These Circus Animal Sprinkle Cookies are fully-loaded with Circus Animal Cookies, white chocolate chips, and tons of rainbow sprinkles in one soft and chewy sugar pudding cookie!
When I think back on my childhood, several significant things come to mind.
One would be summer days spent inside my Grammie Pat’s pool with my siblings and friends, doing back flips off of the diving board and eating so much ice cream our stomachs would hurt.
Two would be the musical stylings of 80s rock bands blasting throughout my house at all times, courtesy of my parents amazing taste in music.
And three would be for sure Circus Animal Cookies by Mother’s brand. No other brand compares!
My brother and I actually had a great system – he ate all the pink ones, and I ate all the white ones. For some reason, I just thought the white ones always had more sprinkles and tasted better. Funny, because my brother swore the pink ones had more sprinkles and tasted better. Children hopped up on sugar can be quite delusional.
Nowadays, I am more non-prejudiced and love all the colors of the cookies. Pink and white are equals in my eyes. I know no differences between the two colors. (I’m progressive in my old age).
To this day, approaching my 28th birthday, I am still quite fond of these delicious fudge-coated cookies. I still search the bag for the sprinkliest ones to eat first, though. Some things don’t change much.
And these Circus cookies inspired me to make the ultimate sprinkle sugar cookie – stuffed with more cookies. A cookie inception, if you will – of the obnoxiously sprinkled kind.
The result were these Circus Animal Sprinkle Cookies! They’re fully loaded with tons of rainbow sprinkles, white chocolate chips, and chopped up Circus Animal Cookies! AKA, they’re basically my dream cookie. The base is a soft and chewy sugar pudding cookie. What’s a pudding cookie? It’s simply a cookie that you add dry pudding mix powder to. The result is a supremely soft and chewy cookie that stays soft for dayyyyys. < not that they’ll last that long!
The recipe starts out like most cookie recipes: butter, brown sugar, granulated white sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking soda, a pinch of salt, and the secret ingredient: dry pudding powder! Then you’ll add in a tonnn of rainbow sprinkles, some white chocolate chips, and chopped Circus cookies. They’re so delicious, you guys. I know you’ll flip for them as much as I did!
Make them!!
*inspired by Shelly’s recipe
Circus Animal Sprinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 3.4 ounces (One 3.4 oz box) instant dry vanilla pudding mix
- 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
- 1¼ cups coarsely chopped circus animal cookies plus more whole cookies for garnish
- 3/4 cup rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silicone liners; set aside.
- In a large bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until creamy and blended, about 1 minute. Add in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Lastly, add in the baking soda, salt, flour, and pudding powder until a soft dough comes together. Stir in the white chips, cookies, and sprinkles.
- Drop 1-2 Tablespoonfuls of dough 2" apart on the baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking time to ensure even cooking. Let cool out of the oven for about 5 minutes before pressing a whole circus animal cookie into the center of each cookie. Allow cookies to cool completely before serving or storing.
I absolutely adore these dreamy, sprinkly wonders! I know you will, too.
Have a super sweet day!
xo, Hayley
CC says
These cookies were freaking amazing! Gave them as a gift and ended up making another batch for us to enjoy.
thedomesticrebel says
Thanks for your review, CC! Enjoy the cookies!
Alisa says
I made these for my BFF for her birthday. She loved them!! They were very soft and stayed soft for days. Very festive and so cute! This recipe is a keeper!
thedomesticrebel says
Alisa, so glad you and your BFF enjoyed the cookies!
Paige+Henley says
My son and I made these. Super easy and they turned out perfectly. Got a ton of compliments on how cute and tasty!
thedomesticrebel says
Paige and Henley, I am so glad y’all enjoyed the cookies!
Anna says
May be a dumb question, did u frost the animal cookies or do they come colored! They look frosted. Thank you for all the colorful recipes, they’re beautiful.
thedomesticrebel says
Hi Anna! Not a dumb question. Are you in the States? If so, Mother’s brand is the brand I used. Their circus animal cookies come frosted pink and white with the rainbow sprinkles. You could use any brand of frosted animal cookies!
Anna says
Thank you, yes I’m in the states but in a rural area, I will look for those when I go to bigger city, haha. I did find some pink ones but not frosted, can’t wait to make these for my granddaughters, and me!!!