These simple rabbits are quick and easy to make. I use chocolate wafers, which don’t need to be tempered.
Supplies:
Rabbit molds. This mold is my favorite
Melting chocolate wafers. I like these white chocolate
Directions:
In a glass bowl, melt a small amount of wafers for 1 minute in the microwave, stopping to stir after 45 seconds, and then stirring them after 1 minute to finish melting all of the chocolate. (No micrcowave? You can melt them in a double boiler, or in a metal bowl set over a pot of boiling water on the stove).
Use a spoon to fill each rabbit cavity, and then gently tap the mold on the counter or table to remove air bubbles. Put the mold in the refrigerator to help speed up the cooling process. When the chocolate has cooled to a solid, turn the molds over and gently push or shake the rabbits out.
If making a two-sided rabbit, cut the mold in half with scissors, and cut off the edges of the mold. Fill one side of the mold and put in in the refrigerator to harden.
After one side has cooled, melt and fill the remaining side. Tap the mold on the counter to remove air bubbles, and then add a little extra chocolate to the top of the rabbit, to act as the glue. Remove the cold rabbits from the fridge and line them up on top of the warm rabbits. Use clips to keep the mold closed and lined up while the rabbits cool. Return this to the fridge for it to finish cooling.
Cost breakdown:
Is making your own Easter rabbits worth it? That depends on several things, including your chocolate preferences.
Yes, you can buy the small rabbits with the blue eyes that are $1 each from the dollar store.
My personal favorite is the kind that comes wrapped in goil foil with a red ribbon around the neck. Those run $2.50 to $3 each on sale for the medium-sized rabbits (they come in severa sizes) that are 4.3 ounces each. On sale, these run $0.58 to $.70 an ounce, and would have me out $17.50 to $21 for my 7 children. That’s more than I want to spend on what is only part of our Easter candy.
Amazon’s price for the 12 ounce bag
Sam’s Club carries two 2-pound bags (4 pounds total) for $15.76. This puts your cost at $0.25 an ounce for the chocolate.
The mold price is going to be highest your first year, of course, but isn’t an issue each year after that. If I was just going to buy one mold, I would buy this one
I like to put these in a container at the back of the refrigerator prior to Easter, to keep them ready for Easter.
This is my third year making my own Easter rabbits.
I combine these with candy I get for very little, by combining coupons and sales. We fill the same plastic eggs each year with the little candy for an egg hunt, and I give the children their Easter rabbits at breakfast. If you start in the next day or so, you can grow your own Easter grass in time for Easter, and put these rabbits in them on your table. I’ve done this before for our Easter centerpiece, and I plan to do it again this year, too. Here is a beautifully photographed tutorial on how to grow your own wheat grass.
If you’re looking for more frugal Easter ideas, check out my Easter Pinterest board!
I like buying my own chocolate too. I also take the peanut butter buckeye recipe and shape the dough into small eggs and cover them with chocolate. They are so yummy.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more gifted woman. What makes you special is your humility. God bless you and your family.
Very creative idea! I don’t celebrate Easter, but these could be used for many different holidays or a birthday. By making your own chocolate candies, you can avoid a lot of the fillers that are in commercial products. Love it!
I’m making my own this year. We’re dairy and gluten free, and buying that kind of chocolate is expensive. Instead, I bought allergen friendly chips when they were on sale at Christmas. I kept the chips in my freezer and bought molds for Easter. Viola, cheap, tasty allergen friendly Easter basket treats.
There are so many different molds out there!
You can also make and temper your own chocolate with these molds. I’ve stuck to the candy melts so far, and I’ve done the Eiffel towers for Elsa’s Paris party, and chocolate frogs for Harry Potter parties.
In high school, I was visiting a friend one day before Valentine’s Day. They used the colored candy melts (essentially white chocolate with coloring) from Wilton (those go on sale at Michael’s and Joann’s before holidays) to make chocolate roses (red with green stems). They put long skewers in them (some molds have this option for lollipop sticks), covered the skewers with green floral tape, and wrapped the chocolate top with red cellophane. They then sold them at school for $1 each (I’m sure you could ask more now, and would need to, in order to make a profit). They sold them all, every year, without a problem, on Valentine’s Day.
This is a wonderful idea. Thank you Brandy. I would combine the homemade chocolate with a small pack of crayons and a few printed Easter activities.
Can you use chocolate chips?
