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This Frosted Animal Cookie Cheesecake has frosted circus animal cookies in the crust and throughout the cheesecake! It’s thick, creamy and topped with fun pink-colored white chocolate and sprinkles – much like the animal cookies!
I love cookies and cheesecake together. If you do too, you’ll want to try this Best Oreo Cheesecake recipe and this Chocolate Chip Cookie Crust Cheesecake. You’ll be in cookie heaven!
An Easy Birthday Cake Idea
I am a natural born sweets lover. If loving dessert can be in your blood, it’s in mine. This cheesecake kind of reminds me of that because these frosted animal cookies have been a favorite cookie of mine for as long as I can remember. On many occasions I have picked up a bag from the store, only for it to last 48 hours in my house – at the most. It’s dangerous for me to even buy them and that was the case when making this cheesecake.
Often when buying ingredients, I get plenty extra. Of course there are always endless bags of flour, sugar and packages of butter. But when I need things like animal cookies, I also have to buy several bags. I’m not a fan of running to the store over and over again. And I still had to make a couple trips to replenish these cookies as I was testing out this recipe.
Working with these cookies over a few days and not eating all the cookies was SO HARD! I probably snacked on a few more than I should have, but I couldn’t resist! I feel the same way about the cheesecake – so good!
To start, there’s the frosted animal cookie crust. This took several attempts before I was happy with it. Because of all the frosted cookies, you really barely need any butter to hold things together. The icing on the cookies kind of melts together and holds it all in place. I added a touch, just to be safe.
For the filling, there’s more animal crackers. About 3/4 cup go right into the bottom of the crust, then another 1 1/4 cups in the batter. The cookies soften up as the cheesecake bake, but still retain just enough crunch. It gives the cheesecake plenty of frosted animal cookie flavor – and color! I tried one version where I added some sprinkles to the cheesecake batter, but because nonpareil sprinkles bleed so easily, it actually messed up the fun pink and white color.
Homemade Ganache
On top of the cheesecake is a white chocolate ganache that is colored to a light shade of pink, similar to the pink cookies. You could leave it white, but the pink is just so cute! Finish off the cheesecake with some sprinkles and animal cookies and you’re good to go!
I really loved the final version of this cheesecake. Between the crust and all the cookies in the cheesecake, it’s delicious! The cheesecake filling is thick, creamy and full of vanilla flavor. The white chocolate finishes it off beautifully! I love all the flavors and every bite is a little bite of pink and white cookie cheesecake heaven!
Watch How To Make It
Print
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 Slices
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Frosted Animal Cookie Cheesecake has frosted circus animal cookies in the crust and throughout the cheesecake! It’s thick, creamy, yummy and so fun!
Ingredients
CRUST
- 2 1/4 cups (302g) frosted animal cookie crumbs
- 2 tbsp (28g) salted butter, melted
FILLING
- 24 ounces (678g) cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup (207g) sugar
- 3 tbsp (24g) all purpose flour
- 1 cup (230g) sour cream, room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 cups (208g) chopped frosted animal cookies, divided
WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE
- 6 oz (169g) white chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup (60ml) heavy whipping cream
- Pink gel icing color
- Sprinkles
WHIPPED CREAM
- 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy whipping cream, cold
- 4 tbsp (29g) powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Line a 9-inch (23cm) springform pan with parchment paper in the bottom and grease the sides.
2. Combine the crust ingredients in a small bowl. Press the mixture into the bottom of the springform pan.
3. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.
4. Cover the outsides of the pan with aluminum foil (I also use a plastic crock pot liner – see method for preventing your water bath from leaking here) so that water from the water bath cannot get in. Set prepared pan aside.
CHEESECAKE FILLING
5. Reduce oven to 300°F (148°C).
6. In a large mixer bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar and flour until well combined (Use low speed to keep less air from getting into the batter, which can cause cracks). Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
7. Add the sour cream and vanilla extract, mixing on low speed until well combined.
8. Add the eggs one at a time, beating slowly and scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition.
9. Stir in about 1 1/4 cups of chopped animal cookies. Stir just until mixed, so the colors from the sprinkles don’t mix into the batter too much.
10. Pour a small amount of batter into the bottom of the crust in an even layer, then add the remaining 3/4 cup of chopped animal cookies.
11. Pour the remaining cheesecake filling into crust, over the cookies, and spread into an even layer.
12. Place springform pan (covered with aluminum foil) inside another larger pan. Fill the larger pan with enough warm water to go about halfway up the sides of the springform pan. The water should not go above the top edge of the aluminum foil on the springform pan.
13. Bake for 1 hour and 25 minutes.
14. Turn off heat and leave cheesecake in oven with door closed for 30 minutes.
15. Crack oven door and leave the cheesecake in the oven for about 30 minutes.
16.Remove cheesecake from oven and chill until firm, 5-6 hours or overnight.
