Animal cookies are one of those things that seem easy to just toss in the grocery cart for a simple snack. The store-bought version usually has a lot of ingredients, including preservatives. Making your own at home is easy. All you need is the right pan.
Homemade animal cookies
My mother-in-law sent me a cool cookie pan a couple of months ago and I decided to try it out on the first day of school. The pan is by Norpro and has a dozen farm cookies. You can check it out on Amazon (Norpro 12 Cup Nonstick Farm Cookie Pan) where it is currently part of their 4-for-3 promotion (Buy 4 items & one of them is free).
The farm cookie pan makes a dozen cookies. There are two of each shape: cow, sheep, pig, duck, barn, and rooster.
Using a simple shortbread recipe, I made a batch of a dozen cookies that my kids loved.
Ingredients:
- 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup of butter
Instructions:
Combine flour and sugar; cut in butter until it resembles fine crumbs. Form mix into a ball and knead until smooth. {I tossed it all in my stand mixer and watched it do the whole thing for me in minutes.}
Scoop the dough into the cookie pan, smoothing tops flat. If you don’t have this pan, just roll out the dough and cut it into squares, circles, or whatever else you like. Of course, half of the fun is the shape.
Bake in the oven at 345 degrees F for about 20 minutes.
Homemade animal cookies
Ingredients
- 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup of butter
Instructions
- Combine flour and sugar; cut in butter until it resembles fine crumbs. Form mix into a ball and knead until smooth.
- Scoop the dough into the cookie pan, smoothing tops flat. If you don't have this pan, just roll out the dough and cut it into squares, circles, or whatever else you like.
- Bake in the oven at 345 degrees F for about 20 minutes.
Melinda Cornish says
That is the coolest pan I love the idea of making my own animal cookies!
Karen says
You must have the most wonderful mother-in-law in the world!!!
Carrie Medford says
Awesome! I must get one of those cookie pans! I hopped over from Alphabe-Thursday 🙂
mle says
Those are so cute & look yummy too : )
I wouldn’t mind chompin’ on a chubby little sheep!
Sue says
Oh boy. Yours is the second animal cookie post I’ve seen. I think we should have a bake-off!
=)
Stef says
WOw! That looks like fun! Thanks!
Write Chick says
Those are SO cute. My dad lives on a farm. I think I’ll pop over to Amazon and buy that to make him some animal cookies for his b-day. Thanks for the idea! 🙂
~*Jessica*~ says
3 ingredients? I gotta try those…
Amanda says
These are so cute! What a nice first day of school treat!
Jenny says
What a neat pan! This would be fun just to make decorations to put on a layer cake as well.
Thanks for sharing this cute post for Alphabe-Thursday’s letter “A”.
You made me smile with this link.
A
Jennifer says
The dough never formed into something I could roll out. Any suggestions?
Keri says
Hi Jennifer! It’s been ages since I’ve made this recipe, but the most common problem is temperature. These are shortbread cookies, so they won’t have the crisp shape of a sugar cookie. If your dough is runny, then your butter was too warm. It should be soft enough that it can be mixed, but not soft enough to spread on toast. There will still be lumps of butter visible in the dough. If you live in a warm place (I’m in Texas) you might also need to chill the dough after mixing so that it’s firm enough to roll out. Hope that helps!
Maggie says
Do you have to grease the pan?
Keri says
Hi Maggie! No need to grease the pan. Shortbread cookies are buttery enough that they won’t stick.