Vegan Easter Bunny Snickerdoodles with Milk Chocolate
Gosh! What a week! I’ve been swamped with orders, new recipes and to be honest I’m still munching on last week’s carrot cake. It’s been busy but it’s the good kind of busy, if you know what I mean. It’s been a while since I got to bake just for fun. Not worrying about bad lighting or if the pictures will come out well. Sometimes, I often get caught up in this thought process. Subsequently, psyching myself out. Today was different. Today was baking for myself because it’s nice to lose yourself in an activity that is so reliable yet creative.
Take these Vegan Easter Bunny Snickerdoodles with Milk Chocolate, for example. I know that by mixing ingredients a certain way I will arrive at a cinnamon studded soft cookie rich with butter and vanilla AKA everything I want. Nevertheless, I can’t stop here because Easter is coming up and I definitely have to have cute bunny cookies on the weekend (and you do too) so here we are piping milk chocolate bunny faces like it’s nobody’s business. By the end of it, I’m covered in chocolate smears and is that vanilla on my shirt? This is, after all, how baking should be. Life can be threatening outside my doors but in my kitchen, I am queen. Plus now I am armed with cookies to get me through this week’s battles.
Snickerdoodles are one of the ultimate lazy day bakes to make as they take no time at all. Everything comes together, as you can guess, in one bowl and no mixer necessary. Although, if you’re even lazier just go ahead and use the mixer for less arm work. These cookies are practically the same as sugar cookies except for one key ingredient: cream of tartar. Traditional snickerdoodles use cream of tartar to give the cookie its distinct chewiness and subtle tang. However, if you don’t feel like buying a box for just one recipe you can always substitute it with 2 teaspoons of baking powder.
These Vegan Easter Bunny Snickerdoodles with Milk Chocolate have soft buttery centers all enveloped in crackly cinnamon sugar. I created this recipe to be soft but if you’re a crunchy cookie advocate just increase the baking time and they will crisp up. I also reduced the amount of sugar than the usual snickerdoodle recipe since they always tend to be unnecessarily sweet. Not to mention that we are already rolling these in cinnamon sugar so everything will balance out in the end.
How to make Vegan Easter Bunny Snickerdoodles
This part is so fun and simple! Just roll a tablespoon of dough in your hands to create a head. Then, with half a tablespoon of dough, roll another ball and repeat this to get two bunny ears. Do this process with the rest of the dough until every bunny head has a matching set of ears (I ended up with 18 bunnies).
The next step is just as fun as you get to roll all the balls in cinnamon sugar then form each into a whole bunny head. All you have to do is grab one of the large rounds then pair it with two of the smaller rounds placed at the top for ears. Slightly flatten the larger round with the palm of your hand then with your fingers, shape the ears so they become longer and flatter. That’s it! All done!
How to make Milk Chocolate Bunny Faces
You can get creative here. Think of how you would doodle a bunny face then pipe it onto each snickerdoodle bunny with milk chocolate. I used a piping bag with a #6 tip but you can easily use a ziploc bag snipped at one of the corners. Heads up: If you plan to use a ziploc bag make a tiny snip so the hole is not too large. The melted chocolate is pretty fluid so having a smaller hole will give you more control when piping the faces.
Pipe as much chocolate as you want (my mom wanted to dip everything in chocolate. clearly a chocolate lover). Just go wild and decorate however you want! I even added eyebrows towards the end since I had extra chocolate to spare but sadly was not able to take a picture of them.
Just A Few Tips
- Don’t want to use cream of tartar or don’t have any on hand, substitute the cream of tartar AND baking soda with two teaspoons of baking powder.
- Substitute the banana with another fruit puree such as pumpkin or applesauce or use plant based milk instead. For those wondering, these do not taste like banana since it’s such a small amount.
- The cookies can easily be made ahead and frozen. Freeze the dough balls before rolling in cinnamon sugar and store for up to 3 months. When ready to use, let sit for 30 minutes, roll in the topping and bake.
Vegan Easter Bunny Snickerdoodles with Milk Chocolate
Ingredients
- 345 g (2¾ cup) all purpose flour ,sifted
- 2 tsp cream of tartar*
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 225 g (1 cup) unsalted vegan butter
- 112 g (½ cup) brown sugar
- 38 g (¼ cup) white sugar
- 56 g (¼ cup) mashed ripe banana* ,1 small
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3-4 oz milk chocolate*
Cinnamon Sugar
- 45 g (3 tbsps) sugar of choice ,i used a mix of brown and white sugar
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your mixer fixed with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 1-3 minutes. Beat in the mashed banana and vanilla. This can also be done by hand.
- Sift in the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Mix with the wet ingredients until a slightly firm dough has formed and it can be rolled and shaped in your hands. If the dough is too soft, refrigerate for a few minutes to firm up.
- Prepare your cinnamon sugar by combining the ingredients in a small bowl. Roll half of the dough into 1 tablespoon sized balls. With the other half, measure out ½ a tablespoon and roll into balls. The small balls will be the bunny ears. Roll each ball in cinnamon sugar.
- Form the bunnies on the baking sheets by attaching two of the small balls to one of the 1 tablespoon sized balls. Flatten with your palm to ½" thick and shape the small rounds into ears. Bake for 10-12 minutes, switching the pans halfway through. Let cool.
- Using the double broiler method or microwaving on high in 30 second intervals, melt the milk chocolate making sure to stir once in a while (if using a microwave, stir in between intervals). Pour melted chocolate into a prepared piping bag or a ziploc bag with a small snip at a corner. Pipe faces onto the snickerdoodles then place in the fridge to set for 15 minutes. Eat and enjoy!
