Easy Thanksgiving Turkey Cookies
These easy Turkey Cookies are the perfect festive way to celebrate Thanksgiving! This recipe is simple to make and super fun to decorate. It’s perfect as a thanksgiving dessert or a baking activity for the kids while dinner is in the oven!
Table of Contents
November has arrived, which means that Thanksgiving is right around the corner!
At my house, that means turkey with ALL of the thanksgiving sides, which also includes dessert! Pumpkin pie is always on the menu, but I like to keep things fun with various desserts, especially cookies.
A few years ago, I made these super fun peanut butter cup turkeys that everyone loved and had fun making, but it was time to try something new.
This year, I put together these simple turkey cookies! They are my newest Thanksgiving obsession, and I plan to make them over and over again. Not only do they taste amazing, but they are beyond simple to make. In fact, they would make a totally fun project to make with your kids while Thanksgiving dinner is in the oven.
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What goes into this recipe
Using an easy sugar cookie as the base we’ll top it off with simple ingredients of mini Nutter Butter cookies, edible eyeballs, candy corn, and frosting to make the turkey’s face
- Sugar cookie mix: This is the quickest way to make delicious turkey sugar cookies. To make them no bake cookies, use Golden Oreos or a fudge stripe cookie.
- Butter: This recipe calls for 1/2 a cup of butter, softened. This helps give the cookies a nice flavor and texture.
- Eggs: You’ll need one egg for the cookie dough. Eggs help combine everything!
- Mini Nutter Butters: With 24 mini cookies, you’ll have enough to top all of your turkey cookies! You can also use a mini Oreo cookie and make Oreo turkeys.
- Candy-coated sunflower seeds: You will use these to create the turkey beak. You could also use yellow M&Ms or Reese’s pieces.
- Candy eyes: What’s a turkey cookie without eyeballs?!?
- Red sprinkles: These will be used for the turkey’s wattle. Red icing can also be used.
- Candy corn: You’ll need to use the candy corn pieces to decorate the sugar cookie. This candy works perfectly as the turkey’s candy corn feathers!
- White frosting: I used my go-to store-bought white icing but feel free to make your own. Melted chocolate would also work great.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
Don’t want to use a cookie mix? That’s okay – you could use my cream cheese sugar cookie dough to make them. If you want these guys to be simple and stress-free, go with the usual sugar cookie mix.
Better yet, make them with store bought sugar cookies! That would be an even simpler way to make these adorable Turkey Cookies.
If you’d like a different flavor of cookie to serve as your base, try one of these:
You can also use any frosting! I like the classic white canned frosting, but you can also use cream cheese frosting or white buttercream.
How to make Turkey Cookies
- Using the sugar cookie as the base, place a dollop of white frosting onto the back of a mini Nutter Butter cookie.
- Place the Nutter Butter (frosting side down) close to the bottom of the cookie. Leave room for the feathers. Next, add two little dollops of frosting to the top of the head.
- Press on the two edible eyeballs. Then, add a bit of frosting below and between both eyes.
- Add the yellow sunflower seed (or mini yellow M&M) to make the beak. To add the turkey wattle, use a single red sprinkle, add a small amount of frosting and then carefully add it to the turkey next to the beak, to finish the turkey face.
- Using a fan shape, add five candy corn candies feathers around the top edge of the Nutter Butter cookie and use the frosting to attach to the sugar cookie. Eat and enjoy!
Expert Tips
Before you make these yummy thanksgiving cookies, take a look at these baking tips to make sure your cookies come out perfect every time!
- Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature before you start baking. Room-temperature ingredients mix together much easier and produce a more consistent cookie.
- When scooping the cookie dough, use a level scoop. This will keep all of the cookies the same size and help them bake evenly.
- To get the perfect cookie, make sure not to over-bake them! Every oven is different, so keep a close eye on them. The cookies should be set around the edges but soft in the center.
- Use tweezers to add the candy to the sugar cookie. They can be fragile and hard to handle while working with them.
- When adding the candy corn, make sure that the pointy end points downwards so they look like real feathers! If you want to get creative, you could use different colored candy corn to make a rainbow of turkey feathers.
Recipe FAQs
If stored in an airtight container, sugar cookies will stay fresh for about a week at room temperature. In the refrigerator, the sugar cookies will last for up to 2 weeks.
Decorated sugar cookies can be frozen for longer-term storage. Place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze until firm. Then, transfer them to an airtight container or plastic freezer bag. Frozen cookies can be stored for several months. When ready to enjoy, allow them to thaw at room temperature.
Serve these Thanksgiving sugar cookies anytime during the holiday season. Take them to a school party or use the recipe as a fun activity to do with kids of all ages. Add the festive turkey treats to your Thanksgiving dessert table with other easy Thanksgiving desserts.
Do you want other Thanksgiving Dessert Ideas? Try these recipes…
Did you try this recipe?
Leave a ⭐️ review below and tag @practicallyhomemade on Pinterest!
Easy Thanksgiving Turkey Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie
- 1-17.5 oz. pkg sugar cookie mix
- 1/2 cup butter {softened}
- 1 egg
Toppings
- 24 mini Nutter Butter Cookies
- 48 edible eyeballs
- 24 yellow candy coated sunflower seeds
- 24 red long sprinkles
- 120 candy corn candies
- 1 can white frosting {I used vanilla}
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cookies
- Combine the sugar cookie mix, butter and egg in a medium bowl until you have a soft dough. Use a medium cookie scoop and scoop 12 mounds of dough onto a silicone mat {or parchment} lined baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until cookies are cooked through. Remove from oven and cool completely on cookie sheet.
Assembly
- Apply frosting to the back of a mini Nutter Butter Cookie and place frosting side down on top of sugar cookie on the bottom half. We want to be sure and leave enough room for the candy corn feathers.
- Add to small spots of frosting on the top of the Nutter Butter for the eyes. Place two edible eyeballs on the frosting and press down slightly.
- Add another spot of frosting in the middle and below the eyeballs for the beak. Add the candy coated sunflower seed on the frosting.
- For the wattle, take a longer red sprinkle. Add a little frosting to the top/side of the sprinkle and attach it to the side of the beak.
- Finally, add five candy corn to each cookie. Make a fan shape above the Nutter Butter head being sure to add enough frosting that they will stay in place.
- Allow the frosting to set up before stacking the cookies.
Notes
- If you don’t want to use a sugar cookie mix try my cream cheese sugar cookie recipe.
- Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature before you start baking. Room-temperature ingredients mix together much easier and produce a more consistent cookie.
- When scooping the cookie dough, use a level scoop, so all of your cookies are the same size. This will help them bake evenly.
- To get the perfect cookie, make sure not to over-bake them! Every oven is different, so keep a close eye on them. The cookies should be set around the edges but soft in the center.
- Use tweezers to add the candy to the sugar cookie. They can be fragile and hard to handle while working with them.
- When adding the candy corn, make sure that the pointy end points downwards so they look like real feathers! If you want to get creative, you could use different colored candy corn to make a rainbow of turkey feathers.
