Check out what the Easter bunny brought! These lemon and vanilla rice krispies treats are deliciously crispy and gooey and shaped like cute little bunnies!
Kids will love these fun bunny rice krispie treats! They’re ideal for Easter baskets, festive gatherings at home or school, and celebrating the arrival of spring!
They’re a blast to make, and even young children can lend a hand in the kitchen!
Let them join in the fun by decorating the bunnies – hand them the cookie icing to draw on the rabbit’s whiskers and let them dip the ears in colored sprinkles!
table of contents
Ingredients
You’ll only need affordable everyday ingredients to make these soft and gooey lemon & vanilla rice krispie treats!
- Marshmallows (any size), one 10-ounce bag
- Butter, 6 tablespoons
- Lemon jello, 1 small box
- Rice krispies or any crispy rice cereal, 5 cups
- Vanilla flavoring, 1/2 teaspoon
- Honey, 1 – 2 tablespoons
To make the rice krispie treat bunny-shaped and decorated for Easter, you’ll also need the following:
- Bunny shaped cookie cutter
- Cookie icing or sparkle gel
- Sprinkles! Get super colorful ones like spring sprinkles or rainbow nonpareil sprinkles.
- If you use a larger cookie cutter, there might be space on the bunny’s faces left to add some edible candy eyes too, I think that would be super cute!
How to make
Make sure you have cooking spray, oil or butter available as you’ll need something the grease your fingers and the inside of the cookie cutter to prevent the rice krispies treats from sticking. Let’s start!
1. Place marshmallows and butter in a pan over low heat and stir until the marshmallows are nearly all melted. Remove from the stove and continue mixing to finish melting them in the residual heat.
2. Add lemon flavored gelatin, vanilla and honey and mix until it’s smooth. Vanilla and honey are delicious with lemon, but you don’t need to add it if using different jello flavors.
3. Add the rice krispies cereal and stir well until it is all evenly coated in the melted marshmallow, butter and lemon jello mixture. While the rice krispies treats mix is still warm, grab your bunny-shaped cookie cutter and apply a thin layer of oil or cooking spray on the inside.
4. Use buttered hands or a spatula to transfer portions of the rice krispie treat into the oiled cookie cutter, pressing gently to shape the bunnies. As you slide each one out of the cookie cutter, apply more oil or cooking spray to prevent the next RKT from sticking.
5. Decorate the rice krispie bunny treats – this my favorite part of making this recipe! Get creative, have fun, get the kids involved! Here’s how I did it:
- First, I dipped the bunny ears into a small bowl full of colorful nonpareils sprinkles, one at a time.
- Then I used cookie icing to draw a tiny triangle in the middle of the bunny face to create the nose.
- And finally I drew three whiskers on each side of the bunny’s sniffer! Cuteness ensued:
Recipe variations
Different flavors
The combination of lemon and vanilla is absolutely delicious and it adds a special touch to these Easter treats! However, you can use any different flavors of jello you like.
Strawberry, raspberry and orange flavors would be good matches for vanilla, but lime or grape may not complement it as nicely.
So, depending on which flavor you choose, it might be better to leave the vanilla extract (and maybe the honey) out of this recipe.
Low-calorie rice krispie treats
To reduce the sugar and calorie content of these rice krispie treats, substitute regular marshmallows with sugar-free marshmallows and replace the 4-serving box of lemon jello with sugar-free jello.
Natural flavoring
You can make these rice krispies treats naturally flavored if you prefer. Just substitute the lemon jello powder with natural lemon flavor extract or essential oil.
Half to one teaspoon of natural flavoring should be enough, depending on the strength of the particular brand of product you’re using.
Expert tips and FAQ
Bunny-shaped rice krispie treats
To make these rice krispie treats shaped like a bunny, you’ll need a bunny-shaped cookie cutter. They come in various sizes.
A small 3-1/4 inch cookie cutter (the one I use) makes 14 rice krispie bunnies with this recipe. If you use a larger cookie cutter, you’ll get fewer treats.
However, you can easily double or triple the ingredients to make more treats (there’s an option for automatic recipe scaling on my recipe card below!)
In the recipe steps above I described my favorite method for making rice krispie treats shapes with a cookie cutter – the same approach I used for these shamrock-shaped rice krispies treats. Essentially, you fill the cookie cutter with the still-warm RKT mix, instead of using the cutter to actually cut the treats.
I like this technique because you can easily use up all the rice krispie treats mixture without any scraps left for me to eat 🙂
Here’s another way of shaping rice krispie treats with a cookie cutter:
- Spread the warm rice krispies treats inside a 9×13″ dish lined with parchment paper, aluminum foil or plastic wrap with a layer of cooking spray.
- Let it cool down at room temperature for about 20 minutes, until firm.
- Then just remove the RKT from the dish and cut the bunny shapes with a cookie cutter, like you’d do with normal cookies.
Have a look at my heart-shaped rice krispies treats recipe, where I explain in more detail how to make the rice krispie cut-outs.
