WIN-It-Wednesday: Kinnikinnick Kinni-Kritters Animal Cookies (Plus a bonus!)
Lions, and Tigers and Bears! Oh My! Animal Cookies make an appearance in many of my favorite childhood memories. I’m not real sure if it’s the taste of the cookies 
themselves, the surprise of seeing what animal shaped cookie I’d pull out of the box next, or the knowledge that I only was given this favorite treat only when I was extra-specially good… but Animal Cookies bring back some warm memories.
And thanks to Kinnikinnick, kids that are on a gluten-free, dairy-free and nut-free diet can still experience the flavor and allure of Animal Cookies too.
Kinnikinnick Gluten-Free Animal Cookies come in two great flavors: the original vanilla and chocolate. Another bonus is that these cookies are not only gluten-free, but also nut-free and dairy-free.
That’s why I was so excited when I discovered that Kinninkinnick Kinni-Kritters Animal Cookies were sponsoring the next two week’s WIN-It-Wednesday on BeFreeForMe.com.
Two lucky winners will win a package of these delicious cookies, PLUS a bonus package of either the KinniKinnick Kinni-Toos Chocoalte Sandwich Crème Cookies OR Chocolate Chip Cookies.
How can you win?
Easy!
Reply to this blog and tell us your favorite cookie memory (it can be about your memory of Animal Cookies, baking, a certain kind of cookie, fun cookie stories… anything!) Me? One of my fondest memories is sitting in the grocery cart eating Animal Crackers with my sisters. (Funny how I also remember us eating the heads off first! HA!) Crazy the things simple things that you sometimes remember!
One (1) winner will be randomly selected from the entries received before Tuesday, March 27, 2012 at 11:59 PM EST, and one (1) more winner will be randomly selected to win from the entries received between Wednesday, March 28 and Tuesday, April 3, 2012 at 11:59PM. SO – make sure you enter to win two times!
Good luck, When you need to bite someone’s head off reach for an Animal Cookie… and as always…
Be Free!
Note: Want to buy some Kinnikinnick Cookies for yourself? Check out these links on Amazon.com, have it delivered right to your door, AND get FREE SUPER SAVER SHIPPING!
Kinnikinnick Foods KinniKritters Animal Cookies, Gluten Free, Wheat Free, Dairy Free, 8-Ounce Box (Pack of 6)
Kinnikinnick Cookie – Chocolate Animal Gluten Free, 8-Ounce (Pack of 6)
KinniToos Chocolate Sandwich Creme, 8-Ounce Packages (Pack of 6)
KinnitToos Vanilla Sandwich Creme, 8-Ounce Packages (Pack of 6)
Kinnitoos Cookie – Fudge Cream Sandwich Gluten Free, 8-Ounce (Pack of 3)
Tags: Gluten-Free Animal Cookies, Gluten-Free Animal Crackers, Kinnikinnick Animal Cookies, Win-It-Wednesday
March 20th, 2012 at 4:00 pm
I remember making cookies I was going to enter in the fair, and using tablespoons instead of teaspoons for salt. Not a blue-ribbon-winning batch!
March 21st, 2012 at 11:23 am
Becky- Oh No! Your comment made me laugh… =)
Be Free!
Kathleen
March 20th, 2012 at 6:03 pm
My favorite cookie memory is making snicker doodles and rolling them in the cinnamon & sugar.
March 20th, 2012 at 6:48 pm
I love these animal crackers for snacking on. I have been known to eat the entire box in 1 sitting at times
March 20th, 2012 at 9:22 pm
One of my fondest memories is making peppermint candy cane cookies at Christmas.
March 20th, 2012 at 9:35 pm
I remember the butter cookies with the holes in the middle. I would put one on the tip of each finger….and then eat them 1 by 1 😉
March 21st, 2012 at 11:22 am
Lonna-
I remember those cookies too… A little bit of sugar sprinkles on the top, right?
Thanks for the memories!
Be Free!
Kathleen
March 20th, 2012 at 10:44 pm
Growing up, we used to beg mom to make cut-out cookies, not realizing that she really didn’t know how to bake well, rolled the dough too thin, and baked everything far too long. It was a few years before I realized that sugar cookies were not supposed to be brown & crispy 🙂
March 21st, 2012 at 5:09 am
When I was a little girl my mom and I would bake cookies on Sundays to pack in our lunch for the week. My favorite package cookies though were the animal cookies I got every week when we went grocery shopping.
