Recreate a childhood favorite with these Homemade Frosted Animal Cookie Wafers! These adorable treats use a sugar cookie base & almond bark for dipping!
The amount of time I spent thinking about the title of this post is ridiculous. Do I call them frosted animal cookies even though they aren’t technically animal shaped or do I leave it out and risk the nostalgic connection between these sweet treats getting lost? Oh the struggles that come along with blogging. But after much debate, I decided that it doesn’t really matter what shape they’re in…pink & white cookies with sprinkles will forever be called animal cookies in my sprinkle-lovin’ mind.
These cookies use a sugar cookie base recipe similar to my favorite one, but are rolled thinner than I typically make them to allow them to have more of a crunch. You can use a 1.5″ cookie cutter (or lid of a spice jar to cut them out) so they are sized about 1.5 inches round. The other trick to making them have a crunch is to bake them longer than you might otherwise do.
What You Need to Make Frosted Animal Cookie Wafers
Sugar cookie dough (recipe below), white almond bark, food coloring, sprinkles, wax paper, and a rolling pin.
How to Make Frosted Animal Cookie Wafers
Step 1: Make & Roll Sugar Cookie Dough
Use the recipe below to make a soft sugar cookie dough. On a floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. The thinner you go, the faster they will bake & the crispier they will be.
Step 2: Cut into circles
Cut 1.5-2 inch circles out with cookie cutter, lid of spice jar, or shot glass and place the cookies on a parchment-covered cookie sheet.
Step 3: Bake
Bake at 375 degrees for 7-10 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. After about 6 minutes, check the cookies each minute to check the brownness and take out as soon as the edges are lightly browned. They will continue to bake on the hot cookie sheet after it comes out of the oven, so I take them out right when they are starting to brown. Cool cookies completely before dipping.
Tip: While I typically take sugar cookies out immediately after seeing the edges start to lightly brown, but with these, I left them in an extra minute or two until the brown edges were more prominent. If you want them to be soft, you can take them out before the edges turn brown – but just know that you may have more trouble dipping them if they’re on the softer side.
Step 4: Cover in Almond Bark
To dip, follow the instructions on the package to melt almond bark in a glass bowl. Once melted, add in food coloring (check out my tip for achieving the perfect pink shade!) and mix until color is smooth. I like to add a few tiny drops of vegetable oil or a teaspoon of coconut oil to the melted almond bark to prevent it from hardening so quickly.
Using a fork, carefully dip each cookie into the bark and tap excess bark off the cookie before setting it on the parchment paper. After set on the parchment, top with sprinkles and allow to full harden before enjoying!
Tip: If you are doing this by yourself, I recommend melting one bowl at a time (i.e. do all the pinks, then do all the whites). Otherwise, if you melt both the pink & white bowls at the same time – you may find that one will start to harden before you are finished dipping the other one.
Step 5: Gift
For a fun cookie gift idea, pop these in a plastic bag and top with a printable cookie tag!
Frosted Animal Cookie Wafers
Recreate a childhood favorite with these Homemade Frosted Animal Cookie Wafers! Uses a sugar cookie base & almond bark for dipping!
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 package white almond bark
- Food Coloring
- Sprinkles
Before you begin! If you make this, will you do me a huge favor and leave a review and rating letting me know how you liked this recipe? This helps my small business thrive so I can continue providing free recipes and high-quality content for you.
Instructions
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Cream the butter, sugar, and powdered sugar together with an electric mixer. Once mixed, add the egg yolk, vanilla, almond extract, and salt and continue to stir on medium speed. Once incorporated, turn the mixer down to low speed and add the flour in one cup portions. When the flour disappears, turn off the mixer and transfer the dough onto a floured surface. Knead the dough until it forms a solid ball. If dough is sticky, add additional flour while kneading (do not be afraid to add 1/4-1/2 cup more flour while kneading if sticky).
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Next, on a floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. The thinner you go, the faster they will bake & the crispier they will be. Cut 1.5-2 inch circles out with cookie cutter or shot glass and place the cookies on a parchment-covered cookie sheet.
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Bake at 375 degrees for 7-10 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. After about 6 minutes, check the cookies each minute to check the brownness and take out as soon as the edges are lightly browned. They will continue to bake on the hot cookie sheet after it comes out of the oven, so I take them out right when they are starting to brown. Cool cookies completely before dipping.
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To dip, follow the instructions on the package to melt almond bark in a glass bowl. Once melted, add in food coloring and mix until color is smooth. (Like I mentioned above, I also like to add a few tiny drops of vegetable oil to the melted almond bark to prevent it from hardening so quickly.) Using a fork, carefully dip each cookie into the bark and tap excess bark off the cookie before setting it on the parchment paper. After set on the parchment, top with sprinkles and allow to full harden before enjoying!
Last Step! Please leave a review and rating letting me know how you liked this recipe! This helps my small business thrive so I can continue providing free recipes and high-quality content for you.
Nutrition
Tiare says
What is it about cookies covered in frosting and sprinkles that just screams “I’m cute! Eat me!”? ; )
Thanks for the recipe. If I use a small animal cookie cutter, it’d be just like the Mother’s Cookies Circus Animals that my grandma would get us as treats.
Melissa says
Ha, seriously! Anything covered in sprinkles is just asking to be devoured. I can’t wait to see the animal version if you end up making them – be sure to send me a pic!
Tiare says
OK, maybe I will, if you agree to not judge my super sub-par food photography skills. ;)
Megan - The Emotional Baker says
These are some awesome cookies! I love frosted animal cookies, but haven’t had them because I would devour the whole bag. How fun to make your own!
Melissa says
Haha same here! I always see them at the store and want to buy them but I know they would be dangerous.
Lee says
Okay frosted animal cookies were my jam at 8 years old. I totally would go through the bag and eat all the pink ones. #oops
Melissa says
Haha I did the same thing! The pink ones obviously taste better than the white ones, despite the only differences probably being food coloring. Oh, how strange the minds of children are…
CakePants says
Oh I used to LOVE those animal cookies as a kid! My mom never bought them, but sometimes I’d get to have them at friends’ houses. These are beautiful :)
Melissa says
Aren’t they the best? My mom rarely bought them, but when she did…well, they weren’t around very long!
Christiana says
Definitely pinning this to make a heart-shaped version next month. Thanks!
Melissa says
Ohhh heart shaped would be so fun! I’d love to see a pic of how those turn out for you!
Wita says
Oh, I really don’t care what shape they’re in… these cookies look really good! I am definitely going to try to make these and will post on instagram (and tag you) when I do.
Melissa says
Yay! Can’t wait to see them!
Caitlin says
You have some of the best photo quality I’ve ever seen, wow!
Melissa says
Wow, thanks so much Caitlin!
Bri says
These look for yummy! I love your food styling!
Melissa says
Thank you, Bri! These little nuggets were fun to shoot!
Senika @ Foodie Blog Stalker says
These are absolutely the most adorable cookies I have ever seen! So cute!!
Melissa says
Thank you, Senika!
Courtney says
Obsessed. The photography is INSANE! :)
Melissa says
Thank you, Courtney! xoxo