Spontaneous Moment #57: Bunny Butts and Fruit Eggs

I love to make sweet treats for every holiday and at this point, my little nephews expect it. Not only do they expect it, but they expect something new and different every holiday.

I also like to make something special for the adults. This easter I decided to re-created a fruit pizza that I made back in 2011, but I'd put a spin on it. I adapted a recipe from the back of a Pillsbury box many years ago. I mix up the recipe every time, but I suggest you try their way first.

I decided to create an Easter egg shaped pizza for the Easter holiday. The fruit I used was grapes, kiwi, blueberries, strawberries, tangerines, and apricot jelly. 

Now onto the kids treats. I was told to bring dessert for the Easter egg hunt. So along side my fruit pizza, I decided to bring cookies for the children.

I decided it would take look long to make bunny face cookies, so why not make sun bunny bums. 

BUNNY BUTTS

Ingredients:

Sugar cookie mix

White frosting

Pink food coloring (or pink icing if you don't want to deal with it)

Marshmallows

M&Ms

Coconut

Pink decorating gel

Instructions:

Roll sugar cookie dough into round balls. I cut a ball of dough into four to make the little bunny feet. Count out the amount of large cookies you'll be making and then the amount of feet you'll need to go with them. Bake your cookies and then it's time to create!

I made two types of cookies: furry white coconut bunny butts and pretty pink bunny butts. 

First decorate all of the feet. That way you won't have to worry about the icing on the large cookie drying too quickly before you're done decorating the feet. Ice it with white icing, place a pink M&M in the top center of the cook and then line three streaks at the bottom of the foot with the pink gel.

Next, decide how many coconut cookies you want to make before decorating the center. Ice them with the white icing and then place the bunny feet on top. Place your marshmallow tail in the center and then sprinkle the coconut around the center. The bunny feet will already be dry so the coconut shouldn't stick to the feet. It will be easy to brush off the coconut.

Finish up by making the pretty in pink bunny butts. Squeeze the pink food coloring into the rest of the white icing and mix it together. Ice your large sugar cookie and then quickly place the bunny feet on and finish with a marshmallow tail.

My nephews loved them! One slowly picked apart the cookie while the other sucked on the icing for 20 minutes. Now fingers crossed I can just come up with something as creative for next time.

Spontaneous Moment #56: Pop-Tarts at your Door

I was craving pop-tarts the other day and didn't feel like going to the store. So I decided... why not make some myself.

This is a quick and simple way to make your own pop-tarts. It's also a way to make them a little bit healthier.

Ingredients:
Cookie cutters
Pillsbury pie crust
One egg
3/4 cup of you favorite jam (I used grape and strawberry)
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp cold water
A fork

I was trying to go the healthier route and opted out for icing, but if you want to ice your pop-tarts, you'll need the following...

Optional for icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp half and half
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Sprinkles

Instructions:
Pre-heat the oven for 350 degrees. Unroll your pre-made pie crust. Flatten out your pie crust so that it's a little thinner. Grab your cookie cutters and press them into the pie crust. Pull out your shapes and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. I had leftover dough once I finished cutting out my heart shaped pieces so I used the remaining dough to make little star pop tarts as well.

Mix together the corn starch and cold water. Take that mixture and combine it with the jam in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer stirring for 2 minutes. Then remove it from the heat and set it aside to cool.

Beat  your egg in a small bowl and then lighty it brush it on the cut out crusts. Take a tablespoon of jam and place in the center of each crust. Place the second crust on top. Use your fingertips to press down on the edges of the crusts.

Take your fork and press the edge around the tarts.

The star didn't turn out as pretty as the hearts

After I finished pressing the fork down on the hearts, I turned to the stars. I hated the way they looked, so I attempted to press down the tips extra hard on the stars without the fork. I was curious how they would turn out.

Time to cook! Place your pop-tarts in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. You'll notice that some of the jam will leak out. Don't worry about that. Just peel it off once it cools.

Allow it to cool for 5 minutes.

If I were to do it different the next time around, I would have pricked the top of each tart a few times with a toothpick.


Optional icing:
Whisk together the powdered sugar, half & half and vanilla extract. Spread over the tops of the cooled pop-tarts. Add sprinkles on top. Viola!