How to make sausage rabbits

Just a quickie today with one of the easiest decorative sausage shapes around to thrill your child. Make a rabbit head out of little cocktail sausages or hot dogs, a little faster than making “octodogs” (octopus-shaped hot dogs). I made this particular lunch quite a while back when I was dabbling in food art; read on for the how-to.

Split the mini sausage in half lengthwise.

Cut a V-shaped incision into the end of the sausage, creating the ears. Either simmer or lightly fry in a pan with a bit of oil to give a little curl to the ears and heat the sausage through for maximum food safety. Wondering what to do with the excess sausage? See my top 7 things to do with leftover food scraps.

Below is a comparison between lightly simmered sausages that I cut straight through the middle (at left) without making a V-shaped incision, and one that I did cut the wedge out of (at right). I think the one on the right more closely resembles rabbit ears.

If you’re inclined, you can make little eyes for your “sausage rabbit” with sliced cheese and nori. If you don’t have tiny cutters or craft punches for this, you might try using a straw or the end of pastry bag tips to cut out small circles. Do you have a clever alternative to dedicated cutters? Share it with us in comments!

FURTHER READING:

• Decorative Food on Lunch in a Box (main page)
• How to make an octodog (octopus-shaped hot dog)
• How to make apple bunnies
• How to make decorative banana wedges
• Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and equipment reviews