{"id":533,"date":"2017-07-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toh.test.rda.net\/10-creative-uses-for-animal-crackers\/"},"modified":"2018-03-06T23:21:25","modified_gmt":"2018-03-06T23:21:25","slug":"10-wild-ways-to-use-animal-crackers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/10-wild-ways-to-use-animal-crackers\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Creative Uses for Animal Crackers"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Glass\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nWhether you broke open that circus-themed box or tore into a family-sized bag, there's a good chance you've munched on animals crackers at one time or another. With their signature animal shapes and slightly sweet taste, these beloved crackers have been a staple snack for more than 100 years. (Just like a few of our vintage dessert recipes<\/a>.)\r\n\r\nThey first rose into popularity after the National Biscuit Co. branded its variety as \"Barnum's Animals,\" named after the famed P.T. Barnum. For the 1902 Christmas season, the company manufactured a small, circus-themed rectangular box with a string attached with the intention of hanging it from a tree. The boxes were an instant hit, and they're still sold today.\r\n\r\nAfter all that time, home cooks have gotten pretty creative in how they use them in recipes. Anywhere from 37 to 100 or more kinds of animals have been sold over the years-estimates differ. Whatever the case, there has been plenty of inspiration to go around, including these fun ways to use the crunchy, cute critters to make wonderfully wild treats.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n

Make a snack mix.<\/h4>\r\n\r\nFor a bright, circus-inspired treat, mix popcorn, pastel marshmallows, Raisinets, peanuts, pretzels, and frosted and plain animal crackers. It's the greatest snack on earth!\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n

Make a pie (or cheesecake) crust.<\/h4>\r\n\r\nCrushed animal crackers can be used in any recipe that calls for a graham cracker crust. Just process the animal crackers in a food processor, stir in melted butter and brown sugar, and you've got a crispy-sweet crust that's amazing with pie. Or try it in this creamy Pistachio-Cardamom Cheesecake<\/a> recipe.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n

Plunk them into a dessert dip.<\/h4>\r\n\r\nAnimal crackers make perfect dunkers for sweet dessert dips like this rich, chocolaty brownie batter dip<\/a>.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n

Bring them to movie night.<\/h4>\r\n\r\nBreak up frosted animal crackers and toss them with freshly popped popcorn. And go ahead and mix in a few shakes of rainbow sprinkles for good measure (and even more colorful crunch!).\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n

Top a cupcake.<\/h4>\r\n\r\nFor zoo- or circus-themed birthday parties, make a batch of your favorite cupcakes, frost to your delight, then top with lots of sprinkles and an animal cracker placed upright.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\"Float\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n

Add fun to a float.<\/h4>\r\n\r\nIce cream floats become even more fun when you top them with a few animal crackers. Add tigers, gorillas and elephants to this fizzy Jungle Float<\/a> and you're in for a wild time.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n

Make mini ice cream sandwiches.<\/h4>\r\n\r\nTake a small scoop of your favorite ice cream flavor and sandwich it between either plain or frosted animal crackers. Roll the edges in rainbow sprinkles for an extra dose of fun.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n

Turn them into candy bark.<\/h4>\r\n\r\nMake brightly colored candy bark by melting a packaging of white baking chocolate (10 to 12 oz.) with 4 tablespoons of shortening. Spread it into a foil-lined baking pan, then sprinkle on broken bits of frosted animal crackers and plenty of rainbow nonpareils. Let cool, break apart, and enjoy!\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n

Douse in chocolate.<\/h4>\r\n\r\nFrosted animal crackers are pretty delicious on their own, but if you're more of a chocolate fan, make your own cocoa-crazy crunchers by coating plain animal crackers in melted chocolate, then sprinkle on rainbow nonpareils.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n

