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These cookies will take you back to your childhood! If you like animal cookies, you’re definitely going to love these extra-special circus animal sugar cookies (with or without frosting). The cookies are soft and tasty, flavored with white chocolate and vanilla, full of colorful sprinkles and crushed cookies, and they are topped with buttercream and an animal cracker. They’re the kind of cookie that everyone wants to eat and that includes the kids (who probably want to help you decorate them) and everyone else too!
Treat your sweet tooth to these delicious frosted circus animal sugar cookies. They’re pretty to look at but much better to eat!
You might also like these gooey, sweet chocolate marshmallow cookies, homemade vanilla cookies, or these pumpkin s’mores cookies.
Why You’ll Love It
Easy to make: Once you’ve combined the ingredients for the cookie dough, you just need to shape the cookies, bake and cool them and frost them.
So tasty: These are so sweet and delicious. Ideal for snack time!
Perfect for a special occasion: Whip up a batch of these or even two. Don’t worry – they’ll soon disappear!
Circus Animal Sugar Cookie Ingredients
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
All-purpose wheat flour: The basis of the dough.
Baking soda: To get a soft and light texture.
Sugar: Both brown sugar and white sugar go into the dough.
Vanilla extract: Complements the animal cookie taste.
Cream cheese: Bring it to room temperature before you begin.
Sprinkles: Use multi-colored nonpareil sprinkles to add pops of color.
Powdered sugar: To make the buttercream frosting.
Animal crackers: These are to top your homemade frosted circus animal cookies.
How to Make Circus Animal Sprinkle Cookies
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.
Preheat oven: Preheat the oven so it warms up while you work on the cookie dough.
Make the cookie dough: Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and white chocolate chips together in a medium bowl. Beat the butter, sugar and cream cheese in another bowl with a stand mixer. Mix in the vanilla extract and egg as well as the vanilla pudding mix. Add the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Fold in crumbled animal crackers and sprinkles.
Shape the cookies: Shape the batter into balls and flatten them into disks. Arrange on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Cook, frost and serve: Bake the cookies and let them cool completely. Combine the frosting ingredients, frost the cookies and press an animal cracker on top of each one.
Substitutions and Variations
Vanilla pudding: The vanilla pudding can be omitted, but I highly recommend using it. It adds a layer of flavor similar to a birthday cookie.
Sprinkles: Any color or theme sprinkles would work.
Extra sweet: Sift powdered sugar over the frosting before topping with the animal cookie.
White chocolate chips: Use milk chocolate chips instead.
Serving Suggestions
With brunch: Pair your savory items like bacon or sausage, hash brown casserole and eggs benedict with some of these animal cookies for a perfect balance of savory and sweet.
As a sweet treat: Pair the cookies with a glass of milk or an oat milk shaked espresso.
For dessert: Crumble the cookies over homemade ice cream or put ice cream between 2 of them to make an ice cream sandwich. They can also be served after dinner, perhaps with an Irish coffee.
How to Store Sprinkle Sugar Cookies
Store: Keep the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
Freeze: Don’t freeze these, as they’d thaw out soggy.
Top Tips
Chop the animal crackers finely: When adding the cookies to the batter, chop them finely – the pieces should be about the size of chocolate chips so they mix in well.
Let them cool before frosting: Let the cookies completely cool before frosting them. That way the frosting won’t melt and run off.
No piping bag? Snip the corner off a Ziploc bag and use that to frost the cookies instead. Or you can spread the frosting over using an offset spatula.
Circus Animal Sprinkle Sugar Cookies FAQs
I recommend using Mother’s Original circus animal crackers to decorate your frosted circus animal cookies. (You can get them here!)
Add them last. To make sure the sprinkles colors don’t bleed into the cookie batter, add them at the end and don’t over-mix. In fact, the less you mix the dough after adding them, the better.
Frosted Circus Animal Sugar Cookies Recipe
Circus Animal Sugar Cookies
Equipment
- Danish Dough Whisk Optional
- Cookie Scoop 1½-Tablespoon
Ingredients
For the Cookie Dough:
- 2 Cups all purpose flour
- 1 Teaspoon baking soda
- ½ Teaspoon salt
- ½ Cup white chocolate chips
- ½ Cup butter, at room temperature
- ½ Cup light brown sugar, packed
- ½ Cup granulated sugar
- ¼ Cup cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2 Teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 Box instant vanilla pudding mix, 3.56 Ounce box
- 1 Box circus animal cookies, break half into tiny pieces, save half for decorating
- ¼ Cup sprinkles, multicolored non-pareil
For the Optional Buttercream Frosting:
- ½ Cup butter
- 2 to 3 Cups powdered sugar
- 2 to 3 Tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Make the Cookie Dough:
- In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and white chocolate chips.
- In another mixing bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the butter, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, and softened cream cheese until the ingredients are combined and the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Mix in the vanilla extract and the egg and then the instant vanilla pudding mix, using a hand mixer.
- Add the flour mixture in 2 or 3 increments, using a hand mixer or Danish dough whisk.
- Keep mixing until all ingredients are combined and you have a thick batter.
- Carefully, fold in the finely chopped animal cookies and the sprinkles.
- With a spatula or Danish dough whisk, mix until all ingredients are evenly spread throughout the batter. I wouldn’t recommend using the hand mixer here.
- Use a medium cookie scoop (1½-tablespoon) to scoop the batter into balls.
- Arrange them on the prepared baking sheet leaving 1½ to 2 inches in between each.
- Press the dough balls down into disks.
Bake the Cookies:
- Bake in the preheated oven for 8 to10 minutes or until the edges are golden and the center is set.
- Let the cookies cool completely on a wire rack.
Frost the Cookies (Optional):
- Combine the buttercream frosting ingredients to make the frosting and pipe or spread it over the top of each cookie.
- Add an animal cracker (or pieces) on top to decorate.
Notes
Let them cool before frosting: Let the cookies completely cool before frosting them. That way the frosting won’t melt and run off.
No piping bag? Snip the corner off a Ziploc bag and use that to frost the cookies instead. Or you can spread the frosting over using an offset spatula.
Nutrition
These super-cute frosted circus animal cookies are easy to make and everyone always loves their sweet, satisfying flavors. These mythical creatures are just so delicious! You can pair these sweet treats with anything from a cup of coffee to a glass of milk, or even crumble them over an ice cream sundae or bowl of frozen yogurt.
Other Recipes to Try
Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
These were a huge hit! Fun to decorate and absolutely delicious.