Laura's Circus Cookies

Starting when I was pretty young, I used to fly (by myself!) to Seattle every summer to spend a week with my aunt Laura. From the moment I stepped off the plane, the fun would start! Laura would always put so much thought into all the neat things that we could do with our time together - places to explore, places to eat, adventures to share, things to do in the morning, things to do at night... plus plenty of time to just hang out together.

Even though we lived far apart, she did an amazing job of knowing who I was and what sorts of things I would be into. With each trip, she would pick new activities for us to do together - and they were always age-appropriate and perfect for the person I was at that age. I remember those trips together with such joy and love. We had lazy time together, loads of laughs, fun adventures, simple pleasures... the whole gamut of everything quality time can possibly be.

One year, when I arrived in Seattle, Laura told me that we would go camping! I think we were headed over to the Olympic Mountains... but maybe it was the Cascades, I don't remember for sure (I was just a kiddo!) Anyhow, she had already assembled all the camping gear, and she had put so much work into it. I don't remember exactly how the circus cookies came into the equation... but somehow we picked up a big bag of those little frosted circus animal cookies for a super special camping snack. Did we get it at a gas station? Did we buy them before we left town?

We set off for our trip with hearts full of enthusiasm - happy to be together and happily anticipating some time in the great outdoors. And then, because it was Seattle, it started to rain. And rain. And rain. Until, soon enough, as we drove along toward our camping destination, it was completely pouring torrential rain. At some point, we had to send up the white flag and admit defeat. Camping was just not in the cards for us. So, in the driving rain, we turned that car around, opened up our giant bag of circus cookies, and munched and laughed all the way back to Seattle. If we couldn't go camping, we were damn well going to enjoy our little cookies together!

When I told my aunt Laura that I had a funny idea for another Noshtalgia post in her honor, but that I wasn't going to tell her what it was... she thought for a minute and then said "Oh! I can think of one! Circus cookies!" ha ha. So obviously, that super special moment of making lemonade out of lemons, and enjoying each other's company no matter what happened was obviously very memorable for both of us! 

To make my vegan circus cookies, I sorta cheated. I used this recipe as a guide, but I was too lazy to actually make the cookies, so I just went out and bought some Barbara's vanilla Snackimals (which is why my cookies are more "blob" shaped than the real ones). Then I frosted them up and put on some sprinkles. Also, I didn't bother making the pink ones, and I am just as happy with my pretty little white cookies. :) 

it was surprisingly fun and wonderful to eat these!!