Life's a Circus (Animal Cookie Bar)

Frosted Animal Cookies are a huge nostalgic favor of mine. Most of the time, my mom would only buy animal crackers, and even then only when a babysitter was staying with me. The frosted animal cookies were a true treat, and I still can't get enough of them many years later.

I noticed that I had a bag of said cookies lounging on a middle shelf. As much as I love the things, this bag had escaped my notice for a while. I decided since they were there, this would be the perfect opportunity to try one of the many animal cookie desserts I have saved on Pinterest. Circus Animal Cookie Magic Bars fit the bill just perfectly.

Even though I didn't have the exact right ingredients, these turned out great. I started with a plain white cake mix, instead of Funfetti, and just added about a quarter cup of sprinkles. As I was reviewing the list of ingredients, I realized that these bars were going to be super sweet. I searched the cupboards and found some pretzel crisps to crush and put in (totally eyeballed this amount, just enough to sprinkle over the top evenly). As you can tell from the photo, I didn't break the animal cookies down very far. I'd recommend chopping them a bit more as they are difficult to cu after the fact.

These are, in fact, pretty sweet, but they are tasty and fun. Absolutely a great way to use up a few pantry items and still get the best flavors of frosted animal cookies.