Whimsical Circus Animal Cheesecake Cups Recipe

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

• Nonpareil sprinkles
• Cupcake pan
• Cupcake liners
• Handheld electric mixer

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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