March 21st, 2012 at 7:56 am
I used to love how the classic, red, kid-size box of animal crackers had the string attached so when I held it I felt like I was a big girl carrying a purse around. 🙂 (After I ate all the cookies, of course!) 🙂
March 21st, 2012 at 11:19 am
Katie… Me too!
Marketing at it’s best, even years and years ago!
Be Free…
Kathleen
March 21st, 2012 at 8:25 am
My favorite cookie times were when we would make no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies(before I was gluten free) with my grandma.
March 21st, 2012 at 8:39 am
I loved the holding the little box and looking at the pictures plus eating them was the best.
March 21st, 2012 at 11:18 am
Tammy… Me too! And I also remember the little string “handle”! =)
Be Free!
Kathleen
March 21st, 2012 at 8:44 am
I would love to try a box!
March 21st, 2012 at 8:51 am
My mom always carried animal crackers in her purse as a back-up snack for my brother and I when we were young! 🙂
March 21st, 2012 at 9:21 am
Sounds great. I have all ways loved animal cookies since I was little. These would be great as a snack or for something sweet. Need to try the them soon.
March 21st, 2012 at 10:06 am
I have always found animal cookies to be a ‘peace and quiet’ treat. I guess because the world slowed down when we ate them as children. My father would shop on a Friday afternoon and come home with bags of cookies after work…including animal cookies. On those Friday evenings after dinner, we brought out the cookies as dessert. We all (all 7 of us) sat and enjoyed the cookies as a family. I tried to see how many different animals I could find. Sweet memory for sure.
March 21st, 2012 at 11:10 am
I still eat animal cookies!!! They put a smile on my face and it reminds me of days gone by, my mom always gave me animal cookies when i behaved and i always bit there heads off first and still do,
March 21st, 2012 at 11:31 am
My favorite cookie memory is making cookies with my mom. Every kind of cookie we made would eventually have a story so that they all ended up with crazy nicknames!
March 21st, 2012 at 3:13 pm
Christina-
Love that you nicknamed your cookies! =)
Be Free!
Kathleen
March 21st, 2012 at 12:04 pm
I have so many great memories growing up baking cookies with my mom. Nothing beats home made, but I did love the animal crackers that came in the red circus box with the string. You could hang them from your wrist and reach in for some anytime you needed a little snack. Eating the Kinnikinnick animal crackers take me back to those carefree days!
March 21st, 2012 at 12:27 pm
When I was a little girl, my mom would come pick me up from my grandparents house after work. She would bring me some of the best snacks, my favorite were the animal cookies. I carry on the tradition with my own children. My son LOVES animal cookies, he loves when mommy shares at home because mine are iced animal cookies. 🙂 Those little memories are the best. Thanks
March 21st, 2012 at 12:28 pm
I remember growing up next door to the Mother’s Cookie distributor. Probably why when grown up my favorite thing to do was bake cookies for holidays to give everyone. Not so much now that I’m gluten free, but slowly getting back to baking. I loved the frosted animal cookies (pink was my fav.).
March 21st, 2012 at 5:43 pm
I remeber snacking on Animal crackers as a little girl. The ones that come in the Circus Train small box. I would always check out the different animals and then bite off the head, then the tail, next the legs, and finally the body.
March 21st, 2012 at 6:50 pm
I remember when I was little going over to grandmas and making all kinds of cookies and enjoying a few after all the hard work we put into making ginger bread , chocolate chip and oatmeal. Yummy! I can almost taste those delicious cookies again, but now they would have to be gluten free.
March 21st, 2012 at 6:58 pm
I remember making late night tollhouse cookies with my best friend (before the gf diagnosis of course) after our late nights of dancing in college!
March 22nd, 2012 at 9:19 am
Julie-
College Roommate Feeding-Fests! I loved them too!
Be Free!
Kathleen
March 21st, 2012 at 8:56 pm
I remember my grandmother having windmill cookies.
March 22nd, 2012 at 4:45 am
I was not a cookie fan but since diagnosed with Celiac Disease, I am buying cookies and cookie mixes. I have picked up some different food likes that I did not have before.
