These fun Circus Animal Cookie Rice Krispie treats are loaded with pink and white Circus Animal Cookies and lots of rainbow nonpareils. To make them even more fun each marshmallow cereal bar is topped with a Circus Animal Cookie too.

When making Rice Krispie Treats there are so many ways to make them colorful and fun including tossing in some Circus Animal Cookies and rainbow-colored nonpareils.

Circus Animal Cookies are animal-shaped cookies that have been coated in pink and white frosting (listed as confectioner's glaze on the ingredients label) and are topped with tiny little round rainbow sprinkles, also known as nonpareils.

If you love this childhood favorite then you will adore these cereal treats.

Circus Animal Cookies

These marshmallow cereal treats are loaded with the lion, hippo, camel, bear, rhino, and elephant-shaped cookies.
You'll use an entire 11-ounce bag for this recipe, but 16 of the cookies will be used to top the rice crispy treats.
Start by picking out 16 of the most nicely shaped cookies and set them aside for decoration.
Then break the remaining cookies into small pieces. Don't crush them into crumbs, you want to see and taste the chunks of cookies in the gooey marshmallow cereal treats.

Rainbow Nonpareils

Nonpareils are tiny round sprinkles that come in a rainbow of colors.
They are sprinkled over the top of the Circus Animal Cookies but adding more of these tiny sprinkles inside and on top of the cereal bars makes them even more colorful and fun.
You can add as many or as few as you like to your treats. I used about 2 tablespoons of the sprinkles and sprinkled about 75% of them inside the treats and reserved the rest to sprinkle over the top of the treats.

Let's make cereal treats.

Start by melting the butter and marshmallows either on the stove or in the microwave then toss with Circus Animal Cookie pieces, Rice Krispies Cereal, and sprinkles.

Be sure to check out our How to Make Cereal Treats FAQ page for lots of tips and tricks for making the best rice krispie treats every time.

You'll need:

11 ounces of Circus Animal Cookies, reserve 16 nicely shaped cookies then break remaining cookies into small pieces
2 tablespoons rainbow nonpareils
4 tablespoons salted butter
10 ounces marshmallows
4 ½ cups Rice Krispies Cereal
2 ounces melted white candy melts, white almond bark, Ghirardelli White Melting Wafers, or white chips (Nestle Premier White Morsels)

Stove Top Method

Grease an 8-inch or 9-inch square pan with either butter or non-stick cooking spray.
Pour 4 tablespoons of European Salted Butter* and 10 ounces mini or regular sized marshmallows into a large saucepan.
Set the pan over low heat and allow to melt, stirring often, until about 75% of the marshmallows are melted.
Remove the pan from the heat and continue to stir until all the marshmallows are melted.
Toss together 4 ½ cups of Rice Krispies Cereal and the broken cookie pieces together.
Pour the melted marshmallows over top, sprinkle on about half of the nonpareils, stir until blended, then add about half of the remaining nonpareils and stir until combined.
Gently press the cereal treats into the prepared pan.
Sprinkle on the remaining nonpareils.
Let the treats cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting into 16 squares.
Dip the feet of an animal-shaped cookie into the melted white candy melts and press the cookie onto the top of a treat, holding it in place until it stands upright on its own.
Repeat, decorating all the treats.
Allow the candy melts to dry completely before serving.

Microwave Method

Combine 4 tablespoons of European Salted Butter* and 10 ounces mini or regular sized marshmallows.
Heat on high power for 1 minute then remove and stir until the marshmallows begin to melt.
Stir until the marshmallows blend together with the butter.
- Keep stirring! The heat from the melted marshmallows will continue to melt the bits of marshmallows that remain.
- Of course, every microwave heats differently so at this point if your marshmallows are still not fully melted you can heat for 15-second bursts of high power, stirring after each until fully melted.
- Just be careful to not overheat the marshmallows. If they get too hot they will become more like hard candy and will create hard rice Krispie treats.
Toss together 4 ½ cups of Rice Krispies Cereal and the broken cookie pieces together.
Pour the melted marshmallows over top, sprinkle on about half of the nonpareils, stir until blended, then add about half of the remaining nonpareils and stir until combined.
Gently press the cereal treats into the prepared pan.
Sprinkle the remaining nonpareils evenly over the top of the treats.
Let the treats cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting into 16 squares.
Dip the feet of an animal-shaped cookie into the melted white candy melts and press the cookie onto the top of a treat, holding it in place until it stands upright on its own.
Serve and enjoy!

