These Circus Animal Brookies are the perfect snack for kids and adults! Chocolate, sprinkles and cookies; there couldn’t be a better combination.
How many of you have kids going back to school today? Are you running around your house shouting for joy at the top of your lungs when no one is looking? Or are you fighting back the tears that summer is coming to an end? Well we can celebrate with Circus Animal Brookies.
I have so much fun with Circus Animals. After the frosting, fudge and cookie dough bars, I knew there were more cookies in my future. If you have been around here before, you have seen several versions of my brookies including Butterfingers, Reese’s and Oreos. Well this one is the most fun because they’re full of sprinkles and a little bit of frosting!
I used fudgy brownies for these bars, which meant there was plenty of gooey chocolate left when I cut these apart. The key is that you need to let these cool completely before cutting, otherwise they will fall apart. These brookies are layered with brownies, Circus Animal Cookies and then a funfetti cookie with more Circus Animals mixed in. I decided to top these off with a little vanilla frosting and even more sprinkles!
For the frosting, I just went super easy and used a canned frosting. You could also make a half batch of my Perfect Vanilla Buttercream. Honestly, the frosting is not required for this recipe, but since we’ve got frosted Circus Animals, I thought it was fitting.
How pumped would your kids be to walk through the door and find a batch of these babies waiting for them? However that would mean that you needed to resist the urge to eat them all during the day. Good luck with that!
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Circus Animal Brookies
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 23 minutes
- Total Time: 43 minutes
- Yield: 16-20 servings
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
A brownie stuffed with Circus Animal Cookies and topped with a cake batter cookie.
Ingredients
- 1 box Brownie Mix
- 1 large Egg
- 1/3 C Oil
- 1 bag Circus Animal Cookies
For the cookie dough
- 1/2 C Butter (1 stick)
- 1/2 C Light brown sugar
- 1/2 C Sugar
- 1 large Egg
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp Butter extract (optional)
- 1 3/4 C Flour
- 1/4 C Vanilla pudding mix
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- 1/4 C Sprinkles
- 1/2 C Crushed Circus Animal Cookies
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- In a medium sized bowl, combine brownie mix, egg and vegetable oil. Beat until thoroughly mixed.
- Line a 9×13” pan with parchment paper or a baking mat. Pour brownie mixture over the baking mat and spread evenly.
- Line the brownie layer with Circus Animal Cookies, about .5” away from each other.
- Prepare the cookie layer. Soften butter in the microwave 10-15 seconds. Combine butter with both light brown sugar and granulated sugar. Mix until smooth and mixture becomes fluffy.
- Add egg and vanilla and butter extract and beat until egg is thoroughly incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, vanilla pudding, salt and baking soda. Slowly add flour mixture to dough batter while mixing at a low speed.
- Put a handful of Circus Animal Cookies in a plastic bag. Use a rolling pin or your hands to smash the cookies into pieces.
- Once all the flour has been added, increase speed to medium until dough forms. Add sprinkles and crushed Circus Animal Cookies and fold into cookie dough.
- Take the cookie dough and drop chunks onto the top of the brownie mixture, gently pressing them down into brownie batter.
- Bake for 23-25 minutes at 350°F. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before cutting. Since I used a baking mat, I was able to completely remove the sheet of brookies from the pan before cutting.
Notes
Allow bars to cool completely before serving.
Recipes from my friends:
Jumbo Animal Cookie from Munchkin Munchies
Funfetti Yogurt Pops from Beth Cakes
Marshmallow Stuffed Funfetti Cookies from Chelsea’s Messy Apron
Other recipes you might like:
Circus Animal Cookie Dough Bars
Cake Batter Cookie Dough Ice Cream
Heather M. says
For the brownie layer, you mention combining milk…but milk is not on the ingredient list. Help!
Beyond Frosting says
Hi Heather, that is a typo. You can ignore the milk. Thanks for bringing that to my attention! I am updating now.
Heather M. says
I went ahead and added 1/4 cup of milk to the brownie mix since it appeared pretty dry. The recipe turned out scrumptious…even though the brownie layer was quite gooey (not a bad thing IMHO!) :> I’ll definitely make these brookies again (I’m a sucker for circus animals)…and next time I’ll omit the milk. Thanks for a great recipe that appeases my sweet tooth! Big time.
Beyond Frosting says
Hi Heather! The brownie mix is usually very thick, but it sounds like it worked out for you. I am SO HAPPY that you came back to let me know how it turned out and I am glad you enjoyed it!
Heather M. says
I took the liberty of putting your circus animal frosting on top of these brookies too. SO. AMAZING. 😀
Jocelyn@Brucrewlife says
I may, or may not have been one of the parents running around shouting with joy on my kids first day of school! 😉 And these rookies are seriously phenom!!! I love everything about them! Pinned!
Lindsey @ American Heritage Cooking says
It has been waaay too long since I had a brookie!! Yours look delicious! Circus animal cookies crack me up. Not sure why, maybe because they’re pink.
The Domestic Rebel says
Staaaaahp! I can’t even HANDLE how awesome these brookies look. Circus Animal Cookie Dough on top of an ultimate fudgy brownie? These will be the death of me and I’m A-okay with that.