Circus Animal Cookie Truffles

Did you ever eat those Mothers Circus Animal Cookies as a kid? Those addicting little pink and white cookies were a staple at my house. I whipped up these Circus Animal Cookie Truffles a couple weeks ago and they were an absolute hit with my friends!

So, I'm not gonna lie. A treat like this is a little bit crazy. So crazy that it could have only been created by an sweet genius The Domestic Rebel.

The process is a little lengthy since you need to let the cookie balls freeze for three hours and melt your white chocolate down but it's worth it.

The most fun part of this whole thing was throwing those Circus Animals in the food processor and watching those suckers spin. Sounds morbid I know, but I was that kid (actually I'm that adult) who finds joy in biting the heads off my gummy bears.

After a good spin the crumbs were combined with some cream cheese frosting to get everything all good and coated so they can be shaped into cookie balls. Freeze your cookie balls for 3 hours then dip them in the white chocolate you melted.

Make sure you melt your white chocolate to a runny consistency  this will make the coating process a LOT easier. Reserve half your melted chocolate and dye it Circus Animal Cookie Pink. Set your dipped truffles on some wax paper and add your rainbow nonpareils while the coating is still wet!

I love how these sweets end up looking like the original thing with their pink and white coating all the way down to the rainbow nonpareils on top.

Circus Animal Cookie Truffles
Adapted from The Domestic Rebel

About 3 cups Circus Animal cookies
1/2 can cream cheese frosting
1 pkg white chocolate chips
Rainbow nonpareils
Pink food coloring
(Note: I doubled the recipe when I made my batch. This recipe is for a single batch)

1. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and set aside. Meanwhile, in a food processor, grind the cookies (about a cup at a time–work in batches) until finely ground, coarse crumbs. Pour all the ground cookies into a large bowl.

2. Once cookies are ground, spoon in the half can of cream cheese icing. Using your clean hands or a spoon, mix together the crumbs and frosting until thoroughly combined.

3. Begin portioning the crumb mixture into inch-sized balls (I used a small cookie dough scoop) and place the balls onto the foil-lined baking sheet. Repeat until all the mixture is used up.

4. Freeze the truffles for about 3 hours or until completely frozen and solid. While they’re freezing, prepare your white chocolate according to package directions until smooth and melted. Pour half that mixture into a separate bowl, and using your pink coloring, tint one of the bowls a pretty pink shade.

5. Dip half the batch of truffles into the white chocolate, and the other half into the pink chocolate. I used a fork to coat all sides of the truffles, then allowed the excess to drip off the bottom before gently placing each dipped truffle back onto the foil-lined sheet. While still wet, sprinkle the truffle tops with the rainbow nonpareils.

6. Allow all the truffles to harden and set, about 20 minutes in the fridge. Store leftover truffles airtight for about 2-3 days at room temperature, or a week in the freezer–just allow them to come to room temperature before eating them that way.