Whimsical Circus Animal Cheesecake Cups Recipe

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This yummy Frosted Circus Animal Cheesecake recipe is a perfect homemade dessert for a birthday party, baby shower or even a holiday like Valentine’s or Easter. The buttery pink animal cookie crust topped with soft creamy filling is perfection!

Kids love the sprinkles and that they look like cute mini cupcakes. You’ll love how quick and easy it is to make.

Circus Animal Cheesecake Cups Unwrapped

Ingredients for this Frosted Circus Animal Cheesecake Recipe

This cheesecake recipe is extremely easy to make. Two ingredients for the crust and just 4 basic ingredients for the filling. And it’s entirely no-bake. Even the crust.

Ingredients for the No-Bake Circus Animal Cookie Crust

  • Frosted circus animal cookies
    • The bag comes with pink and white animal cookies. You’ll need to pick out just the pink cookies to use in this recipe. You can use some of the leftovers in this cute Circus Animal Truffle or easy Pink and White Ice Cream recipe.
    • Important note! Circus animal cookies are not to be confused with iced animal cookies or iced animal crackers with sprinkles. You want the real deal for this recipe. Pink and White Frosted Mother’s Circus Animal Cookies are one of the best and most well-known brands.
  • Butter

Ingredients for the Filling

  • Cream cheese
  • Sweetened condensed milk
  • Lemon juice
  • Vanilla paste or extract
    • I highly recommend using vanilla paste instead of extract. The flavor and aroma are amazing. One thing to be aware of is that the paste has tiny flecks of real vanilla bean in it. The flecks will be visible in your final product. I personally like the look of the flecks. I think it’s kinda fancy! A couple of the brands that I personally use and recommend are Neilsen-Massey and Cambie Confections.

Other Supplies To Make This Recipe

How To Make Circus Animal Cheesecake Cups

How To Make Circus Animal Cheesecake “Cupcakes”

This cheesecake recipe is extremely easy to make. Two ingredients for the crust and just 4 basic ingredients for the filling. And it’s entirely no-bake. Even the crust.

Step 1: Gather your supplies

First, grab a cupcake pan and add liners. We went with a class white liner, but depending on the look you’re going for pastels or other cute cupcake liners would work great too.

Step 2: Make the Crust

To prepare the no-bake circus animal cookie crust, grind up about 60 of the pink circus animal cookies in a food processor. In a pinch, you could probably get away with adding about 10 or so of the white cookies. You may just lose a bit of the vibrant pink color in the crust.

In a separate bowl, add 3 tablespoons of melted butter to the crumbs. Combine well.

No Bake Circus Animal Cookie Cheesecake Cups - Process-1

The texture of the cookies should be similar to sand. If you don’t have a food processor, a rolling pin and plastic bag will also do the trick.

No Bake Circus Animal Cookie Cheesecake Cups - Process-2

Step 3: Add Crust to the Cupcake Liners

Add a heaping tablespoon to each cupcake liner. Set some crumbs aside to use later as a garnish.

Press the crumbs firmly into the liner to create the crust.

No Bake Circus Animal Cookie Cheesecake Cups - Process-3

Step 4: Prepare The Filling

To prepare the filling, add the softened cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and lemon juice to a bowl.

Beat with an electric hand mixer until the mixture is smooth with no lumps of cream cheese.

No Bake Circus Animal Cookie Cheesecake Cups - Process

Step 5: Add the Filling and Garnish

Spoon the mixture evenly into the cupcake pan. Top with colorful sprinkles and leftover cookie crumbs.

The color on the nonpareil sprinkles tends to bleed when exposed to moisture. To minimize this, try adding the cookie crumbs first and get as many of the sprinkles as possible to land on the crumbs.

As an alternative, you could also use a different type of sprinkle. They will still be super cute, but you’ll lose a bit of the circus animal cookie vibe.

No Bake Circus Animal Cookie Cheesecake Cups - Process


Step 7: Refrigerate, then Serve

Place the tray in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours or until set. This recipe makes a soft cheesecake filling, so don’t be alarmed if it doesn’t seem as firm as a classic cheesecake.

And there you have it! A delicious and easy dessert that’s sure to be a hit at any party. These circus animal cheesecake cups are bound to put a smile on everyone’s face, young and old alike. What’s not to like about cute little mini cheesecakes? Thanks for reading, and enjoy!

You may also enjoy:
Fun Pink and White Circus Animal Cookies Ice Cream Recipe
Easy No-Bake Circus Animal Cookie Truffles Recipe
No-Bake Root Beer Float Mini Cheesecakes
No Bake Spiderweb Cheesecake

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No Bake Circus Animal Cheesecake
Yield: About 12 cups

Easy No-Bake Circus Animal Cookie Cheesecake Cups

No Bake Circus Animal Cookie Cheesecake Cups

This adorable Circus Animal Cookie Cheesecake recipe is totally no bake - even the crust! The buttery pink circus animal cookie crust topped with soft creamy filling is perfection!

Prep Time 40 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

For the crust

  • 2 cups pink circus animal cookies, about 60 cookies
  • 3 TB butter, melted

For the filling

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 TB lemon juice
  • 1 TB vanilla paste or extract

Other supplies

  • nonpareil sprinkles
  • cupcake pan
  • cupcake liners
  • handheld electric mixer

Instructions

  1. Put a cupcake liner in each hole of the cupcake pan. 
  2. First, prepare the crust. Add animal cracker cookies to food processor crush until finely ground. If you don't have a food processor, you can rough chop the cookies and then put them in a Ziploc bag and crush them with a rolling pin. The texture should be similar to sand.
  3. In a bowl, add 3 TB melted butter to the cookie crumbs and combine well. Set aside a small amount of crumbs to use later as a garnish.
  4. Add a heaping tablespoon to each cupcake liner. Press the crumbs firmly into the liner to create the crust. 
  5. Next prepare the filling. In a bowl, add all of the filling ingredients (softened cream cheese, vanilla, sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice.) Use the electric hand mixer to beat until all ingredients are well combined and smooth. 
  6. Evenly divide the filling into all of the cupcake liners. Use the back of a spoon to smooth out the top of each cup, making sure the filling is spread all the way to the edges of the liner.
  7. Add sprinkles and leftover crumbs to the top of each cup as a garnish.
  8. Place the tray in to the refrigerator for 2-3 hours or until set.
  9. Remove the cupcake liners prior to serving.

Notes

- I highly recommend using vanilla paste instead of extract. The flavor and aroma are amazing. A couple brands that I personally use and recommend are Neilsen-Massey and Cambie Confections.

Recommended Products

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

1 grams

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 657Total Fat: 33gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 471mgCarbohydrates: 85gFiber: 2gSugar: 43gProtein: 7g

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