In this house we love Circus Animal Cookies, but not just any frosting covered animal cookies they have to be Mother’s Circus Animal Cookies. I’m not sure if it’s the yummy chocolate coated cookies, the cute combo of white and bright pink, the animals, or the sprinkles (who are we kidding, we know it’s the sprinkles) but my kiddos are crazy about them. In fact I bought a bag of these three times before actually making these truffles! They’ve been on my brains for weeks and I can’t seem to hide them for long enough to actually turn them into truffles (and a few other desserts hint hint! wink wink!) Thankfully since I’ve rearranged my pantry in the Great Baking Closet Clean out I now have a “hands off” area just for baking items. Otherwise these guys might have never made it to existence.
Here’s what you’re going to need:
1 14oz. Bag Mother’s Circus Animal Crackers
1 Package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
4 Squares White Candiquik Melting Chocolate
Pink Candy Coloring (Wilton)
Nonpareils (sprinkles)
Step 1: Crush entire bag of cookies in your food processor until they have become small chunks. You can make them even more fine if you would like, I left some cookie chunks to give the truffles a bit of a crunch to them.
Step 2: Mix in 3/4 package of cream cheese to start with. Once it has completely incorporated you can decide if you need the additional 1/4 or not and adjust as needed. I like my truffles to be on the firm side so I only used 3/4 total.
Step 3: On a wax lined cookie sheet use a Tbs. and small spatula to measure out truffles. Then place in freezer for 5-10 minutes to firm. I do this so I don’t have to worry about rolling sticky truffle around. Once it’s chilled it’s much easier to roll.
Step 4: Roll chilled truffles into balls. Place back in the freezer while you melt your white melting chocolate. For additional tips and information on how I melt chocolate check out Melting Chocolate 101. For these truffles I used white Candiquik melting chocolate, it melts easy, quick, and smooth – perfect for truffles!
Step 5: Using a fork to hold the truffle and a spoon to pour chocolate, cover the entire truffle while over the warm chocolate. Gently tap wrist up and down to help remove excess chocolate. Move to wax paper lined cookie sheet and sprinkle on nonpareils.
Step 6: Once half of your truffles are covered add a bit of pink candy coloring (found in the Wilton aisle) to the remaining white, stir well. Repeat steps 5 and 6 with the pink truffles. Let sit until chocolate has firmed. Store in the refrigerator until served.
Would these make such a fun treat for a birthday party?! Or maybe just to say “Hello!” to a friend…
Ingredients
- 1 14oz. Bag Mother’s Circus Animal Crackers
- 1 Package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
- 4 Squares White Candiquik Melting Chocolate
- Pink Candy Coloring (Wilton)
- Nonpareils (sprinkles)
Instructions
- Crush entire bag of cookies in your food processor until they have become small chunks. You can make them even more fine if you would like, I left some cookie chunks to give the truffles a bit of a crunch to them.
- Mix in 3/4 package of cream cheese to start with. Once it has completely incorporated you can decide if you need the additional 1/4 or not and adjust as needed. I like my truffles to be on the firm side so I only used 3/4 total.
- On a wax lined cookie sheet use a Tbs. and small spatula to measure out truffles. Then place in freezer for 5-10 minutes to firm. I do this so I don’t have to worry about rolling sticky truffle around. Once it’s chilled it’s much easier to roll.
- Roll chilled truffles into balls. Place back in the freezer while you melt your white melting chocolate. For additional tips and information on how I melt chocolate check out Melting Chocolate 101. For these truffles I used white Candiquik melting chocolate, it melts easy, quick, and smooth – perfect for truffles!
- Using a fork to hold the truffle and a spoon to pour chocolate, cover the entire truffle while over the warm chocolate. Gently tap wrist up and down to help remove excess chocolate. Move to wax paper lined cookie sheet and sprinkle on nonpareils.
- Once half of your truffles are covered add a bit of pink candy coloring (found in the Wilton aisle) to the remaining white, stir well. Repeat steps 5 and 6 with the pink truffles. Let sit until chocolate has firmed. Store in the refrigerator until served.
As soon as I saw your truffles I thought of Circus Animal Cookies. The colors and sprinkles are so easily recognizable that even though the truffles are round they still look like the popular cookies .So fun!
That makes me very happy to hear Beth! Would you believe that the hubs walks in from work, pops one in his mouth and goes…what flavor are these, nerds?! (jaw drop!) You mean the colors alone didn’t give it away? :) And nerds?! Thankfully my 4 year olds had no problem identifying them so I felt better! :)
lol Nerds? Um, no! It’s cute how clueless hubbies can be with this type of stuff. Anytime I make stuff that my hubby tries he just says “it’s good”, forget trying to get more information out of him about the individual flavors/textures/etc he is getting because he will just repeat himself haha.
We have the same problem! I’m like just good? No thoughts…details? Lol!
Two questions: How large of a package of cream cheese are you talking about (3oz, 8oz)? And, how do you get the bottom of the truffle covered since you’re not using a stick to dip the truffle into the chocolate?
Even if the title didn’t say Circus Animal Truffles I would have immediately thought of those cookies when I saw the picture! I never really cared for the cookies (I always preferred animal crackers–in the box–with the string :-D), but one of my sisters loves them. We live in different states now, and I still send her a bag or two every now and then just for fun. I wouldn’t be able to ship the truffles for obvious reasons, but I just happen to be going to visit my family very soon. I can hardly wait to surprise my sister with these perfect little treats!
Oh she will love that! So fun!
These are so cute!! I have been wanting to introduce my kids to these circus cookies for a long time and this would be the perfect way to do it.
I have had these on my “to make” list for a long time, but after seeing yours I need to move them to the top! So colorful and fun!
I really want to try making your jumbo ones Sue!
These are so cute and would be a great addition to a circus party. I thought the moment I saw the photo – circus animal crackers!
Thank you!
These are adorable!!! Why have I never thought to make animal cookie truffles!? Haha. Sharing :)