Whimsical frosted animal crackers are a throwback to the fun days of childhood. They’re a copycat version of Mother’s Original Iced Circus Animal Cookies. You’ll love that they’re very simple to make.
Begin with my delicious recipe for homemade circus animal crackers. Once you make your first batch of these adorable cookies you’ll be hooked! And if you share them with family and friends everyone will be clamoring for the recipe. I highly recommend making a double batch of these tiny cuties so there’s enough to go around.
Ingredients for Whimsical Frosted Animal Crackers
These are the simple ingredients you’ll need to make these precious iced animal crackers from scratch: a homemade batch or two of circus animal crackers, three premium white chocolate baking bars, pink gel food coloring (I use Wilton Neon Gel Food Coloring
), and nonpareil rainbow sprinkles.
How to Make Frosted Animal Crackers
This is how to make frosted animal crackers from scratch: start by snapping the white chocolate
into small pieces. Place the pieces into a very dry microwave-safe bowl.
When frosting a batch of iced animal crackers on your own, I highly recommend melting just 1-1/2 bars of white chocolate at a time. During the frosting process the chocolate will re-harden quickly and will need to be remelted in the microwave.
How to Melt White Chocolate
You may have heard that melting white chocolate is very tricky. Don’t worry, it’s actually much easier than you think and you don’t need a double broiler!
All you need is a dry microwave-safe bowl, a dry rubber spatula (no drips of water or dampness on it), and a microwave.
Here’s how to melt white chocolate so it doesn’t scorch:
- Put the microwave-safe bowl of white chocolate pieces into the microwave for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes at 50% power. Remove the bowl and stir well. Continue to microwave the white chocolate in 30-second increments at 50% power, stirring after each session until the chocolate is fully melted.
- Don’t get any water, not even a tiny drip, into the white chocolate as it melts or it will seize up and become lumpy. If this happens there’s usually no way of saving the chocolate. An attempted revival will make it lumpy. The frosting on your iced animal crackers will not be smooth.
Homemade Frosted Animal Crackers
- I usually start off by making the white frosted animal crackers first. Melt 1-1/2 bars of white chocolate using the method above. With a thin spatula or a small dessert spoon, one by one, ice each of the animal crackers.
- I only frost one side as that’s plenty of frosting for each cookie. But if you’d like to dip the whole animal cookie into the frosting you’ll need about 5 bars of white chocolate to do that.
- As you move along, sprinkle the top of the frosted animal cookies with non-pareil rainbow sprinkles. Place the cookies on a cooling rack until the frosting hardens.
Pink Frosted Animal Crackers
After making the white frosted animal crackers, melt another bar and a half of white chocolate to make the pink frosted animal cookies. Simply add a small drop of pink gel food coloring to the melted chocolate and stir.
You’re now ready to make a set of super adorable pink-colored iced animal crackers! If the chocolate hardens during the frosting process, simply microwave it for 20 seconds at 50% power. Stir and it’s ready to go again!
Recommended Kitchen Tools for Frosted Animal Crackers
These are fabulous kitchen tools and supplies for making these adorable frosted animal crackers. To prevent glass from shattering in the microwave, it’s important to use microwave-safe bowls. When melting white chocolate for my iced animal crackers, I use two small bowls from the set below.
Frosted Animal Crackers
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 45 cookies 1x
Description
Frosted animal crackers are a fun throw-back to the magical days of childhood! These cookies are very simple to make at home. Double the recipe for cookie exchanges, birthday parties or to share with family and friends. Enjoy with a glass of milk, hot tea, or coffee.
Ingredients
- 1 batch of homemade circus animal crackers
- 3 premium white chocolate baking bars
- 1–2 drops of pink gel food coloring (I use Wilton Neon Gel Food Coloring
) - 1+ tablespoons nonpareil rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
- Begin by roughly chopping or snapping the white chocolate baking bars into small pieces. Place the pieces into a very dry microwave-safe bowl. Because the chocolate tends to re-harden quickly, I recommend melting just one and a half bars of chocolate at a time.
- Microwave the chocolate for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes at 50% power. Remove the bowl and stir well with a very dry rubber spatula (no dampness on it). Continue to microwave the white chocolate in 30-second increments at 50% power, stirring after each session until the chocolate is fully melted. The most important tip to remember when melting white chocolate: do not get any water, not even a tiny drip, into the white chocolate as it melts or it will seize up and become lumpy.
