This post may contain affiliate sales links. Please read my disclosure policy.
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!
This post contains affiliate links.
This was delicious!!! Thank-you for the idea and for perfecting the recipe!!! I used my favorite Cook’s Illustrated cheesecake as the base and didn’t use the pink gel icing color, but otherwise followed the recipe. It was great to have the crust figured out, and to know how many cookies to add to the cheesecake. I didn’t think the ganache added anything flavorwise and that’s my top priority, plus mine was pretty solid which made the cake harder to slice, so I’ll probably omit it next time, but it’s really cool to have as an option if I’m making this for someone else – yours is so pretty! I’m so excited that I found this recipe, because I LOVE frosted animal cookies, and finding another dessert to bake with them was great. This is very yummy! Definitely a keeper!!
I love frosted animal cookies too! I’m so glad you enjoyed!
I’m SO excited to try this in a few weeks!!! Thank-you for creating this!
Thinking of doing with out ganache because I haven’t been the biggest fan of ganache (can’t believe I’m even saying that considering I have a huge sweet tooth). I know it won’t be as pretty but do you think it absolutely needs it?
It’s more about look than anything, so if that doesn’t bother you it should be fine.
Great recipe! I have a thermometer in my oven and it stayed the correct temp throughout baking. The top of the cheesecake browned slightly after the 1 hr 25 min mark. Would you recommend maybe baking for a little less time to prevent browning? I’ll be making this again in a few days. Thanks!
Where can I get these Pink frosted animal crackers?
They can usually be found at grocery stores or Walmart. You can also find them on Amazon.
How do you take the wax paper off the pan once you bake the crust? Also I made this for the first time and my cheesecake itself was kinda runny. I baked it exactly like the recipe says? Help
I’m usually able to peel the paper off gently. The cheesecake should be firm enough to hold it for that. It’s hard to say from a distance why it wasn’t firm for you. Perhaps your oven is a little different than mine and you needed a little more baking time?
I apologize if this has already been answered. I got lazy and didn’t read all of the comments. Can I make this a few days ahead or does it not hold well?
It should be fine for 3-4 days, maybe even ok for 5.
Hello, if I use a 10 inch springform pan instead of a 9 in do I need to adjust anything? Thank you.
You’d want to adjust the baking time. It shouldn’t take as long to bake. I haven’t made a 10 inch before though, so I’m not sure what the time would be.
I’ve made this twice once to make sure it worked before I made it for my daughter’s birthday. Love it so good was worried was going to be to sweet but wasn’t. Just wanted to let people know I never use a water bath but do put a pan of water below it. Works every time
I’m so glad you enjoy the cheesecake! And glad to hear that water bath alternative works! Thanks!
Hi..could you tell me the particular brand of cookie you used in this recipe?
Thanks!
I use the Keebler brand of frosted animal cookies.
Out of curiosity, is it possible to pour the white chocolate ganache over the cheesecake while it’s still in the springform pan? I’m a bit worried doing this might cause cracks once set, but I am also worried removing it from the pan would allow the ganache to drip down the sides.
If you wait until the cheesecake is completely cool first, you should be able to add the ganache and not worry about it cracking.
I’ve made this cake twice. I couldn’t get the animal cookies to sit up very long before the whipped cream deflated. 2nd try, I topped it with marzipan trolls and laid the cookies flat. It worked better that way. You can see it #trollscake on Instagram.
Hi! How do you remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cheesecake?!
I often just leave it. You could try to slide it off carefully though.
DO NOT JUST USE FOIL TO SEAL THE PAN. USE A PLASTIC COOKING LINER.
It’s a really cool recipe but I’m very disappointed at your method for sealing the pan with Foil. I spent a bit of money and a lot of time on this cake for my Wife’s birthday and the crust turned out totally soaked and soggy because I followed your directions exactly. Very disappointing. It wasn’t until looking through the comments that I found your link to how to ACTUALLY do this, where you say that you use a plastic cooking liner. Why wouldn’t you say that in the recipe? This oversight ruined my wife’s birthday cake and wasted my time and money. Kind of an important detail to just leave out.
How much fun!!! I just finished making this and I can’t wait to serve it to my family! My husband loves circus animal cookies and cheesecake! A double win!!
Awesome! So glad you’re happy with it!
I’ve made a few cheesecakes before and have never done the baking the cheesecake with water around it. Is that step necessary? Sorry for a possibly stupid question but I’m making this for my boss’s birthday and want to make sure it comes out great! Thanks in advance!
I personally find them necessary, but you can read more about it here and how I like to set mine up. I hope that helps!
Tell us more about baking the cheesecake in a pan of water. I’m having trouble envisioning this.
You can read more about a water bath for cheesecakes here.