The other day I bought a bag of those famous Frosted Animal Crackers and I was SO disappointed. They were smaller than I remembered and tasted so fake. What a waste of calories.
What's a baker to do? Make your own, and make them the way they should taste.
Thankfully these copy cat Frosted Animal Crackers fit the bill. Plus, you can totally make them any shape, color, and use any sprinkles. The spices in the cookies give them that graham cracker taste and you can never go wrong with white chocolate and sprinkles.
Frosted Cutout Cookies
Cookies
2 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cardamom
12 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 egg, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Frosting
18 ounces white chocolate chips
Any color food coloring, needs to be oil based
2-3 tablespoons sprinkles
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, sugar and honey together on high speed for about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure all is incorporated.
Add the egg, vanilla and almond extract and beat for another minute. Again, scrape down bowl to make sure all is incorporated.
Gradually add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed until mixed.
Drop bough onto work surface and divide dough into 2 equal balls. Shape the balls into disks and wrap separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 2 days.
When ready to make your cookies, let the dough stand at room temperature for 5 minutes. Remove the plastic wrap. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and sprinkle the top with a little flour. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness.
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper or baking mats.
Gently stamp out as many cookies as possible from the rolled dough. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets. Continue to re-roll the remaining dough and stamp cookies until dough is gone. Fill the baking sheets with the cookies, leaving about 3/4 inch room between each.
Before baking, place baking sheet with cookie in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes. This helps make for a crisp edge.
Bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes or until the edges start to turn a golden brown. Transfer the cookies to wire racks and let allow cool to room temperature.
Once cookies are cooled, prepare to frost and decorate. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Separate baking chips into 2 microwave safe bowls (or more if using more than 2 colors). Microwave the making chips on medium power for 30 second bursts, stirring between each burst, until smooth.
If leaving white, dip cookies in the chocolate. I only dipped one side.
If coloring the chocolate, dip a little oil-based coloring in the chocolate. (A little goes a long way so only do a little at a time to get to the desired color.) Once desired color, dip cookies in the chocolate.
Before the chocolate sets sprinkle with multicolored sprinkles. Let cookies set completely before serving or storing in an airtight container.
Source: Baking the Goods
Printer Friendly Recipe