- Make the white frosted animal crackers first. With a thin spatula frost each of the animal crackers. I only frost one side as that’s plenty of frosting for each cookie. But if you’d like to dip the whole animal cookie into the frosting you’ll need about 5 bars of white chocolate to do that. Before the chocolate hardens, sprinkle the top of the cookies with rainbow sprinkles. Place the cookies on a cooling rack until the frosting hardens.
- After making the white frosted animal crackers, melt another bar and a half of white chocolate to make the pink frosted animal cookies. Add a small drop of pink gel food coloring to the melted chocolate and stir. If the color is too light, just add a second drop and stir again. If the chocolate hardens during the frosting process, simply microwave it for 20 seconds at 50% power. Stir and it’s ready to go again!
- Store your frosted animal cookies in an airtight container.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Snack, Dessert, Party
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: frosted animal crackers, animal cracker recipe, homemade animal crackers
FROSTED ANIMAL CRACKERS > PIN IT TO PINTEREST
Save this fun and delicious frosted animal cookies recipe for later. Pin it to Pinterest!
CIRCUS ANIMAL CRACKERS RECIPE
The pink-and-white iced animal crackers in this post are made with this simple and yummy homemade recipe: CIRCUS ANIMAL CRACKERS
FROSTED ANIMAL CRACKERS > JOIN THE CONVERSATION!
Do you love the look and taste of iced animal crackers? Have you ever made a homemade version of Mother’s Original Iced Circus Animal Cookies? What do you think about this frosted animal crackers recipe? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
I love the idea of frosting on crackers! And these look so cheerful! I am going to try this out for sure!
I used to love cookies like this when I was a child. I am sure my daughter would love this though. It looks like such a lot of fun to make and colorful. I will have to try this sometime.
Thank you David! I hope she loves them as much as I do.
My daughter would love this! She loves to bake, especially cookies. We’ve never tried baking homemade animal crackers before but we’ll have to give it a try.
Thank you Bianca! I am sure she would love these. They’re so simple but delicious!
Its not only looks cool with all those animals shape and colors but also looks tasty too. Kids will definitely enjoy it.
Thank you for your sweet words Farrah.
Oh my gosh, I bought these for my kids all the time. I had no idea that you could make these at home! I am seriously book marking this! Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you Lavanda! I hope you love them as much as I do.
Wow..What a cute idea! Sounds like tasty and easy to make. I will definitely try this.
Thank you Emma! I hope you love them as much as I do.
Oh I just saw some frosted animal crackers at Trader Joes today and was so tempted to get them. But I would so love to make my own better. Just love how easy the instructions on this recipe are to follow. Or how easy they are to make.
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Thank you Jennifer. I am so glad you came across this. You will enjoy these so much!
These were my favorite when I was younger!! Love this recipe. I can’t wait to try it!
Thank you Marie! I hope you love them as much as I do.
the crackers look so cute and yummy at the same time, looks like a very easy to do recipie worth to try it
Thank you Nallely. These are certainly worth baking. They will not disappoint.
I love these!! They are soooooo pretty. I’m not sure mine would looks as good, but I definitely need to make these for my grandson.
Thank you Kim! I hope he loves them as much as I do.
These animal crackers are so cute. Loving the pink frosting. So yummy
I love using Wilton baking products. They have the best frosting!
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Yum Yum Yum! IIt looks so pretty and yummy! Would like to try this out one of these days, I better save the recipe now :D
These would be lovely treats for the kids! I think it’s awesome for parties as well. You can also pack these in pretty bags or boxes and give them away as gifts to friends or family! I think it’s really cute!
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These are absolutely adorable! They would be perfect for a party or any occasion really! I think my daughter would have fun doing these one night.
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Oh my goodness, I so want some of these now! They look absolutely delicious and would go perfectly with the cup of tea I just made.
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OMG my mouth is watering. So yummy!!!
My husband loves frosted animal cookies. I bet he’d love these! I’ll have to make up a couple dozen.
These look delicious! And pretty! My daughter will love these. I’ve never tried to make these on my own.
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these look so yummy! Does that count as eating the rainbow?
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