Rice krispie treats on a stick
Serving rice krispies treats on a stick makes eating them even more fun, plus it’s a wonderful way to present them at the table for your Easter holiday celebration!
If using lollipop sticks or popsicle sticks made out of hard plastic or wood, just carefully insert them before decorating the bunnies.
I used paper straws, as I have so many colorful ones. But one does not simply insert a paper straw (or even a plastic one, I imagine) into the crispy rice treat!
To place the rice krispies treats on paper straws like I did, you’ll need to first insert a hard stick of about the same diameter of the paper straw, or slightly smaller, to carve a hole.
Then, remove the stick and insert the straw on its place. Done!
Maintain rice krispie treats warm
It’s important to keep the marshmallow and butter mixture for these spring treats warm to ensure it remains melted and pliable for shaping into bunnies.
Place the pan containing the crispy rice treats in a pot of hot water while you shape them. This will help retain the warmth of the mixture, making it easier to work with.
If you’ve melted the butter and marshmallows in a microwaveable bowl, you can pop the rice krispie treats back into the microwave for just 5 to 10 seconds and they will soften again.
Don’t microwave them or longer than that or they might lose crispness!
Marshmallow differences
One 10-ounce bag of marshmallows (any size) yields approximately 5 1/2 cups of mini marshmallows or 40 regular (medium) marshmallows.
Feel free to use marshmallows of any size (regular, mini, or jumbo) to make rice krispie treats – the recipe results are equal. Mini marshmallows are usually suggested for RKT just because they are quicker to melt.
Making it ahead and storage
The bunny rice krispie treats can stay crispy for several days if stored properly in an airtight container (or packaged in sealed plastic bags) at room temperature. But they lose crispiness over time, especially if exposed to moisture.
So, in order to enjoy the crispiest treats, try to consume them within 2-3 days of making them. If you need to store them for longer, consider freezing them.
After the cookie icing has fully dried, wrap the bunny Rice Krispie treats in clear bags tied up with colorful ribbons for a fun Easter basket surprise!
Freezing rice krispie treats
Rice krispie treats will stay good frozen for 1 – 2 months. After this time they may start to develop freezer burn or lose their texture and flavor.
To freeze, wrap the individual treats or stack them with parchment paper between each layer, then place them in an airtight container or freezer bag. Thaw at room temperature before serving.
Bunny Rice Krispie Treats
These cute bunny shaped rice krispie treats with vanilla, lemon and honey are a fun snack or little dessert perfect for spring or filling an Easter basket!
- bunny shaped cookie cutter
- lollipop sticks or straws
- cellophane treat bags with ties or ribbons
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 10 ounces marshmallows (any size)
- 3 ounces lemon gelatin (see notes below for natural lemon flavor or other flavors)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 5 cups crispy rice cereal
- nonpareils sprinkles (rainbow or pastel spring colors (optional))
- cookie icing ((optional))
Place [wprm-ingredient text=”6 tablespoons butter” uid=”0″] and [wprm-ingredient text=”10 ounces marshmallows” uid=”1″] in a pan over low heat and stir until the marshmallows are nearly all melted. Remove from the stove and continue mixing to finish melting them in the residual heat.
Add [wprm-ingredient text=”3 ounces lemon gelatin” uid=”2″], [wprm-ingredient text=”1/2 teaspoon vanilla flavoring” uid=”3″] and [wprm-ingredient text=”2 tablespoons honey” uid=”4″] and mix until it’s smooth.
Add the [wprm-ingredient text=”5 cups crispy rice cereal” uid=”5″] and stir well until it is all evenly coated.
While the rice krispies treats mix is still warm, use your buttered fingers or a spatula to to transfer portions of the rice krispie treat into the oiled cookie cutter, pressing gently to shape the bunnies. As you slide each rice crispy bunny of the cookie cutter, grease it again to prevent the next RKT from sticking.
If you'd like to place the rice krispie treats on sticks, insert it before decorating.
To decorate, place some [wprm-ingredient text=”<wprm-ingredient uid="6" removed="0">nonpareils sprinkles” uid=”6″] in a small bowl and dip the rice krispie bunny ears, one at a time. Draw on the nose and whiskers with cookie icing. Allow the cookie icing to fully dry before wrapping them up.
Recipe variations
Different flavors: Lemon, honey and vanilla is a perfect match. You can use any different flavors of jello if you like, but it might be better to leave out the vanilla and / or honey, depending on our choice.
Low-calorie option: Create a sugar-free, reduced-calorie and lower-carb version of these rice krispie treats by substituting regular marshmallows with sugar-free marshmallows and replacing the 3-ounce box of lemon jello with a 0.3-ounce box of sugar-free jello.
Natural flavor: Replace the lemon jello powder with natural lemon flavor extract or essential oil. Adjust the quantity to taste – Usually between half to one teaspoon is enough, depending on the potency of the specific brand you’re using.
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