I have not considered making chocolate bunnies, but I think it’s a lovely idea! We have just one child, but my husband really likes Easter candy, so we have always had one family Easter basket. I don’t know if that would work with multiple children, but here, it works just fine. Like you, I combine coupons and sales to get good deals on candy. This year I was able to get the medium size bags of M&Ms for as little as $1 each, so I got a few different flavors to put into plastic eggs. I got some jelly beans for .99 and used those to make cute butterflies (our one child is a girl). You can do an image search of ‘butterfly snack favor’ and find them – they are very easy. There were some freebies through one of our local supermarkets – Russell Stover and Snickers eggs, and I have those tucked away too. I have chow mein noodles and white chocolate melting wafers, so I am going to make a few little nests with jelly beans for eggs. Happy Easter!
Not as easily. Chocolate chips have an ingredient to keep them from melting in the same way, so they end up being grainy, like sand.
Brandy, your chocolate bunnies are just adorable! I do have another suggestion…you could mix in some rice crispy cereal into the chocolate for a bit of crunch. I always loved it when the Easter bunny brought the “crispy” chocolate bunny when I was a kid. Chopped nuts or dried fruit are another suggestion. This would decrease the amount of ounces of chocolate needed and therefore may decrease the cost breakdown depending on what you added.
I was able to make up my daughter’s Easter Basket on a fairly reasonable budget. I like to include some non-edibles, so I bought her a cat magazine (she LOVES cats) and a music CD. They were the most expensive parts, but non-sugar items that last longer are always a good investment. As for candy, I was able to purchase some heavily discounted items after Christmas and after Valentines day, and I picked up a few items that were on sale this week. The Christmas treats were in Christmas themed boxes, so I just removed them from the box. I bought a pretty Easter basket at a thrift store for $1 (would have been $3-$4 or more reg. price). She likes to use her baskets for storing toys, so they don’t often get reused each year. We do keep the plastic “grass” and reuse that each year.
I have heavily thought about trying to make my daughter’s Easter treats, but I’m worried she will not like them. Because she has Asperger’s, she is very insistent on routine and traditions. New concepts are often hard to introduce. I so wish I had tried this when she was younger! If I had been more wise, I would have done so many things differently. I hope the parents of younger children who follow your blog will learn from your example. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.
What great ideas!
Aww! Thank you!
Suggest making only one thing new for your daughter. She may not eat it until last, but if she finds it good she will be looking for it next year. And next year you can try a new adventure. Just work it in slowly. If she would be to adverse to it in her basket maybe put it in your basket, show it to her, and offer to share?
What a fun idea. My husband and I were at Sam’s the other day and he pointed out the Ghirdelli. I declined it. Guess I’ll be making a trip back soon 🙂 I just ordered the molds. I hope they get there in time – est. delivery is April 2-7. Thanks for the idea. It will be very frugal in the years to come.
Brandy, those look so nice, especially the white bunny with the ribbon! You make everything look so elegant.
I’ve made Easter chocolates for years using the Wilton’s dark chocolate melts and molds that I’ve picked up at yard sales and thrift stores. I make bunnies and small eggs, although I didn’t do them this year because my daughter picked up her candy and some for her friends when she was here in early March and I didn’t have time. I also don’t want to ship it because of potential melting issues if it sits somewhere that it’s hot. This is the kind of thing that is hard when your only child leaves home…
I also toast coconut, mix it in with the chocolate, and shape it into nests, which are then topped with 2-3 mini candy coated malted milk robin’s eggs (sorry I don’t have a bag here to enter the exact name). We don’t really like jelly beans so I don’t use them as eggs but we are definitely a coconut family. If you try these the first time, you will probably need to mix in more coconut than you think initially think. You want them to be pretty thick.
About 10 years ago, I bought the Wilton Chocolate Melter Deluxe after I overcooked some chocolate in the microwave. It was the day after Thanksgiving and with whatever sale and coupon Joann’s had going, I paid $20, rather than the regular $40 price. I have never regretted doing that! We’ve used it for Valentine’s hearts, Easter candy, chocolate covered strawberries, some Halloween party treats, Christmas candies, etc. My daughters and her friends used it from about 7th grade on to make candy when they wanted it. All they had to do was stir the chocolate, rather than monitor in the microwave. Definitely worth it if you see it at yard sale or on a good buy at Hobby Lobby, Joann’s, Michael’s, whereever.
No children here, but LOVE this anyway! Such talent!
Not a bad idea! I won’t be doing it this year, as I already have her basket made. But I just might try that next year. Thanks, Sheila!
