Animal Cracker Sugar Cookies |Cooking With Amanda

I have never been a huge fan of store-bought cookies. They're really not even cookies, if we are being honest. They are crunchy circles that are supposed to be cookies and fail miserably. If I was a cookie teacher grading said cookies, they'd get a big red "F" with a circle around it. And a sad face.

My kiddos love packaged chocolate chip cookies, which are the absolute saddest of all. Not only do they taste awful, but they are the tiniest chocolate chip cookies ever. Are they made for ants? I think it's a conspiracy to trick us into eating 20 at a time.

The only prepackaged cookies that I've ever been a fan of are frosted animal crackers. Good grief, I don't know what kind of magic they sprinkle into those suckers, but I just can't quit them. One minute I'm all, "oh, I'll just have a nibble" and the next minute I'm shaking the empty bag of sprinkles into my mouth and wondering where exactly things went wrong.

It's not my fault. Those things aren't filling at all. Practically air, really. What is a girl expected to do with a bag full of frosted, sprinkled, magical air? It's a disaster waiting to happen, really.

In order to remedy the situation, I decided to make Animal Cracker Cookies. A chewy, buttery, bakery style sugar cookie filled with animal cracker chunks, covered in crunchy sprinkles and topped with another frosted animal cracker. The animal crackers are pressed into the sugar cookies while warm, causing the frosting to melt slightly, sticking the two together.

These are a cookie eater's cookie – definitely not for chumps. In fact, I recommend you keep all of these to yourself. If you go around sharing these, you'll be spoiling your friends and family for all other cookies for forever. Chaos, is what it would be.

These are so fun and so yummy. Enjoy!

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Animal Cracker Sugar Cookies Recipe

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Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup salted butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups frosted animal crackers, chopped
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup rainbow nonpareils

For Garnish:

36 frosted animal crackers

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium-large bowl, stir flour and baking soda together. Set aside.
Beat butter, shortening, and sugars with your electric mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, and then vanilla extract. Reduce speed; gradually add flour mixture, and mix until just combined. Add animal cracker pieces and white chocolate chips and mix until combined.
Scoop dough using a medium-size cookie scoop. Roll tops and sides of cookies in nonpareils. Place on prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart.
Bake for about 12 minutes, until edges are just barely golden. Immediately press a frosted animal cracker into the center of each cookie. Let cookies cool on baking sheets for several minutes, then remove to rack to cool completely.