March 22nd, 2012 at 6:17 am
My fondest “cookie memory” is when I was in sixth grade and me and my best friend Taylor decided to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. We walked a mile to the store to buy canned pumpkin and chocolate chips. When we baked the cookies, my friend Taylor accidently dropped the box of baking soda into the cookies. The cookies turned out funny, but we both had fun, and he still ate the cookies.
March 22nd, 2012 at 9:18 am
Danielle-
Cute story! Funny the things we remember, huh!?
Be Free!
Kathleen
March 22nd, 2012 at 6:53 am
Probably my favorite cookie when I was young was an oreo. I had to break it in half, scrape off the white filling with my teeth and then eat the rest. (: I still give a sigh when I walk past those in the grocery store.
March 22nd, 2012 at 9:17 am
Cindy-
Kinnikinnick makes cookies JUST like an Oreo! Taste exactly the same… here is the link:
KinniToos Chocolate Sandwich Creme, 8-Ounce Packages (Pack of 6)
Be Free!
Kathleen
March 22nd, 2012 at 7:05 am
My favorite memory is going fishing with my girls and eating animal crackers, waiting to see what our biggest catch would be.
March 22nd, 2012 at 7:39 am
I still look for the little boxes of animal cookies wth the string handle for my grandson. But I want some for me!! Gluten free
March 22nd, 2012 at 9:09 am
I love the snowball cookies that my family would make around Christmas time. The powdered sugar would be everywhere! Yum… I might have to try to make a batch now, gluten free!
March 22nd, 2012 at 9:16 am
when I was a kid my favorite memory is of dipping graham crackers in tea at my Grandma’s house and feeling very grown up as only the adults were allowed to have tea!
March 22nd, 2012 at 10:04 am
I always loved when my mom would make cookies and I would sneak some of the cookie dough!
March 22nd, 2012 at 10:12 am
I love oh somany cookies…. but my favorite memories are making christmas cookies with my mom and sister…. we don’t do it together now because of my celiac’s but i still feel nostalgic come December. Favorite packaged cookie? Oreos…. I loved to dunk them!
March 22nd, 2012 at 2:11 pm
My favorite cookies were Oreo’s, I missed them so until I found Kinnikinnick’s version. The animal cookies are fun to share with my grandson, fun times eating the heads first!
March 22nd, 2012 at 2:31 pm
Stealing cookie dough when my mother’s back was turned.
March 23rd, 2012 at 6:19 am
My grandma would always buy us the anal crackers in the circus train box 😉 I have recently seen they still exist.
March 23rd, 2012 at 6:24 am
Whoa oops*ANIMAL CRACKERS IN A CIRCUS TRAIN BOX! I recently seen they still exist. Gotta love the cell phones and their auto spelling feature…wow!
March 23rd, 2012 at 6:30 am
HA! HA! Heather… I am laughing so hard now!
Auto-correct on cell phones can be so incorrect, huh?
=)
Be Free!
Kathleen
March 23rd, 2012 at 6:57 am
Every Christmas we make gingerbread cookies and it is fun to watch the kids decorate them!
March 23rd, 2012 at 8:20 am
Making Christmas cookies is perhaps my fondest childhood memory!
March 23rd, 2012 at 9:33 am
Making Christmas Cookies! We always made a variety of kinds and had tremendous fun decorating them to give out to the neighbors. So fun!
March 23rd, 2012 at 9:46 am
McDonald’s Cookies were like Animal Crackers…and what a wat to confuse a kid! They’re COOKIES not crackers! Yeesh! lol Loved the McDonald’s ones, never knowing what character you’d pull out…they should bring those back! 😀
March 23rd, 2012 at 10:49 am
my momma always had cookies on hand but my favorite were the little circus animal cookies in with bright colcored frosting and little candy balls on them. I could eat the whole bag.
March 23rd, 2012 at 10:56 am
I loved making cookies with my mom….miss her so much now that shes gone.
March 23rd, 2012 at 12:39 pm
My favorite memory is making all the home-made cookies with mom and grandma! We would spend hours mixing, placing, baking, cooling, then enjoying. And looking at memory photos I cannot forget the tasting of the dough on the spoon!
March 23rd, 2012 at 2:51 pm
I remember my mom making cookies when I was about ten and the electric went out so my dad thought he could cook the cookies by putting them in the wood stove to cook. Needless to say, burnt cookies and even melted the cookie sheet.