When our children were younger, we made our own chocolate covered marshmallow eggs. The recipe is not difficult, & you could make them in the smaller batches with your daughter, so “test” to see what flavors she likes best. Lime, orange & lemon are big at our house, but raspberry & strawberry are good, too.
Marshmallow Eggs: makes 23-31 eggs
1 cup water 2 cups sugar 3 envelopes Knox gelatin 1/8 tsp salt 3-4 tsp Jell-O or store brand gelatin (dry)
1 tsp vanilla extract or other flavoring (optional)
melted chocolate for dipping (we have used real chocolate, candy coating, melted wafers with success, in both brown & white)
flour, plastic eggs & pans for molds
Fill a cake pan 3/4 full with flour. Press plastic eggs into flour to make molds. This takes some practice to not collapse the adjacent molds while making new ones. We found it best to use 3 eggs, with a little “pull tab” made of scotch tape on the side. Press in the first, then press in the second, then the third, then remove the first & continue to pull one out & press it in again until you have 23-31 molds ready.
Bring all ingredients but vanilla to full boil. Let cool 5 minutes. Pour into large mixing bowl, with vanillla , if using. Beat at high speed 10 minutes, or until thick, but still runny. (We beat until the “railroad tracks” made by the beater last long enough for the beater to “catch” up. If you beat too long, it will set up int he bowl as you try to dip it out). Dip by spoonfuls into the flour molds. Let stand in mold until well set – usually several hours. Uncover eggs, shake off excess flour by tossing marshmallow egg back & forth gently between your hands. (The flour can be re-used for multiple sets, then go back into the flour container) Set on a clean plate until chocolate or coating is ready to dip, then dip eggs & set on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil. (This allows the sheet to be moved to the garage if it is cooler there, so the eggs set up more quickly.) Sprinkles can be added, if desired, to indicate color inside egg. Trim edges of eggs smooth when well set.
Marshmallow Eggs: 15 eggs
2/3 cup water 1 1/3 cup sugar 2 env’s Knox gelatin dash salt 2-3 tsp Jell-O scant tsp vanilla
Marshmallow Eggs: 7-10 eggs
1/3 cup water 2/3 cup sugar 1 env Knox gelatin dash salt 1 generous tsp Jell-O 1/2 tsp vanilla
I make my own candy fillers for Easter baskets, I always have children around with the day care and 4 grandchildren. I have collected molds over the years too. I got some really nice fall molds for 99 cents at the thrift store this year. It has acorns, squirrels, leaves, and a branch mold. I have not used it yet, but we have several fall birthdays in our family so I know it will be used next year.
I also buy candy after the holiday and keep it deep in my big freezer. I have many things in there just ready for the baskets this year. I have chocolate crosses that remind our children what Easter is about. I have bunnies, jelly beans, and robin’s eggs ready to go.;)
Brandy, the bunnies are adorable..Know your kids will love it.
What a great idea! And you know what is going into your candy 🙂 You could decorate the tops with some sprinkles or drizzle of frosting too!S
How to make this caramel filling? Do you make chocolate eggs, too? Thanks!
At the after Christmas clearance at the grocer I found the Lindt gold wrapped/ red ribboned bears for 50 cents ea. I bought all they had, which was 7. My youngest was with me and she wanted them because she said she was going to make bunny ears out of pink and white construction paper and glue them on. Well, as of now she has done it and they look very cute. She made each set of ears a bit different…some floppy, some upright. She’s going to use them for a display on the sideboard, then everyone can claim one at Easter dinner.
Marivene, thank you so much for the recipe! These sound like a lot of fun to make. I can see making these for other occasions as well, such as Christmas, Valentines day or a special birthday treat. Any simple mold shape (a star, tree or heart) with very few details would probably work.
That is such a cute idea, Athanasia! So creative! What an awesome price on Lindt chocolate too.
I just wanted to leave a note about how beautiful I find your blog. It is really visually lovely and very uplifting and encouraging. Thank you so much for producing it.
Rhonda, if you make heart shaped marshmallows that are slightly smaller than a cookie cutter, you can make cookies, use a dab of melted chocolate to secure a marshmallow heart to the cookie, then dip the cookie & heart together into the chocolate.
This is wonderful and I hope to try it next year. I’m only back from vacation today so the Easter bunny won’t have time. I’m blessed with a very generous Mother in law who while we were away hid a bag of small chocolates, one large chocolate bunny, a basket and a colouring book for my son. I also have some small chocolates that I’ll hide around the house in those reusable plastic eggs. If I start planning now I’ll have no excuse for next Easter!!