using a heavy wooden spoon (because it’s sturdier), stir the cereal into the marshmallow mixture until all of the cereal is evenly coated. Pour the cereal mixture into a 13″ x 9″ baking pan that has been lined with parchment or waxed paper. Using a flat spatula, press the cereal mixture into the pan until it is an even thickness throughout. Set aside and allow to cool completely. Once set, cut into bunny shapes with the cookie cutter.

Once your bunnies are firm, melt the white candy coating over a double boiler (or place a metal mixing bowl over a saucepan of boiling water) and stir until the candy has melted. Once it is mostly melted, switch to a whisk and whisk the melted chocolate until smooth. You don’t want any lumps when you’re dipping.

Next, choose how you wish to candy coat your bunnies:

1. To drizzle, spoon the melted candy coating into a plastic bag, pressing it down into one corner. Snip the very tip off the corner with a pair of scissors, and in a back-and-forth motion, drizzle your bunnies with melted candy coating. Allow them to cool completely.

2. To coat your bunnies, place one bunny onto the center of a large fork. Hold the bunny over the bowl of melted candy coating, and using a small ladle, spoon the melted candy coating evenly over the top of the bunny, allowing the excess to drip back into the bowl. Once the excess chocolate has stopped dripping, transfer the bunny to a sheet of waxed paper and gently slide him off the fork. Allow to cool completely.

Next, decide how you wish to decorate your bunnies:

1. For chubby bunny cheeks, cut a mini-marshmallow in half forming two equal circles; attach with a small dab of melted candy coating or frosting.

2. For sweet bunny noses, attach a tic-tac candy just above the cheeks using a color coordinated frosting.

3. For pink bunny tongues, squeeze a little pink frosting from a store-bought tube of decorator frosting.

4. For the easiest eyes on the planet, buy a package of candy eyes from craft or baking stores. My sister gave me a package along with Bakarella’s Cake Pops cookbook, and I’ve been dying to use them. Hey, Sis! Look! I made bunnies!

5. For ears, you can pipe an outline using a small tube of gel frosting, or pipe a fatter line of pink frosting and use a toothpick or skewer to fill in the ears.

6. For whiskers, dip the tip of a toothpick or skewer into black gel frosting (I buy it in a small tube; Wilton brand) and simply poke the toothpick into the cheeks for whisker marks. If you want to get fancier, use dip the tip of the skewer or toothpick into the black gel frosting, lay it along the edge of the cheek, and pull outwards, drawing a whisker line as you go.

And there you have it. Colorful, fruity, marshmallowy bunnies – just in time for Easter. We here at Casa NanaBread wish you and your family a very Hoppy Holiday weekend. I know. That was corny. But I did it anyway.