These Frosted Animal Cracker Cookies are packed with sprinkles, white chocolate chips and pieces of frosted circus animal cookies. The cookie dough is made with instant vanilla pudding, which adds chewiness and extra flavor!
Quick Tips
- Make sure that you use instant vanilla pudding and not cook & serve pudding – the cook & serve does contain the same thickening agents as the instant pudding, so your cookies would not come out as thick and moist as desired
- Use a 2-inch cookie dough scoop to measure and scoop your cookie dough
- Use a round cookie cutter or water glass to circle around the cookies right when they come out of the oven for perfectly round cookies! The glass or cookie cutter should be slightly larger than the baked cookie
- Top the baked cookie with more frosted animal crackers and white chocolate chips right when they come out of the oven as well
Equipment
Not a lot of kitchen tools are needed to make these Frosted Animal Cracker Cookies. Just gather the items below and start baking!
- Hand or stand mixer
- Knife and cutting board OR rolling pin and gallon bag: for coarsely chopping the animal crackers
- Medium or large mixing bowl
- Measuring cups or spoons
- Silicone spatula
- Cookie sheet(s)
- 2 or 3-inch cookie dough scoop (optional)
- Parchment paper or silicone baking mat (optional)
Ingredient Notes
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Instant vanilla pudding: make sure to use instant pudding and not cook and serve
- Unsalted butter: salted butter can be substituted, but decrease added salt by ¼ teaspoon if you do
- Eggs
- Baking soda
- Salt: reduce to ¼ teaspoon if using salted butter
- Vanilla extract
- Frosted animal crackers: be sure to coarsely crush them (some larger pieces should remain). I like this brand of animal crackers, and you would use one full 9 ounce bag for this recipe
- Sprinkles: jimmies or confetti sprinkles work best, but use whatever kind you’d like!
- White chocolate chips
Love these Frosted Animal Cracker Cookies? Try these other cookie recipes!
How to make Frosted Animal Cracker Cookies
These Frosted Animal Cracker Cookies are very easy to make! Follow the simple steps below to make these delicious cookies.
First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, then lightly grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper and set aside.
Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until smooth.
Next, add in eggs and vanilla extract, beat until combined. Scrape down the bowl once complete.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, pudding mix, salt, baking soda).
Then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 2-3 portions, mixing after each addition. Scrape down the bowl once complete.
Coarsely crush the frosted animal crackers by placing them in a gallon bag and rolling them with a rolling pin (you could also use a knife to chop them up). Add them to the dough and mix until combined. Mix the sprinkles and white chocolate chips into the dough as well.
Use a spoon or 2-3 inch cookie dough scoop to measure and ball the cookie dough (if you are not using a cookie dough scoop, you should roll the dough into balls with your hands).
Place balled cookie dough on to the prepared cookie sheet, leaving at least 1-2 inches in between each cookie. These cookies will spread.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the bottom just begins to brown (cookie edges should just barely brown before removing from the oven). Immediately upon removing the cookies from the oven, use a round cookie cutter or water glass to swirl around the cookies to round them out, then add more crushed animal crackers and white chocolate chips (these steps aren’t necessary but they help your cookies look prettier!).
Try these other delicious desserts!
Frosted Animal Cracker Cookies
Equipment
- Hand or stand mixer
- medium or large mixing bowl
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Cookie sheets
- rolling pin or knife (optional)
- silicone spatula
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 packet instant vanilla pudding 3.5 ounce box
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sprinkles jimmie sprinkles recommended
- 9 ounces frosted animal crackers coarsely crushed (reserve ½ cup for topping cookies)
- ¾ cup white chocolate chips (reserve ¼ cup for topping cookies)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Lightly grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper, set aside.
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until smooth.
- Add in eggs and vanilla extract, beat until combined. Scrape down the bowl once complete.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour, pudding mix, salt, baking soda).
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in 2-3 portions, mixing well after each addition.
- Coarsely crush the frosted animal crackers by placing them in a gallon bag and rolling them with a rolling pin (or coarsely chop them with a knife). Reserve some for topping the cookies after baking. Add them to the dough and mix until combined.
- Use a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to fold the sprinkles and white chocolate chips into the dough (reserve some white chocolate chips for topping the cookies after baking).
- Use a spoon or cookie dough scoop to measure and ball the cookie dough (if you are not using a cookie dough scoop, you should roll the dough into balls with your hands).
- Place balled cookie dough on to prepared cookie sheet, leaving at least 1 inch in between each cookie.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the bottom just begins to brown (cookie edges should just barely brown before removing from the oven).
- Immediately upon removing them from the oven, swirl with a cookie cutter or water glass that is slightly larger than the baked cookie. Then top with additional frosted animal crackers and white chocolate chips if desired.
- Let the cookies rest for 5-10 minutes, then move them to a cooling rack and cool to room temperature. Then enjoy!
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