Make petting-zoo pudding.<\/h4>\r\n\r\nSub in animal crackers for vanilla wafers in Memaw's Banana Pudding<\/a> recipe, and you've got a sweet twist on a classic dessert that's sure to delight everyone.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nLove these adorable crackers? <\/strong>Check out this collection of our cutest desserts<\/a>.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whether you broke open that circus-themed box or tore into a family-sized bag, there’s a good chance you’ve munched on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7034,"featured_media":4630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[303797],"categories-v2":[308432],"coauthors":[26282],"acf":{"long_pin":false,"long_pin_file":null,"ncv_override_generic_settings_option":null,"ncv_autoplay_option":null,"ncv_stickyplay_option":null,"ncv_ads_option":null,"ncv_mute_option":null,"ncv_comscore_option":null,"ncv_autoplay_mobile_option":null,"ncv_viewable_threshold_option":null,"ncv_sticky_offset_option":null,"ncv_autopause_option":null,"ncv_sticky_offset_mobile_option":null,"ncv_autopause_mobile_option":null,"ncv_sticky_mobile_option":null,"ncv_remove_player_option":null,"ncv_moat_option":null},"yoast_head":"\n10 Wild Ways to Use Animal Crackers<\/title>\n\n\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/10-wild-ways-to-use-animal-crackers\/\" \/>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"10 Wild Ways to Use Animal Crackers","description":"Go wild with these creative ideas for turning animal crackers into extra-special treats, like pie crusts, ice cream sandwiches, cupcake toppers and more.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/10-wild-ways-to-use-animal-crackers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"10 Creative Uses for Animal Crackers","og_description":"Go wild with these creative ideas for turning animal crackers into extra-special treats, like pie crusts, ice cream sandwiches, cupcake toppers and more.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/10-wild-ways-to-use-animal-crackers\/","og_site_name":"Taste Recipes","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tasteofhome","article_published_time":"2017-07-14T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-03-06T23:21:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":300,"url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/EXPS_SDAM17_3816_B12_09_6b_75x75-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Rachel Seis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/EXPS_SDAM17_3816_B12_09_6b_75x75-1.jpg","twitter_creator":"@tasteofhome","twitter_site":"@tasteofhome","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rachel Seis","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/10-wild-ways-to-use-animal-crackers\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/10-wild-ways-to-use-animal-crackers\/"},"author":{"name":"Rachel Seis","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8d72ca528aff09218473232da0d28de1"},"headline":"10 Creative Uses for Animal Crackers","datePublished":"2017-07-14T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-06T23:21:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/10-wild-ways-to-use-animal-crackers\/"},"wordCount":575,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/10-wild-ways-to-use-animal-crackers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/EXPS_SDAM17_3816_B12_09_6b_75x75-1.jpg","keywords":["Home & Living"],"articleSection":["Home & Living"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/10-wild-ways-to-use-animal-crackers\/","url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/10-wild-ways-to-use-animal-crackers\/","name":"10 Wild Ways to Use Animal Crackers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/10-wild-ways-to-use-animal-crackers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/10-wild-ways-to-use-animal-crackers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/EXPS_SDAM17_3816_B12_09_6b_75x75-1.jpg","datePublished":"2017-07-14T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-06T23:21:25+00:00","description":"Go wild with these creative ideas for turning animal crackers into extra-special treats, like pie crusts, ice cream sandwiches, cupcake toppers and more.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/10-wild-ways-to-use-animal-crackers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/10-wild-ways-to-use-animal-crackers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/10-wild-ways-to-use-animal-crackers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/EXPS_SDAM17_3816_B12_09_6b_75x75-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/EXPS_SDAM17_3816_B12_09_6b_75x75-1.jpg","width":300,"height":300},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/10-wild-ways-to-use-animal-crackers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Home & Living","item":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/home-living\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"10 Creative Uses for Animal Crackers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/","name":"Taste Recipes","description":"Find Recipes, Appetizers, Desserts, Holiday Recipes & Healthy Cooking Tips","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#organization","name":"Taste Recipes","url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/toh-logo-red.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/toh-logo-red.png","width":166,"height":125,"caption":"Taste Recipes"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tasteofhome","https:\/\/x.com\/tasteofhome","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tasteofhome\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/taste_of_home\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/tasteofhome"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8d72ca528aff09218473232da0d28de1","name":"Rachel Seis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/c921255e96f856b5ca403cbe07827721","url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Rachel-Seis-profile-photo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Rachel-Seis-profile-photo.jpg","caption":"Rachel Seis"},"description":"As deputy editor for Taste Recipes magazine, Rachel has her hand in everything you see from cover to cover, from writing and editing articles to taste-testing recipes to ensuring every issue is packed with fun and fabulous content. She'll roll up her sleeves to try any new recipe in the kitchen\u2014from spicy Thai dishes (her favorite!) to classic Southern comfort food (OK...also her favorite). When she's not busy thinking of her next meal, Rachel can be found practicing yoga, going for a run, exploring National Parks and traveling to new-to-her cities across the country.