Circus Animal Cookies Recipe
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These Circus Animal Cookies combine frosted animal crackers with white chocolate sugar cookies and colorful sprinkles for one extra sweet treat! And with refrigerated cookie dough, you can enjoy a batch fresh from the oven in 20 minutes or less. Even the kids can help with this recipe!
Circus Animal Cookies
Each delicious bite of these treats is bursting with chopped animal cookies, white chocolate chips, and rainbow sprinkles… not to mention, nostalgia!
Perfectly sweet with little pops of crunch — these are great for parties and playdates.
Using refrigerated dough allows these animal cracker cookies to come together quickly, but you could easily use a homemade recipe instead.
While you’re here, check out my trailmix cookies! They’re also made with four simple ingredients, and the treats come out just as colorful!
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Sugar Cookie Dough – It doesn’t matter if it comes in a flat package or a tube, as long as it’s 16 ounces of dough.
If the package size is different, simply use more or less of the mix-ins! - Circus Animal Cookies – Grab a package of the famous animal crackers coated in pink and white frosting and colorful sprinkles.
It’s a fun mix-in for sugar cookies with white chocolate, adding sweetness, color, and crunch! - White Chocolate Chips – These have a similar flavor to the pink and white frosting on the packaged cookies.
Substitute with a coarsely chopped white chocolate bar if needed. - Sprinkles – You’ll want nonpareils for this recipe, which are the teeny tiny ball-shaped variety that also dot the circus animal cookies.
Avoid jimmies (the long tube-shaped ones) since they are more likely to bleed color into the dough.
Tips and Tricks to Make Perfect White Chocolate Sugar Cookies
- Soften the dough first.
It can be hard to mix ingredients into refrigerated dough while it’s still chilled, so I recommend letting it sit on the counter for 10 to 15 minutes before getting started.
Once everything is mixed together, pop the bowl back in the refrigerator for a few minutes before scooping to keep your animal cracker cookies from overspreading.
- Mix by hand with a sturdy spoon or spatula.
All you really need to do is get the mix-ins evenly distributed throughout the dough. Sometimes, I’ll even use my (clean) hands!
Unfortunately, an electric mixer will crush the cookie pieces too small and will likely overwork the dough.
- Use a medium cookie scoop.
This makes scooping cookie dough quick and easy — and guarantees that all of your treats will be the same size!
You can bake larger cookies for a bit longer, but I’d avoid making these any smaller or you won’t get a little bit of everything in each one.
- Don’t overbake!
Pull the trays as soon as the edges start to brown. The centers will continue to set as the circus animals cookies cool on the baking sheet.
After a couple of minutes, transfer your treats to a wire rack to finish cooling so they stay soft and chewy.
Prep Ahead
- Chop up the frosted animal crackers
- Soften the refrigerated dough
Kitchen Tools You Will Need
- Baking Sheets lined with Parchment Paper – Used for anything from cookies to roasting, a good baking pan will last for years.
- Large Mixing Bowl – This one is my go-to!
- Cookie Scoops – Great for meatballs, cookies, ice cream, and portioning out leftovers. I’ve had this set for years and use them all the time.
- Wire Rack – Great for cooling all kinds of baked goods.
Make a Cookie Sandwich
Swirl some vanilla frosting or whipped cream between two circus animal cookies for an extra indulgent dessert.
Add extra sprinkles or color the frosting pink for an extra pop of color.
You could even use ice cream in the middle instead! Make each cookie a bit larger so there’s plenty of surface area for whichever flavor you choose.
Circus Animals Cookies FAQ
For consistency, it’s best to do it by hand with a large, sharp knife. If you use a food processor, you will end up with a mixture of large chunks, crumbs, and powder instead.
That said, feel free to do whatever works for you — these treats will taste delicious either way!
Yes! If you can only bake one tray at a time, keep the remaining dough in the refrigerator until the first batch is cooling.
You could also scoop all of the rounds out onto a plate at once, then transfer them to the baking sheet when it’s time.
You can play with the ratios of cookie bits, chocolate chips, and sprinkles, but don’t exceed 1 ½ cups total.
Otherwise, there won’t be enough dough to surround everything, and the white chocolate sugar cookies won’t rise.
Storing and Freezing Animal Cracker Cookies
Keep these in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 to 4 days or freeze for up to 1 month.
You can also freeze the dough for 1-2 months! It’s easiest to scoop out the dough and flash freeze until firm, then transfer to a freezer-safe storage bag.
All you have to do is pop the dough balls onto a baking sheet and bake your circus animals cookies as directed. Add a minute or two to the timer when baking from frozen.
Enjoy!
With love, from our simple kitchen to yours.
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Circus Animal Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 16 ounces refrigerated sugar cookie dough
- 2/3 cup chopped circus animal cookies
- 1/3 cup white chocolate chips
- 2 teaspoons Rainbow nonpareils
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and mix until fully combined.
- Using a medium cookie scoop to portion out the dough and place on the prepared baking sheet 2-inches apart.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges are just golden brown
- Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe’s nutritional value will vary depending on the ingredients used, measuring methods, and portion sizes.
Originally published September 2021, updated and republished March 2025
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These were so sweet and pretty! My kids gobbled them up and I couldn’t resist either!
Made these circus animal cookies and they were absolutely amazing! So easy to make and they tasted like childhood nostalgia. Will definitely be making these again.
Hi Serenity!
We’re so glad you enjoyed!
TSRI Team Member,
Devlyn
Made these circus animal cookies and they were fantastic! I added some extra rainbow sprinkles for an extra pop of color, and they turned out great.
Hi Samantha!
We’re so glad that you enjoyed the recipe!
TSRI Team Member,
Devlyn