Frosted Animal Cookies Recipe

Frosted Animal Cookies.

The fun starts here, with sprinkles.

If only it was possible to dive into this bottle of cheer.

Next on the fun itinerary are animal shaped cookie cutters. I received the adorable copper farm animals from a dear friend as a gift, which started this whole obsession with animal cookie nostalgia. I already had the squirrel, unicorn and what I think is either a porcupine or a hedgehog.

The same sweet friend sent me these ridiculously cute dash and pinch measuring spoons, there is also a smidgen that isn’t pictured. <3

I’ll take a dash of anything that comes out of this little spoon. Swoon.

I incorporated honey into this recipe as I think it gives the cookies that familiar kiss of golden sweetness distinct to the classic cookies.

Mix the butter, sugar and honey until they are fully mixed and fluffy like this.

Add the egg to the butter and sugar mixture once it is fluffy and smooth.

Once the egg, vanilla, and almond are fully incorporated, add the dry ingredients.

When the dough is completely mixed it should be golden brown with little specks of spice. Those spices create the graham cracker flavors similar to the original animal crackers packed into the little red train car box.

Roll the dough into 2 balls and wrap them in plastic wrap. The dough should chill for at least 1 hour.

Here comes the fun!

Start cutting out your animal shapes. It’s best to use cookie cutters that are similar in size to ensure they bake evenly.

When cutting, be sure to squeeze in as big of a zoo as you can so you don’t have to keep re-rolling a bunch of times.

The animal cookies won’t spread much, so you can squeeze in a lot of them on the baking sheets.

Bake up your farm until the edges of the animals just start to turn a golden brown color.

***GUYS, PAY ATTENTION HERE***
When mixing with chocolate, you must use oil based food coloring, a water based version will not work out.

I prefer to use a double boiling method when melting my chips. You can use a microwave if you prefer. I find that the chips melt smoother and stay melted longer when using a double boiler.

Be careful when adding your food coloring, a little bit goes a long way. I like to use a lollipop stick to add the color one drop at a time.

Slowly add one drop of color at a time and mix until you find your desired color.

I simply dipped the cookies, face down and one at a time, into the melted chocolate to frost.

Single White Horse seeking sprinkles.

I suggest first covering your white cookies and then adding the food coloring to the second half of the chocolate chips to frost your pink cookies.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much fun it is to decorate this zoo. You’ll just have to make them and see for yourself!

Once frosted and sprinkled, you need to allow the chocolate to set. This may take an hour or so. Go clean your kitchen.

Pigs and horses and sheep, oh my!

The animals go marching two by two! Hurrah! Hurrah!

I cannot get enough of these little animal cookies. The cuteness factor is off the charts!

This glitzy pig is the cutest thing ever, right?!