Pink and white frosted Circus Animal Cookies are the finishing touch on these soft, thick, and chewy sprinkled sugar cookies! Homemade white chocolate buttercream frosting makes them extra delicious.
Circus Animal Cookies are a Crumbl copycat recipe! We’ve made them a bit smaller than you’d find at the famous cookie chain, but they are just as delicious.
This fun cookie recipe starts with a thick, soft, and fluffy sugar cookie studded with rainbow sprinkles.
Once baked, we’ll add a generous spread of homemade white chocolate buttercream frosting, and top the sugar cookies with a sweet, crispy, frosted Mother’s circus animal cookie.
If you love sugar cookies, be sure to try No Bake Sugar Cookies or Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars next! For the holidays, you’ll definitely want to add Christmas Sprinkle Sugar Cookies to your cookie platters.
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
- It’s a cookie with a cookie on top! Sure, pink and white frosted animal cookies are great on their own, but they’re even better when there’s a homemade frosted sugar cookie underneath them.
- Bakery style sugar cookies. Just like you’d find at Crumbl or your favorite bakery, these cookies have that thick, soft texture that you love, and is sometimes lacking in homemade cookie recipes. We’re sharing the secret to bakery-style sugar cookies with sprinkles right here!
- Circus Animal Cookies are a fan favorite! Try them in other recipes too, like Circus Animal Pudding Cookies, and Circus Animal Cookie Rice Krispie Treats.
Key Ingredients
Complete list of ingredients with quantities and instructions is located in the recipe card below
- Cold Unsalted Butter: The dough for this recipe comes together best with cold butter. If the butter is soft or warm, the cookies will spread too much when you bake them, and we want them to stay thick and compact.
- Sugar, Vanilla Extract, Sour Cream: For flavor, sweetness, and richness, these three work together beautifully. Sour cream is secret ingredient number one when it comes to making the best soft sugar cookies.
- Eggs: Two whole, large eggs ensure that the dough holds together.
- Flour, Baking Soda, Cornstarch, and Salt: These are the dry ingredients for these circus cookies. Cornstarch is the 2nd secret ingredient. Adding it to cookie dough makes them super soft and chewy.
- Rainbow Nonpareil Sprinkles: These are a must for making the cookie dough colorful and fun, with a funfetti feeling!
For the white chocolate buttercream frosting:
- Softened Unsalted Butter: You want cold butter for the cookies, but for creamy frosting, let 2 sticks of butter come to room temperature.
- White Chocolate: Use a good quality white chocolate baking bar. We’ll melt it to mix with the butter and sugar.
- Powdered Sugar, Heavy Cream, Vanilla Extract, and Salt: These are the rest of the ingredients needed to make white chocolate buttercream.
- More Rainbow Nonpareil Sprinkles!
- Frosted Circus Animal Cookies: Look for Mother’s Circus Animal Cookies, coated with pink and white frosting and rainbow sprinkles.
How To Make Circus Animal Sugar Cookies
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a large mixing bowl, cream the cold butter and sugar together on high until their are no more lumps. Since the butter is cold, this may be easiest to accomplish using a stand mixer, but I have tips below to help if you’re using a hand mixer instead.
- Add Eggs and Sour Cream: Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the vanilla extract and sour cream. Mix on low until just incorporated, then add the eggs, and mix until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Finish the Dough: Add in the baking soda, cornstarch, salt, and 1 cup of flour, then mix on low. Slowly add in the rest of the flour, one cup at a time, and continue mixing. Stop just before the flour is completely incorporated. Add in the sprinkles, then mix them in by hand with a rubber spatula.
- Chill, then Portion: The dough will be sticky at this point. Cover it with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes so that it’s easier to work with. Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Use a medium 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop and drop balls of dough about 4 inches apart on the baking sheets.
- Bake: Lightly flatten the dough balls into thick discs with the bottom of a measuring cup or your fingers. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the bottoms are lightly golden brown. The center of the cookies will still be soft. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 3 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
How to Make White Chocolate Frosting
- Melt Chocolate: In a microwave safe bowl, melt the baking chocolate by microwaving at 30 second ingredients on the defrost setting, or 50% power. Stir well in between each time until the chocolate is smooth. Set it aside to cool for 10 minutes.
- Add it to Softened Butter: Add the softened butter to a mixing bowl, and beat with a hand mixer until smooth and creamy. Then add slightly cooled melted white chocolate and mix on low until well combined.
- Finish with Sugar and Flavorings: Gradually add the powdered sugar, a little at a time, until fully incorporated with the butter. Add the heavy whipping cream, vanilla extract, and salt. Whip until you have a smooth, spreadable cookie frosting.
- Frost the Cookies: Use a small icing spatula to add 1 ½ tablespoons of frosting onto each cookie. Top with sprinkles and nestle a circus animal cookie into the center.
Top Tips
- Use Cold Butter for the Dough. Keeping the butter cold gives these cookies a wonderful texture, and keeps them from spreading too much in the oven. It will be easier for the mixer to break the butter apart if you cut it into small pieces. You can also start the process with a pastry cutter instead.
- Make the Dough Ahead of Time. This dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days if needed. Any longer than that and it will start to dry out.
- These are delicious with or without the animal cookies on top. You can also try a different colorful topping, like M&Ms.
- Let the white chocolate cool. If you add very hot melted chocolate to butter when making frosting, it won’t set up properly and can end up too soft. If you need to, add more powdered sugar to the icing to stiffen it, or add 1-2 tablespoons of cornstarch to stiffen it without making it any sweeter.
How to Store
Keep baked and frosted cookies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 2 days, or in the fridge for up to 3 days.
If you’d like to freeze these cookies, I suggest freezing them without the frosting, well sealed for up to three months. Thaw and then frost as desired.
More Bakery Style Cookie Recipes to Try
- Jumbo Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Crumbl Chocolate Cupcake Cookies
- Crumbl Key Lime Pie Cookies
- Nutella Stuffed Cookies
- Macarons
- Sprinkle Sugar Cookies
- Easy Shark Cookies
FAQs
The bakery version uses melted white chocolate on top of their cookies, but I really like the fluffy white chocolate buttercream I used better!
Nonpareils are a type of sprinkle, distinguishable by their tiny, round shape. Sprinkles, or “jimmies” are long pieces, about the size of a grain of rice. In this recipe, nonpareils are preferred, as they make the dough extra colorful, and add a lovely crunchy texture.
Turn your favorite childhood treat into a super special soft sugar cookie masterpiece! Kids and adults all love Circus Animal Cookies, and they’re the perfect cookie for any fun occasion.
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