Bunny Butt Cookies

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

To the butter mixture, add the egg, milk, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Scrape down sides of the bowl, and beat on medium-high until fully incorporated, about 1 minute.

Scrape down sides of the bowl again, and add dry ingredients. Mix on low until flour is fully incorporated, about 1 minute.

Dump cookie dough onto a clean work surface, and using your hands, shape dough into a log that is 16 inches long and 1 3/4 inch in diameter. Slightly press on the top of the log so the circular dough becomes a slight oval. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Cut log into 1/4-inch-thick disks. Set aside one third of the disks. Take the other two-thirds of the disks and place them on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake in preheated oven until barely golden, about 9 minutes, rotating halfway through for even baking. Remove to cooling rack.

While cookies bake, take the reserved third of the cookie dough disks and cut each disk into equal quarters by cutting in the middle both horizontally and vertically. Using your fingers, press in the three pointed edges of each piece to achieve the bean-shaped feet of the rabbits.

Place the “rabbit feet” on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes. Remove to cooling rack.

Once all of the cookie pieces are cooled, pipe around the edges of the rabbit body and feet with white royal icing, flooding each piece with white royal icing that is slightly thinner than the icing around the edges. Place a miniature marshmallow in the upper center of each circular cookie. Then attach the feet to the body by gently placing two of them on top of the wet royal icing, allowing the feet to overhang slightly from the bottom of the cookie. Place white sprinkles around the perimeter of the body of the cookie.

Allow royal icing to set for one hour before piping the pink royal icing on the feet of the rabbits. Pipe one larger oval near the top of each foot piece, and along the bottom of the cookie place three dots with the dot in the middle slightly lower than the other two dots. Allow cookies to sit until royal icing has completely dried, about 3-4 hours or overnight.

You can easily flavor these cookies by using a liquid extract in the royal icing. You can also use rose water or orange blossom water to thin the royal icing and lend a delicious floral flavor appropriate for spring.