March 23rd, 2012 at 6:12 pm
My favorite memory of animal crackers is making my dad eat all of the broken ones, I never wanted to eat the broken animals
March 24th, 2012 at 6:27 pm
My foundest memory of baking cookies ia ay my grandmas’ house.At Christmas time my mom and myself would go to grandas’,I was very young but still can remember this special time.
March 25th, 2012 at 8:59 am
A cookie memory? Always eating the cream out of the Girl Guide cookies and trying to sneak the cookie part back into the box without anyone noticing! 🙂
March 26th, 2012 at 6:02 am
Cookie Memory: eating them after school with my sister, stealing them from my Grammy’s cookie jar!
March 26th, 2012 at 9:50 am
Every Christmas I make gluten-free thumbprint cookies and every Christmas (except this one!) I think I’ve ruined the first batch! My husband always tells me a moment too late that they always look like that when they come out of the oven and I am stuck with being one tray down of my father-in-law’s favorite cookies…I finally remembered this, this year and had plenty of Gluten-free Thumbprint cookies to go around!
March 26th, 2012 at 11:15 am
As a child my Mom always made cookies. I thought it would be just so special to have a cookie from the store….especially those in the little train boxes! But, they were not allowed as they were too expensive.
March 26th, 2012 at 1:53 pm
My favorite memory of animal crackers is we chose our favor animal first then plays some game with them.
March 26th, 2012 at 8:28 pm
Practically all cookie memories are fond for me, I have to say its tough not having enough gf choices for my son, so I totally appreciate this website and the manufacturers working to make this a little easier. Now he can have animal crackers again. Its the little things that really make me happy!!!
March 27th, 2012 at 8:48 am
I loved animal crackers when I was a kid and now my kids love them too. Sarah is now gluten free (only 2 mts) so trying these would give her back one of her favorites.
March 27th, 2012 at 12:19 pm
In my lunchbox in gradeschool!!!!!!:)
March 27th, 2012 at 2:24 pm
My favorite cookie memory is helping mom bake and decorate Christmas cookies.
March 27th, 2012 at 2:30 pm
I can remember making a deal with my sister. She was eating shortbread cookies, but only the whole cookies. I told her the broken ones tasted the same. She did not believe me. I agreed to try to the cookies she was eating (I only like chocolate chip) if she agreed to eat a broken one. We both won that day!
March 28th, 2012 at 7:50 am
I remember being at the bakery with my Mom and I always wanted the leaf butter cookies that were filled with chocolate. I miss her so much!
March 28th, 2012 at 8:09 am
More cookie memories (for the 2nd chance to win)… I remember loving those peanut-shaped cookies, windmill shaped cookies, and ladyfingers. Ladyfingers were my Dad’s favorite but I remember him sharing his stash with me. 🙂
March 28th, 2012 at 11:08 am
It was always a special treat to sit in the back seat of our Ford in the 1950s and be handed a box of Barnum Animal Crackers. My brother and I would engage our “animals” in sparring before biting their heads off.
March 28th, 2012 at 11:10 am
When you cant eat gluten, almost any gluten free cookie memory is a good one!
March 28th, 2012 at 8:58 pm
Christina…
So true!!
March 28th, 2012 at 4:47 pm
I used to love animal crackers with my sister. We would lay them all out and trade animals!
March 28th, 2012 at 5:12 pm
My cookie memory is baking cookies with my Italian grandmother. One of her favorites, and mine too, was wine cookies (I kid you not – wine was the liquid ingredient). She would bake trayfuls of them – enough to give away to neighbors & friends. I would eat them right out of the oven.
March 28th, 2012 at 5:57 pm
Denise-
I would love to check out that recipe!
Be Free!
Kathleen
March 28th, 2012 at 7:58 pm
Any kind of chocolate chip cookie was a favorite when I was young.
March 28th, 2012 at 11:53 pm
2nd entry
March 29th, 2012 at 9:45 am
I love All cookies! As a child, my FAVORITE was animal cookies that really looked like the animals!
March 29th, 2012 at 11:32 am
It was always a special treat for my brother and I to get a box of animal cookies at the store. We didn’t have much money, so I know this was a very special treat. I loved eating the animal part by part
March 29th, 2012 at 12:50 pm
I remember growing up eating Animal crackers and we would use our imagination with the different animals that were in the box.
