Cinnamon Bunny Sandwich Cookies

**NOTE 11-8-19**

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Original March 26, 2015 Post:

These bunny cookies are so deliciously cinnamon-packed, they’ll appear to hop off the plate they’ll get eaten so fast!

Once baked, sandwich them with a fabulously rich cinnamon filling. A little icing for tails and candy eyes and you’ve got a treat that’s sure to be a conversation piece at Easter or anytime! The Bunny Cookie Press Disk from the Easter Disk Set makes it easy to press out dozens of these little cuties.

To make these wonderfully textured butter cookies I used a basic spritz recipe jazzed up with plenty of cinnamon.

Now I say this in every post, but it’s necessary for new readers! The key to great spritz cookies (cookie press cookies) is the dough. It has a particular consistency that when made right, presses smoothly, quickly and easily.

Impress!™ Cinnamon Spritz

(*NOTE: As of our 2019 Re-Opening our new disks are made of a solid white material, but the designs are exactly the same, and press identically.)

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened (not melted)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup honey

1 and 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla extract

1 egg

4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400°F. Cream the butter well. Add the sugar and cream it very well again. Add the honey, then vanilla and egg; beat well. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Add it slowly to the butter mixture, just until the flour is mixed in. DO NOT over-mix! Spritz dough should be soft but not sticky. It has an almost crumbly texture that does not stick to your fingers.

Load the dough into your press barrel, packing it in with the back of a spoon to avoid any air pockets forming. Place your disk and begin pressing. It’s OK if the first few come out misshapen. That happens to even the most experienced pressers. It sometimes takes a few cookies to build up a consistent pressure in the barrel to make the cookies come out uniformly. Just throw the bad ones back in the dough bowl to be re-pressed. Keep a steady pressing rhythm for best results.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until the edges begin to brown. All ovens are different, so check that first batch early- at 6 or 7 minutes to gauge your baking time. Let sit for just a minute or two, but not too long or the cookies could break when removed, and cool on a wire rack.

Make sure to flip the disk over and press your bunnies in both directions! The top cookie will be right-side up when sandwiched, but the bottom cookie (or back cookie if you present them standing up) will be upside-down. See here rows of matched up, similar-sized bunnies.

With your bunnies ready to go, make the cinnamon filling.

Cinnamon Spritz Sandwich Cookie Filling

8 Tablespoons (1 stick) butter

1 cup powdered sugar

2 to 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon, depending on how strong you want your cinnamon flavor

Soften the butter to room temperature. Add the powdered sugar and cinnamon and feel free to work the mixture with your hands. A spoon alone with not quite combine everything right. It is much easier to swirl your fingers through the ingredients and then use the back of your knuckles to kind of knead the sugar into the butter. This is a fairly stiff mixture- not thin like icing. It needs to be substantial enough to hold two cookies together.

Now assemble these little cuties!

Lay out pairs of bunnies, one upside-down, the other right-side up. Add the cinnamon filling to the flat side of the upside-down bunny, covering it evenly. Press the other half on top, pressing evenly so as not to break the top cookie. If your bunnies aren’t sticking together well, your mixture may need a touch more butter or just a little more pressure when you press them together.

Using some white icing and a star-shaped decorating tip, make tails on the bunnies. Use a little icing as “glue” to hold candy eyes in place or simply make black icing dots for eyes. I used small candy eyes from The Baker’s Kitchen™ (link below). It can be helpful to use tweezers to place the eyes.