*Why you should use European-Style Salted Butter

When creating our BEST Rice Krispie Treats recipe we had 20 people taste test many different brands of butter in our recipe and found that everyone unanimously agreed that European salted butter makes the most flavorful rice crispy treats.
We choose to use either President Salted Butter, Kerrygold, or Kroger Private Selection French Cream Butter but Land O Lakes new European Butter tastes really nice in these cereal treats too.
Does salted butter really matter? Yes! It really does make better tasting treats.

How to prepare my pan?

You can use an 8-inch or 9-inch pan with this recipe.
I prefer to use a non-stick pan to make my cereal treats because even as gooey as they can be they won't stick much to a non-stick pan.
To ensure the treats won't stick I like to butter the pan first but you can use non-stick cooking spray if you prefer.
If you use a glass pan it will be essential that you butter or spray the pan.

Can I use a 9"X13" inch pan?

Yes, but you will need to adjust the quantities.

Large Batch Recipe

Ingredients:

1 (11-ounce) bag of Circus Animal Cookies broken into pieces
24 nicely shaped Circus Animal Cookies (from a second bag)
6 tablespoons European-style salted butter
16 ounces marshmallows
7 cups Rice Krispies Cereal
3 tablespoons rainbow nonpareils

Instructions

Break up all the cookies in one 11 ounce pouch of Circus Animal Cookies.
Select 24 of the nicest looking animal-shaped cookies to put on the top of your treats.
Melt 6 tablespoons European Salted Butter and 16 ounces marshmallows using the instructions above.
Toss 7 cups of Rice Krispies Cereal with the cookie pieces.
Pour the marshmallows over the cereal and toss in about 1 ½ tablespoons of the rainbow nonpareils and stir.
Toss in another ¾ tablespoon of the nonpareils and continue to mix until well blended.
Spread into a 9-inch by 13-inch, greased, pan, and sprinkle on the remaining nonpareils.
Cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting into 24 pieces.
Attach animal cookies to the top of the treats using white candy melts.

Recipe

Circus Animal Rice Krispie Treats

Beth Klosterboer

Colorful Rice Krispie Treats loaded with Circus Animal Cookie pieces and lots of rainbow nonpareils are sprinkled with more nonpareils and are topped wtih the pink and white animal-shaped cookies.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 5

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 16

Calories 236 kcal

Equipment

8-inch square pan
medium non-stick saucepan

Ingredients

11 ounces Circus Animal Cookies
4 ½ cups Rice Krispies Cereal
4 tablespoons salted butter, plus a bit more to grease pan
10 ounces marshmallows
2 tablespoons rainbow nonpareils (sprinkles)
2 ounces white candy melts, almond bark, or white chips, melted

Instructions

Grease an 8-inch square pan with butter or non-stick baking spray.
Reserve 16 of the best looking animal-shaped cookies for decoration.
Break the remaining cookies into small ¼ inch pieces and toss with the cereal in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
Heat the butter over low heat in a medium (3-4 quart) saucepan.
Add the marshmallows, and stir often, until about 75% of them are melted.
Remove the pan from the heat and continue to stir until the marshmallows are completely melted.
Pour over the bowl of cereal.
Add ½ of the nonpareils and toss to coat.
Then add about half of the remaining nonpareils and stir the cereal until well blended with the marshmallows.
Spread the cereal mixture into the prepared pan.
Sprinkle the remaining nonpareils over top.
Set aside for at least 30 minutes to cool before cutting into 16 squares.
Dip the feet of one animal-shaped cookie into the metled white candy melts.
Attach the cookie to the top of one of the Rice Krispie treats, holding it in place until the candy coating dries and the cookie remains standing upright.
Repeat, topping all the cereal bars with one animal-shaped cookie.
Allow the candy coating to dry ensuring all the cookies remain upright before serving.

Notes

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
If you prefer to make your treats using the microwave, heat the butter and marshmallows on high power for 1 minute, then remove and stir vigorously until melted, reheating for 15-second bursts of high power only if needed. Then proceed with the recipe as written.

Keyword birthday party desserts, Circus Animal Cookies, no-bake desserts, rice krispie treats

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