Instructions
To begin, place the cream cheese and the butter out on the counter to come to room temperature for approximately one hour before starting the recipe. This ensures that the ingredients soften adequately, making them easier to mix.
Once the ingredients have softened to room temperature, place the butter, cream cheese, and Key Lime Pie Cheeseball Mix into a bowl.
Mix until all of the ingredients are thoroughly combined. When mixing, you may see blue streaks or pieces start to form. These are from the cheeseball mix and will go away when mixed thoroughly. The mix should look like a pale green or soft yellow when fully combined, with no dry mix left over on the sides or bottom of the bowl.
Next, separate the mix into four parts and place each part on separate plastic wraps. The four sections will be divided into one large ball for the body, two smaller balls for the feet, and one slightly smaller ball for the bunny tail. For this recipe, we weighed out each part using a scale to ensure the body would be proportional and even. For the bunny body, we weighed 1 lb. 4 oz of mix, for the feet 2.6 oz each, and for the bunny tail 2.5 oz.
Once the mix is divided into these measurements, twist the plastic wrap closed for each part of the bunny and shape the mix to match each part of the bunny. For the body and tail, make a circular shape; for each of the feet, create a triangle with rounded edges. When satisfied with the shapes of the bunny, place them in the freezer for 30 minutes or until the mix is firm in its shape.
While the mix is firming up in the freezer, prepare the pink pads of the feet. Melt pink candy coating in a piping bag using 20-second intervals. Massage the bag in between times until the chocolate is completely melted. Cut a small hole in the top of the piping bag, and on a small piece of parchment paper, pipe small dots about the size of an M&M. Place them to the side to allow the chocolate to set up until you need them later.
The next step is to assemble the body. Before you start, make sure to have a platter or stand to the side to assemble the bunny on. Place white Jimmies on a separate plate for rolling the mix. It is important to only pull out the parts of the mix that you will be assembling and keep the remaining mix in the freezer. This ensures the mix is easy to handle and doesn't get soft.
Remove the bunny body portion from the freezer and unwrap it. Wearing gloves for this step makes it easier to handle as the mix is very sticky. Carefully remove the body portion from the plastic wrap and roll it in the white jimmies. Excess loose sprinkles can be wiped away, and then the body can be placed in the middle of the plate or platter.
Next, remove one of the feet from the freezer and carefully unwrap it. If the mix loses its shape while removing it from the wrap, it can easily be reformed before dipping in the white jimmies. Make sure not to mix for too long, as this will result in it getting warm and turning into a gooey mess.
When dipping the foot of the bunny into the sprinkle mix, be sure to only coat the bottom of the mix. The top should be left uncoated to act as glue when attaching the foot to the body of the bunny. Repeat for the second foot of the bunny and gently apply pressure to attach it to the body.
The next step is to place the pink chocolate pieces on the bottom of the feet. Gently peel the pink circles from the parchment paper and press them into the bunny foot. Place one piece in the center of the top of the foot. Then, place three pieces into the bottom half of the foot.
Next, replace the white jimmies with white nonpareils and remove the tail part of the mix from the freezer. Carefully remove the tail from the plastic wrap and coat the top and sides of the tail in white nonpareils, leaving the bottom uncoated.
Then, attach the tail to the top of the bunny body.
To elevate your bunny bum cheeseball, edible grass can be added around the body of the bunny. To do this, take one cup of coconut candy crunch and stir in 1 teaspoon of green luster dust. If a darker color is desired, add more green luster dust gradually until all of the crunch is coated in green.
Using a spoon, place the edible grass around the bunny bum.
The bunny must be refrigerated until serving and is good for 2-3 days for optimal freshness.
