This post may contain affiliate sales links. Please see our full disclosure policy for details.
As a child, Frosted Animal Cookies were a treat. It wasn’t often that my mom purchased store-bought cookies. So when she did it felt like we hit the jackpot! This Frosted Animal Cookies recipe is soft on the inside, loaded with colorful sprinkles and has childhood written all over it.
As a child my sisters and I always thought we were missing out because my mom always made homemade treats.
Friends were always eating bags of Oreos and Frosted Animal Cookies. My sweet mom was teaching us how to make them ourselves.
It is so funny now to look back and realize that my mom really is the person who sparked my love of all things food.
She always made food fun and I know she would totally approve of these Frosted Animal Cake Mix Cookies.
How to make a Frosted Animal Cookies with a Cake Mix
- Begin by combining the softened butter and cream cheese until smooth with a hand held mixer. Once that mixture is smooth, add the egg and vanilla and combine.
- Finally, add the dry vanilla cake mix to the wet ingredients and mix until totally incorporated. The cookie dough will be thick, a little sticky and beautiful.
- Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop mounds of dough onto a plate that is covered in the rainbow nonpareils.
- Roll the cookie dough ball in the sprinkles and then place them onto a cookie sheet that is covered in a silicone baking mat {or parchment}. Bake for 10-12 minutes. The key is to be sure they are set around the edges but not completely set in the middle. Over baking cake mix cookies can leave you with a really hard cookie.
- While the cookies are baking, go through the bag of Frosted animal cookies. I like to look for the ones that are pink {but you could always use the white ones too} and have a great shape. You will need 20-22, depending on how many cookies you make.
- Once you remove the cookies from the oven, take one of the frosted animal cookies and press them into the warm cookies. Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for at least 5 minutes and then move them to a cooling rack to cool completely. The pink coating of the frosted animal cookies will slightly melt, so be sure that you cool them long enough for that to harden back up.
Each cookie is a super fun and exciting bite of pure bliss. The combination of textures and flavors is something I haven’t quite had before but completely fell in love with.
Whether you are 45 {me} or 12, these cookies have something for you. I can’t wait for you to try them!
Expert Tips
- Combine the softened butter and cream cheese before adding the dry cake mix.
- Use a cookie scoop to get evenly shaped cookies. This helps with them all baking evenly.
- Roll the cookies into the nonpareils before adding them to the baking sheet.
- Add the frosted animal cookie after the cookies come out of the oven so that they don’t melt too much.
- Allow the cookies to cool completely before serving.
Do you love fun cookies? Try these recipes…
Frosted Animal Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 box vanilla cake mix, {13.25 ounces}
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 ounces rainbow nonpareils
- 20-22 frosted animal cookies, I used pink
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Combine the cream cheese and butter with a hand held mixer {or by hand} until you have a cream consistency. Add egg and vanilla extract. Mix until incorporated. Finally, add the cake mix and mix until it is well combined and thick.
- Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough {using a medium scoop or 1 1/2 tablespoons} onto a dish that is covered in the rainbow nonpareils. Roll the cookie in the sprinkles to cover. Place sprinkle coated cookie dough balls onto a parchment {or silicone} lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and press a Frosted Animal Cookie into the middle of each baked cookie. Press down so that the animal cookie is indented into the baked cake mix cookie.
- Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then move to a cooling tray to cool completely. The pink frosting on the outside of the Animal Cookies will slightly melt, so be sure you wait for that to harden back up.
- Serve or store in an air tight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