TO FINISH OFF THE CHEESECAKE
17. When the cheesecake is cool and firm, remove from the springform pan and set on a serving plate.
18. To make the white chocolate ganache. Put the white chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl.
19. Microwave the heavy whipping cream until it just begins to boil, then pour it over the chocolate chips. Allow it to sit for 2-3 minutes, then whisk until smooth. If it doesn’t melt completely, microwave for 10-20 seconds, then whisk until smooth.
20. Color the ganache with a little pink gel coloring, if desired.
21. Pour the ganache onto the cheesecake and spread into an even layer.
22. To make the whipped cream, add the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract to a large mixer bowl. Whip on high speed until stiff peaks form.
23. Pipe dollops of the whipped cream on top of the white chocolate ganache.
24. Top the cheesecake with frosted animal cookies and some sprinkles, if desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Cheesecake is best for 3-4 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 529
- Sugar: 42.2 g
- Sodium: 327.6 mg
- Fat: 30.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 56.4 g
- Protein: 9.1 g
- Cholesterol: 106.4 mg
Categories
Enjoy!
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Can you make this in a normal pie pan?
Sure!
Can’t wait to try this! Just FYI you don’t have cocoa in your whipped cream ingredients but it says it in directions. Also it doesn’t say to use food processor for crust. Just thought I’d let you know. Thanks for all you do!!
I don’t see the cocoa written anywhere?
Do you have to use a spring pan to make the cheesecake part or can it just be baked in regular round pan
The springform pan would make it easier to remove the cheesecake from the pan, but you don’t have to do it that way.
How many bags of crackers did you end up using in the final recipe
I think it was a little more than one bag.
Can you get animal crackers in England ? I’ve never heard of them before is there an alternative ?
I’m honestly not sure what’s available there, I’m sorry. If there are some frosted shortbread cookies that look somewhat similar, they may work.
This looks dangerously delicious!!! Can’t wait to try it!
this looks AMAZING,
my sons favorite cookie has always been these ….he showed me this and of course i have to make it for him!! ….hes’s 30 lol 🙂 but he will always be that little boy !
cant wait to try it !!
I am not much of a sweet person but when you staying around sweet tooth people….
Amazing pictures as usual
Thanks indeed Lindsay. It looks delicious, I wish I could make recipe like this, but I don’t have that much skills in cooking, still I love eating 😛 and that’s why I keep trying.
This looks fabulous! They are one of my favorites! Have you ever considered doing a cheesecake with Cadbury creme filled eggs or the regular chocolate Cadbury eggs? I have tried some recipes from other bloggers using them, but none have been fantastic. It would be super cute for Easter, and your touch would make it awesome!
Thanks Sidney! I haven’t considered it, but could certainly keep it in mind for next Easter! 🙂
Hi
I know from reading the ingredient’s list that this cheesecake is not going to be sweet, with just one cup of sugar in it. I made your peach cheesecake from your cookbook with just that 1 cup of sugar and it was not sweet at all. This cheesecake looks good, but I know it won’t be sweet.
The frosting on the crackers would make it plenty sweet, if not too sweet if that’s even a thing
Wow, I’d definitely say both the peach cheesecake and this one are plenty sweet. Normally I’m accused of making things too sweet – you must have a mean sweet tooth! 😉
I just made this cheesecake and i can tell you it is sweet enough. With the cookie crust ganache and whipped cream in it if you added more sugar it would be too sweet. I can honestly say this is one of the best cheesecakes Ive ever had!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed!
Bingeing on animal crackers was one of my favorite pastimes years ago and they are still a weakness. I will give up breakfast, lunch, and dinner to have this cheesecake! It looks fun, delicious and I look forward to trying it. Your styling is perfect and thanks for all the recipe testing so that you could share this with us!
Thanks Sandra! I hope you enjoy it!
Could you bake this cheesecake in a square pan or a 9×13?
Yes, you could.
Hi! I’m in the process of making this beautiful cheesecake but I just realized I don’t have a pan big enough to create a water bath. Would it make a huge difference if I didn’t bake my cheesecake in a water bath?
Oh my gosh.. sprinkles! Not sprinklers.. ha ha ha ha
Hi. Do the sprinklers loose there color in the fridge? I know those little ones do, you can’t mix them into anything. ???? Just wondering with the moisture, my husband loves animal crackers and his B-Day is around the corner.
No, they don’t lose their color on top or anything. You do want to be careful when mixing the cookies into the batter because the color from the sprinkles can incorporate into the filling and make kind of a funny color. Just stir it lightly until combined and it should be fine.
Made this. I followed all instructions and it came out pretty wet inside. Any ideas where I went wrong? (Tastes amazing though)
Hard to say from a distance and not seeing what was done. It could simply be that it needed to bake longer.
Oh. My. Heaven. I’m so excited to try this!
I have a full-on love affair with frosted animal crackers.
Thank you for this and all the other amazing creations you share!
Oh my gosh, I could watch your videos all day. They make me want to get in the kitchen RIGHT NOW!!!
Seriously, I wish I could make cakes like this and then not eat all of it myself! Looks so pretty, I love the photography too. Oh and yes – I’m a natural born sweets lover too! Desserts all the way <3