Entry in progress—B.P.
   
Wikipedia: Easter Bunny
The Easter Bunny (or Easter Hare) is a character depicted as an anthropomorphic rabbit. In legend, the creature brings baskets filled with colored eggs, candy and toys to the homes of children on the night before Easter. The Easter Bunny will either put the baskets in a designated place or hide them somewhere in the house for the children to find when they wake up in the morning.

The Easter Bunny is very similar in trait to its Christmas holiday counterpart, Santa Claus, as they both bring gifts to good children on the night before their respective holiday. Its origin mentioned in print as early as 1620; can be traced to the German fertility goddess Ēostre..
 
Origins
The Easter Bunny as an Easter symbol seems to have its origins in Alsace and southwestern Germany, where it was first mentioned in German writings in the 1600s. The first edible Easter Bunnies were made in Germany during the early 1800s and were made of pastry and sugar.
 
31 March 1885, BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE, pg. 3:
...Easter rabbits…
   
8 April 1900, BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE, pg. 21 ad:
_CANDY_. (...)
Easter Rabbits.
   
14 March 1902, BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE, pg. 10 ad:
The Easter Novelties in the Candy Store.
Bunnies, of course—whoever heard of an Easter that could be any good at all without Mr. Rabbit and Mrs. Rabbit and all of the family of little Bunnies and dozens of chickens and ducks and all of their kin?  And if there is a candy box somewhere about them, so much the better.
(...)
Chocolate Eggs, Ducks, Rabbits and Chickens are 5c to $1.00..
     
29 March 1911, Indianapolis (IN) Star, pg. 16, col. 4 ad:
Chocolate Easter Rabbits
From Germany—An Express Shipment is Here
These are made of a fine quality chocolate—that children will enjoy and can safely eat—they are pure.
RABBITS at…10c, 25c, 35c and 50c
(Charles Mayer & Company—ed.)
 
26 March 1913, Gettysburg (PA) Compiler, pg. 1, col. 6:
Bernard Taylor won the prize, a chocolate Easter bunny.
 
1 April 1920, Lethbridge (Alberta, Canada) Herald, pg. 16 ad:
Chocolate Easter Rabbit…30c
(Red Cross Drug & Book Co., Ltd.—ed.)
   
24 March 1922, Wilkes-Barre (PA) Times, second section, pg. 20 ad:
D. W. Thomas
CANDY BOOTH
Chocolate Easter Rabbits
 
6 April 1922, Cleveland (OH) Plain-Dealer, pg. 2 ad:
Chocolate Easter Rabbits and Chickens
(DeKlyn’s—ed.)
 
13 April 1922, San Antonio (TX) Light, pg. 8, col. 2 ad:
Chocolate Easter Bunnies 19c.
(Joske Bros. Co.—ed.)
     
25 March 1924, Trenton (NJ) Evening Times, “Seen This Morning,” pg. 3:
Little girl longingly studying chocolate Easter bunny on display in store window.
 
20 April 1935, Cleveland (OH) Plain-Dealer, pg. 2 ad:
Chocolate Easter Bunnies and Chicks, 5c to 25c.
(The Halle Bros. Co.—ed.)
 
Wall Street Journal
JUNE 11, 2009
Europe’s High Court Tries On a Bunny Suit Made of Chocolate
The Case: Can a Foil-Wrapped Flopsy Be Trademarked
By CHARLES FORELLE
This morning in Luxembourg, five crimson-robed and white-scarved judges of the European Union’s highest court will issue a ruling on this most gnawing question: Can you trademark a chocolate bunny?
 
Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG of Switzerland certainly hopes so.

Lindt got a European trademark in 2001 on its marquee Easter treat, a gold-foil-wrapped chocolate bunny, squatting stolidly on its haunches, ears alert, a jingly little bell affixed to its neck with a bow-tied red ribbon.
(...)
Mr. Hauswirth scoured German libraries for references to chocolate bunnies of decades past. He found examples dating to the 1930s, says his lawyer, Harald Schmidt.