circus animal cookies

Circus Animal Cookie Dream Bars with a cookie crust and sweet, colorful layers are a fun,  No Bake dessert that's sure to bring out the kid in anyone!

Circus Animal Cookie Dream Bars

Circus Animal Cookies

unsalted butter

Instant Vanilla Pudding

milk

cream cheese (room temperature)

confectioners’ sugar

red food coloring

white chocolate chips

multi-colored nonpareils candy

crumbled cookies for decorating

Prepare an 8 X 8-inch baking pan by lining it with parchment so that the edges come up on the sides,. This will enable you to easily remove the bars from the pan to slice before serving.

Place 1 package of the Circus Animal Cookies into a food processor and pulse into finely ground crumbs.

In a medium microwavable bowl, melt butter for 20 - 30 seconds.

Pour the cookie crumbs into the butter and mix well.

Place the crumbs into the prepared baking pan and pat down firmly, spreading to all of the edges.

Put the pan into the freezer to set for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Crust

In a medium bowl, whisk together the vanilla pudding and milk.

DO NOT use the amount of milk as called for on the pudding box. We want the pudding to have a firmer consistency.

Place into refrigerator to chill.

Pudding Layer

In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until soft.

Add the confectioners’ sugar and 2-3 drops of red food coloring.

Beat until thoroughly combined, scraping down the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl.

If desired, add more red food coloring until desired hue is reached.

Fold in one cup of Cool Whip until well mixed.

Sweetened Cream Cheese Layer

Place dollops of pudding on top of the frozen cookie crust and gently spread. *See Note.

Place dollops of the cream cheese on top of the pudding and gently spread to the edges of the pan.

Evenly spread the remaining Cool Whip over the pudding.

Sprinkle the colored nonpareils over the Cool Whip.

In a small microwavable bowl, place the white chocolate chips and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir. Reheat for another 10 seconds, stir and reheat if needed again until completely melted and smooth, taking care not to overheat.

Add a few drops of red food coloring and mix, adding more if needed until the desired hue is reached. Place melted chocolate into a sandwich bag and cut off a small corner.

Starting at one of the pan corners, pipe the chocolate over the nonpareils to the opposite corner and repeat in opposite direction.

Sprinkle with additional nonpareils.

In a plastic bag, place 1/2 the remaining bag of cookies and crush into uneven pieces. Scatter cookie pieces over dessert.

Place pan into the refrigerator for a minimum of two hours.

A half hour before serving, place pan into freezer. This will allow it to be sliced easily.

When ready to serve, lift bars out of the pan by the parchment.

Peel the parchment away from the sides and slice with a large knife. I find it easiest to slice them when the knife has been placed under some warm running water and then dried.

Assembly

Not only is this ice cream cute and delicious, it's incredibly easy to make. Every bite is packed with sweet circus animal cookie flavor that will bring you back to your childhood.

Pink and White Circus Animal Ice Cream

30-40 circus animal cookies, chopped

heavy whipping cream

oz sweetened condensed milk

vanilla paste

pink food coloring

nonpareil sprinkles

Grab a bowl or container that will hold...

Grab a bowl or container that will hold 6 cups of liquid and place it in the freezer. This will be the container that you store and/or serve your ice cream in.

Place circus animal cookies on a cutting board...

Place circus animal cookies on a cutting board and give them a rough chop. Set about about a half cup of chopped cookies and some whole cookies for later.

Next, get 2 large bowls. In one, pour...

Next, get 2 large bowls.  In one, pour the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and chopped cookies.

In the other bowl, whip the heavy cream...

In the other bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form.

Add about a cup of the whipped cream...

Add about a cup of the whipped cream into the condensed milk bowl and fold in gently. Add in the remainder of the whipped cream and quickly fold into the mixture. 

Transfer half of the mixture back to the...

Transfer half of the mixture back to the original bowl. Add several drops of food coloring until you achieve a pretty pastel pink color that is similar to the color of the pink animal cookies. 

Remove your serving dish from the freezer. Add...

Remove your serving dish from the freezer. Add a layer of the white mixture to the dish, add some sprinkles. You can also add extra cookie chunks if desired. Then add a pink layer and some sprinkles. Alternate colors until all of the ice cream base is used up. 

Run a knife through your mixture a few...

Run a knife through your mixture a few times to create a swirl pattern. Be careful not to over mix or the colors will start to blend too much and the color from the sprinkles will bleed.

Add more sprinkles. some crushed cookie crumbs and/or...

Add more sprinkles. some crushed cookie crumbs and/or whole cookies to the top for garnish.

Put the serving dish back in the freezer....

Put the serving dish back in the freezer. Freeze for 4-6 hours or until firm. Scoop it up, serve in cute bowls and enjoy!

These Circus Animal Cookies combine refrigerated dough with a few mix-ins for an easy, colorful treat. Make a batch in just 20 minutes!

Circus Animal Cookies Recipe

refrigerated sugar cookie dough

chopped circus animal cookies

Rainbow nonpareils

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.

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.

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.

These were so sweet and pretty! My kids gobbled them up and I couldn't resist either!

Top 3 circus animal cookies recipes from across the web

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Circus Animal Cookie Dream Bars

Pink and White Circus Animal Ice Cr...

Circus Animal Cookies Recipe

Top 3 circus animal cookies recipes from across the web

The most viewed circus animal cookies recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Circus Animal Cookie Dream Bars

Pink and White Circus Animal Ice Cr...

Circus Animal Cookies Recipe

The most viewed circus animal cookies recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine