Looking for some super cute Easter treat ideas to make for your buns? Look no further - bun mom has you covered with a carrot cake cupcake, an easter basket full of rabbit easter eggs AND an actual filled easter egg for your rabbits! Let's hop to it!🐇
*Disclaimer: Please adjust any recipes to your bunnies needs or sensitivities. If you are already aware that certain things affect your rabbit's stomach or that they have sensitive tummies, please do not feed them these treats anyway and swap out necessary ingredients if needed. As with any treat or new food, if your bunny demonstrates any diarrohea after eating them, please do not feed these again.*
Lets get baking!
Hay-bits & wet pellet mixture:
All three recipes use hay bits and a wet pellet mixture.
Hay bits are just the teeny dusty bits of hay left over at the bottom of your container of hay - if you can’t find any, just cut some hay into tiny pieces.
For the wet pellet mixture, mix 1 cup of pellets with about 1-1.5cups of water and allow the mixture to soak for about 20 minutes, giving it a stir every now and then. I used the Rosewood Meadow Menu nuggets instead of the bunnies regular pellets as these are made of hay and forage, but you can use whichever pellets you prefer. You may need to adjust the amount of water you use based on your pellets - you don’t want the mixture to be too wet, but more a thick and muddy consistency. It’s safer to start off with less water first then add more as needed and allow the mixture some time to soak.
Easter Basket Recipe
Egg ingredients:
1/2 cup soaked pellet mixture
1/2 medium mashed banana (may need to use less if your pellet mixture is wetter)
1/4 cup mixed forage of choice
1/4 cup hay bits
Instructions:
Combine the pellet mixture, mashed banana, hay bits and forage in a food processor, blender, or by hand until thoroughly mixed.
Take a teaspoon-sized amount of the mixture and roll it into little balls in the palm of your hands, before moulding it into little egg shapes.
Bake these for 20 minutes at 175C/350F. Once these are finished baking, don’t open the oven door and leave them in there for 3-4 hours until the oven is completely cool. This is very important to ensure your cookies thoroughly dry out and become crispy rather than remain moist.
For the basket:
I found a tiny little rattan basket at home and made a little handle out of a paper straw. If you have a chewy rattan ball for your bun you could cut that in half and make a little handle too if you can’t find a basket in the shops. Finally, fill the basket with some hay bits, some floral forage and lay your Easter eggs on-top.
I'd recommend feeding 1-2 per day as long as the eggs are small, as these have a higher sugar content due to the banana.
Carrot cake cupcakes
I purchased the mini cupcake cases from The Range.
Cupcake ingredients:
*For four cupcakes
1 tbsp grated carrot
1 tbsp chopped parsley or coriander
1 tbsp hay or forage
1.5 tbsps pellet mix
Instructions:
Combine all of the ingredients together and split the mixture evenly into four teaspoon sized amounts. Place these in the mini cupcake cases and press them down until flat.
Bake the cupcakes for 25mins at 175C/350F, and as above, keep in the oven until cool.
Decoration Ingredients:
1/4 banana
1 teaspoon ground oats
1/3 whole carrot
Decoration Instructions:
For the banana frosting, mash 1/4 of a banana with a fork until liquid. Add in one teaspoon of ground oats and mix thoroughly. You can make ground oats really easily in a blender. [Adding the ground oats in is completely optional - if you don't like feeding your buns treats with oat flour, just miss this step out!]
Next, cut four mini carrot shapes out and then use a toothpick to poke a hole at the top of the carrot. Take a small parsley or coriander leaf and insert the stalk in the hole to create the mini carrot look.
Add a teaspoon-sized amount of banana frosting on top of the cupcake and place a mini carrot on top.
Feed max 1 per day, especially if they have the banana frosting and the carrot ontop.
Filled Easter egg:
You will need an oven safe medium egg-shaped silicone mould. I purchased mine from The Range for £1, but if you're not in the UK, check out your local dollar stores or amazon.
Ingredients:
1 tbsp soaked pellet mixture
1 tbsp hay bits
*for one half of an egg
Floral mix for filling
Instructions:
Scoop 1 tbsp of pellet mixture in your hand and mix in 1 tbsp of hay bits. It doesn’t matter too much if it’s not thoroughly mixed as the next step is to mould the mix into the silicone egg moulds where you can press the hay bits in further.
Make sure the egg is not too thick as it won’t cook well and not too thin or it’ll just break - aim for about 0.6mmm. Cut away any excess on the top, so that the edges of the egg are as smooth as possible. Poke a small hole at the bottom and top of each egg half with a bamboo skewer or toothpick (so you can tie the two halves together later).
Bake the eggs in the silicone mould for 30 minutes at 175C/350F as above.
Once baked, carefully pop the eggs out of the moulds and go back through the holes carefully with a skewer/toothpick. Fill half of an egg with your floral mix of choice, and then tie the halves together carefully with twine and cut off any excess.
Since these are basically made from hay and forage you can let your buns share one of these per day. However, if you are using your own pellets rather than the meadow menu nuggets, feed more sparingly, especially if your bunnies have been fed pellets already. Alternatively, swap these for their daily pellet breakfast for added enrichment.
Storage
It's really important to follow the step of leaving the treats in the oven after baking as this really ensures they dry out and therefore will last longer before spoiling and won't bother your rabbit's stomachs. Your cookies should feel hard rather than chewy once they've been in the oven for long enough. Store treats in an air tight container in a dry place, and if baked and dried appropriately they should last for 1-2 weeks. If you want them to last longer, keep them refrigerated. Any treats with fresh fruit or vegetables ontop, (e.g. the carrot cake cupcakes) should be stored in the fridge and only kept for 1-2 days. If you plan on making a big batch of cupcakes, I'd recommend only frosting a few so that the rest of the batch keep longer.
Happy Munching!
Make sure to tag us on Instagram (@peanutbutterandtheplants) if you try out any of the recipes above and use the hashtag #pbandtheplants
Lots of love, Tamara, Peanut, Butter and all the Plants xoxo 🌵🌿🪴