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/rachel-seis-93a90429"],"url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/author\/rseis\/"}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2025-04-01 23:30:20","action":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"canonical_url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/10-wild-ways-to-use-animal-crackers\/","author_details":{"377500":{"ID":"377500","display_name":"Rachel Seis","first_name":"Rachel","last_name":"Seis","user_login":"rachel-seis","user_email":"sw-58762@skyword.com","linked_account":"rseis","website":"","description":"<p>Rachel has been writing about food for more than a decade; for Taste Recipes, she was first an associate editor and later a deputy editor. Her Taste Recipes recipe roundups cover every food topic imaginable, from tailgate recipes to vintage recipes from the 1950s. Rachel is now the dining critic for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel where she reports on and reviews Wisconsin restaurants. Most recently, she covered the behind-the-scenes of the Wisconsin-focused season of Top Chef.<\/p>","twitter":"","instagram":"","facebook":"","public_email":"","linkedin":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/rachel-seis-93a90429","tiktok":"","youtube":"","location":"Milwaukee, WI","school_and_year":"Ohio University","education":"<p>Ohio University, bachelor's degree in journalism<\/p>","highlights":"<ul>\r\n<li>10 years of professional experience writing about food, including two years as deputy editor of Taste Recipes<\/li>\r\n<li>Dining critic for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel<\/li>\r\n<li>Has written for Taste Recipes, Milwaukee Record, Country Woman and numerous other local and national publications<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","expertise":"Food news; Restaurants","short_bio":"<p>As a former deputy editor for Taste Recipes, Rachel spent close to a decade diving deep into the world of food. Currently, Rachel is the dining critic for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel where she covers the local food scene, from newly opened restaurants to the behind-the-scenes of Season 21 of Top Chef, which was primarily filmed in Milwaukee.<\/p>","user_nicename":"rachel-seis","type":"guest-author","nickname":""}},"images":{"4630":{"image_url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/EXPS_SDAM17_3816_B12_09_6b_75x75-1.jpg","post_data":{"ID":4630,"post_author":"0","post_date":"2017-07-31 18:27:04","post_date_gmt":"2017-07-31 18:27:04","post_content":"","post_title":"Festive Ham Dinner","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"inherit","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"festive-ham-dinner-5","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2017-07-31 18:27:04","post_modified_gmt":"2017-07-31 18:27:04","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":533,"guid":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/EXPS_SDAM17_3816_B12_09_6b_75x75-1.jpg","menu_order":0,"post_type":"attachment","post_mime_type":"image\/jpeg","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},"post_meta":{"_wp_attached_file":["2017\/07\/EXPS_SDAM17_3816_B12_09_6b_75x75-1.jpg"],"_wp_attachment_metadata":["a:5:{s:5:\"width\";i:300;s:6:\"height\";i:300;s:4:\"file\";s:46:\"2017\/07\/EXPS_SDAM17_3816_B12_09_6b_75x75-1.jpg\";s:5:\"sizes\";a:7:{s:9:\"thumbnail\";a:4:{s:4:\"file\";s:46:\"EXPS_SDAM17_3816_B12_09_6b_75x75-1-150x150.jpg\";s:5:\"width\";i:150;s:6:\"height\";i:150;s:9:\"mime-type\";s:10:\"image\/jpeg\";}s:12:\"recirc-thumb\";a:4:{s:4:\"file\";s:46:\"EXPS_SDAM17_3816_B12_09_6b_75x75-1-180x180.jpg\";s:5:\"width\";i:180;s:6:\"height\";i:180;s:9:\"mime-type\";s:10:\"image\/jpeg\";}s:15:\"guest-author-32\";a:4:{s:4:\"file\";s:44:\"EXPS_SDAM17_3816_B12_09_6b_75x75-1-32x32.jpg\";s:5:\"width\";i:32;s:6:\"height\";i:32;s:9:\"mime-type\";s:10:\"image\/jpeg\";}s:15:\"guest-author-50\";a:4:{s:4:\"file\";s:44:\"EXPS_SDAM17_3816_B12_09_6b_75x75-1-50x50.jpg\";s:5:\"width\";i:50;s:6:\"height\";i:50;s:9:\"mime-type\";s:10:\"image\/jpeg\";}s:15:\"guest-author-64\";a:4:{s:4:\"file\";s:44:\"EXPS_SDAM17_3816_B12_09_6b_75x75-1-64x64.jpg\";s:5:\"width\";i:64;s:6:\"height\";i:64;s:9:\"mime-type\";s:10:\"image\/jpeg\";}s:15:\"guest-author-96\";a:4:{s:4:\"file\";s:44:\"EXPS_SDAM17_3816_B12_09_6b_75x75-1-96x96.jpg\";s:5:\"width\";i:96;s:6:\"height\";i:96;s:9:\"mime-type\";s:10:\"image\/jpeg\";}s:16:\"guest-author-128\";a:4:{s:4:\"file\";s:46:\"EXPS_SDAM17_3816_B12_09_6b_75x75-1-128x128.jpg\";s:5:\"width\";i:128;s:6:\"height\";i:128;s:9:\"mime-type\";s:10:\"image\/jpeg\";}}s:10:\"image_meta\";a:12:{s:8:\"aperture\";s:1:\"0\";s:6:\"credit\";s:0:\"\";s:6:\"camera\";s:0:\"\";s:7:\"caption\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"created_timestamp\";s:1:\"0\";s:9:\"copyright\";s:0:\"\";s:12:\"focal_length\";s:1:\"0\";s:3:\"iso\";s:1:\"0\";s:13:\"shutter_speed\";s:1:\"0\";s:5:\"title\";s:0:\"\";s:11:\"orientation\";s:1:\"0\";s:8:\"keywords\";a:0:{}}}"],"mdd_hash":["1ce1b4f722b6399085b8f5a7cbc80a90"],"mdd_size":["28199"]}}},"current_site_slug":"toh-com","_yoast_wpseo_title":"10 Wild Ways to Use Animal Crackers","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Go wild with these creative ideas for turning animal crackers into extra-special treats, like pie crusts, ice cream sandwiches, cupcake toppers and more.","_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"","dek":["They've been a snacking staple for more than 100 years, but these 10 creative ideas turn the crunchy critters into something even more special."],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":420730,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533\/revisions\/420730"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533"},{"taxonomy":"categories-v2","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories-v2?post=533"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}