I had a craving for animal crackers the other day, and instead of just buying a box, I decided to take advantage of my abundant free time and make some. I wasn’t thrilled with any of the recipes that I found (thanks a lot, google recipe search!) until I came across the Animal Cracker Cookies from 101 Cookbooks. They weren’t exactly what I was looking for, but I had all of the necessary ingredients on hand and I didn’t have to wait for butter to soften – instant gratification*!
*if you ignore the hour of refrigerating the dough
While these don’t taste a thing like the animal crackers that come in the box with a string (they actually remind me of some of the varieties of digestive biscuits that you find in Europe), they are really delicious little cookies, especially if you like coconut. Also, unlike the boxed variety, they don’t contain high fructose corn syrup, enriched flour or any other weird, processed junk. Win!
I don’t have any tiny animal cookie cutters, so I planned to make mini gnomes and little acorns. My mini gnome cutter broke after about three cookies, I got frustrated, and then I made circles with a small biscuit cutter. Circles taste the same as animals (or gnomes), although taking a bite of a circle isn’t nearly as satisfying as biting the legs off of a rhino.
A few of these cookies are a great snack alongside an afternoon cup of coffee or tea. I also think they would go really well with a scoop of ice cream, especially if you could somehow form the dough into a cone shape.
