How to Make a Bunny Hutch Cookie House
Kids' Baking Activity – Creative Easter Cookie Ideas
Mar 14, 2009
Baking and decorating a bunny hutch cookie house is a fun family spring craft activity that parents and children can enjoy together. The finished cookie creation makes a lovely Easter centerpiece or room decoration, as well as a delicious Easter treat for dessert.
While shoppers can purchase Gingerbread Bunny Hutch Cookie House kits from Wilton and other brands, families can save money and have more fun constructing their own cookie bunny houses from scratch. Gingerbread is often more associated with Christmas than spring holidays anyway, and once assembled, some store-bought kits look more like cute houses for people than true bunny hutches. Plus, children may enjoy designing and baking a cookie hutch themselves more than just decorating a pre-baked and pre-assembled one.
Kids' Baking Activity – Unique Easter Cookie Creation
Although cookie hutch parts can be baked from gingerbread dough, why not use a cookie dough recipe that brings spring to mind more, like a crisp sugar cookie recipe or a honey shortbread cookie recipe? Whatever recipe is used, the final cookies must be crisp enough to hold their shape during baking (instead of spreading out) and strong enough to support the weight of a cookie roof.
How to Design a Bunny Hutch Cookie House
Parents can look at pictures of different real world bunny hutches with children to help kids get ideas for how they want their cookie rabbit hutch to look. Take notes about features kids want to include and have them make decisions about the ultimate design. For example:
- Should the roof be flat or come to a peak?
- Should kids cut out rectangular, square, or circular window holes?
- Will the hutch be raised up on little legs, with a cookie ramp to the door so bunnies can hop in and out?
Once kids have settled all design issues, have them draw a picture of how they want their cookie rabbit homes to look. Then have them look at examples of gingerbread house blueprints and use them to draw up some cookie house blueprints of their own to determine what cookie parts will be needed to construct their personal cookie creations.
Make Your Own Cookie Cutters
Using their cookie blueprints as a guide, children must decide how to cut out each cookie piece from their dough.
Kids might:
- adapt cookie cutters from an already owned gingerbread house cookie cutter set or gingerbread house baking set.
- draw and cut out cookie cutter shapes from graph paper, and then use these shapes as templates for cutting out sturdier versions from cardstock or cardboard.
- use wooden unit blocks to construct and cut out each part.
Cookie Decorating Ideas
Bake and cool all cookie parts. Then decorate them before assembling the cookie rabbit hutch. It is much easier to decorate a cookie that is laying flat on a surface!
Cookie decorating ideas include:
- painting them with egg yolk paint made from one egg yolk mixed with 1/4 tsp. water and some drops of food coloring. (NOTE: Egg yolk paint must be brushed on BEFORE cookies are baked, and because it contains raw eggs, children should not eat it raw and should wash hands and brushes thoroughly after using it.)
- placing rolled-out fondant icing outlines on top of freshly baked and still warm cookies (the warmth will melt the fondant so that it attaches firmly to each cookie).
- attaching molded fondant icing or candy decorations with daubs of icing.
- icing them with a mixture of confectioner's sugar and water, and then decorating the still wet icing with colored sprinkles, jimmies, nonpareils, sparkling colored sugars, dragees, or pieces of candy like gumdrops, M&Ms, or other icing decorations.
- drawing pictures and designs on them or writing letters on them with Wilton fondant icing writers, edible colored markers, food decorating pens, or piped royal icing.
Once the finished bunny hutch cookie house has been "glued" together with icing, kids can set the scene with finishing touches like tiny toy bunnies, Marshmallow PEEPS® Bunnies, miniature chocolate bunnies (with tiny candy carrots), or bunnies molded from fondant or crafted by sticking mini marshmallows and large marshmallows together.
Children can save money and have a better time making an Easter bunny cookie hutch from scratch in this spring craft activity instead of decorating one from a store-bought kit. Child chefs looking for more fun Easter baking activities might also enjoy making Easter egg puzzle cookies.
Parents can also check out ideas for fun Easter gifts and activities.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