March 29th, 2012 at 9:36 pm
My favorite memory was carrying the little animal cracker box, with that red material handle, picking out the animals one by one…and then biting off their heads!!!! lol
March 29th, 2012 at 9:45 pm
I loved baking cookies with my mom and sneaking bites of cookie dough when she wasn’t looking!
March 30th, 2012 at 4:35 am
Making cookies at Christmas…
March 30th, 2012 at 4:57 am
My favorite cookie memory is my son devouring boxes of them when we are running errands, or touring new sites
March 30th, 2012 at 10:09 am
I can remember making lots and lots of chocolate chip cookies when I was younger…there was nothing better! Now, I have a 3 year old who LOVES to make cookies…peanut butter ones are her favourite. She likes that she can put her thumb into the centre then add jam or a hershey kiss into the middle.
March 30th, 2012 at 12:19 pm
My favorite cookie memory was my first perfect batch of gf chocolate chip cookies. After so many failures, mehs, and “well, it kind of does the trick” batches, the first batch of “not even my picky friends can tell the difference” cookies was cause for celebration.
April 2nd, 2012 at 9:40 pm
Michie- Thanks for this comment! I think we’ve all been there before! Nothing like the success of the “Non-GF” folks not telling one bit of a difference your recipes are gluten-free!
Be Free!
Kathleen
March 31st, 2012 at 10:39 pm
Ah, another memory is my late mom and myself making those Pillsbury cookies chocolate chip cookies…couldn’t wait for that oven timer to go off!
April 1st, 2012 at 12:55 am
Here’s my second entry, I love your giveaways and am hoping to try these!
April 2nd, 2012 at 8:50 am
My kids at preschool would like these and there parents would thing they were great. There are so many little ones with allergeys now a days and this would really help them and me.
April 2nd, 2012 at 10:10 am
My favorite cookie memory is baking christmas cookies with the neighbors one day and we spent all day baking, icing and eating them. The atmosphere in the house was very accepting and warm.
April 2nd, 2012 at 10:18 am
One of my fondest cookie memories involves Christmas sugar cookies. My mom, aunt, brother, and I sat around my aunt’s kitchen baking sugar cookies from scratch. We rolled out the dough and cut the cookies into fun shapes (Christmas trees, stockings, reindeer, etc.). We used colored sugar sprinkles and icing to decorate the cookies. We ate about half of them and my brother and I were allowed to take the rest home. I don’t know if it was the quality time, the holiday season, or the satisfaction of carrying out a long task, but I remember being incredibly happy that day. So much so, that last year I called up my sister and had her over for a gingerbread cookie bake-and-decorate session. We plan on doing it again in December 2012.
April 2nd, 2012 at 10:19 am
Ashley… Love traditions like these. It’s up to all of us to keep them going. To keep the memories strong!
Be Free!
Kathleen
April 2nd, 2012 at 11:26 am
I remember buying animal crackers when I was pregnant with my son (10 years ago) and we ran out of cereal so my husband threw animal crackers in a bowl and walla animal cracker cereal!!! i started eating it and then my son looooves it. However we were just diagnosed me, son and they are sooo expensive I can’t buy them by the bucket anymore.
April 2nd, 2012 at 11:28 am
Love the idea of “Animal Cracker Cereal”! Kinnikinnick …. here is an idea for you! =)
Be Free!
Kathleen
April 3rd, 2012 at 2:24 am
being a little girl at my grandmas house wearing her aprons baking cookies..and getting to ”sneak” some of the batter from the bowl before the cookies were baked.
April 3rd, 2012 at 4:50 am
My mom making “Survival Cookies” before each of my sisters school trips. She made huge batches with just half the fat and sugar of a regular recipe, threw in whole grain cereals, nuts, oats, seeds, chocolate chips, raisins and spices. They were so good and all my sisters friends loved them too. Seems like they won more debates and more ribbons on those trips too. My sister always came home carrying empty ice cream buckets and a whole lot of trophies.
April 3rd, 2012 at 6:04 am
Marleena – These “Survival Cookies” sound so good… and healthy!
Be Free!
Kathleen
April 25th, 2012 at 11:57 am
I once made a carosel two layer birthday cake with animal crakcers on the edge.would love those new cookies that are dairy,egg and GF for my 4 year old grandson