The Creamy Retro Toast Topping That Was Made With Only 2 Campbell's Soups

Are you the kind of toast devotee who only enjoys the crisp bread with butter, or do you like to get a little adventurous? Will you line up a sliced avocado and over-medium egg to make a more filling breakfast food? Or do you take the sweeter route, slathering it in strawberry jam or Nutella? Perhaps you're a toast lover from down under, where the browned bread is often prepped with melted butter and loaded with hundreds and thousands. Back in the day, Americans couldn't get enough of topping their toast with two cans of Campbell's soup in a recipe known as the Blushing Bunny.

According to Kodiak's Kitchen, the good ol' Blushing Bunny was made by combining one can of Campbell's Cheddar Cheese soup with one can of Campbell's Tomato soup on the stove and stirring until combined. The result was a thick, creamy soup ideal for pouring over a few slices of toast or crackers, using the bread to soak up what remained in the bowl, much like the best bread for mopping up Italian sauces. Although Campbell's never sold a can of the combined soup under its aforementioned name, the soup giant did advertise this combination frequently, such as in an ad in the 1924 Homes & Garden magazine where it was dubbed the Golden Rabbit. This version also called for ¼ cup of milk.

The Blushing Bunny or the Golden Rabbit — which name is the correct one for this retro toast topping? The correct answer is both, and then some. Not only did this combo go by Blushing Bunny and Golden Rabbit, but Campbell's itself also called it the Cheese Wiggle or the Tomato Rabbit. Similar recipes have been spotted in vintage cookbooks made by beloved brands for generations under a variety of names, such as in the 1950 Betty Crocker cookbook under the name "Rum Tum Tiddy (Pink Bunny)." 

The name itself has seen so many variations because it's a take on an old Welsh recipe known as the Welsh Rabbit, one of 11 popular sandwiches of the 1950s. Despite the name, there are no actual rabbits or bunnies involved in this recipe. It's instead a spin on the term Welsh Rarebit, which was the original name of the food that involved heating ale with cheddar cheese and spices, then pouring the whole mixture onto buttered toast. After becoming Americanized, the recipe was largely adapted without the ale and substituted with cans of Campbell's soup instead, and thus the Blushing Bunny became a popular toast topping of the time.