Easy turkey cookies for Thanksgiving are an adorable food craft to do with the kids before the kick off of the holiday season! These cute turkeys look adorable on the dessert table, require no baking skills at all, and are a fun activity to do with kids of all ages!

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Happy almost Thanksgiving!

It’s crazy.

The time of year from September through December just feels like it goes so fast. I know it’s cliche, but for me at least it’s true.

And every year, I vow that I am going to slow down and do more crafts and more baking.

If you’re looking to do more baking, crafting, or both, theese easy turkey cookies are for you!

Ingredients and Kitchen Supplies

These semi-homemade turkey cookies need the following ingredients:

Sugar cookie dough – We use premade rolls of Pillsbury or similar brand of sugar cookies. You could also make your own at home if you prefer.
Package of Milano cookies – You can use whatever flavor you prefer. You could also switch this up a little and use any elongated sandwich or shortbread cookie. This piece forms the head and neck of the turkey.
Chocolate icing – You can use store bought or make your own buttercream. If you follow that recipe, add about 1 to 2 teaspoons of powdered chocolate that you use for baking.
Candy corn – A use for left over or gifted candy corn. You can use these to make the plumage or tail of the turkey. If you don’t have any candy corn or can’t find any, you could use other candies, like alternating Reese Pieces to form the tail.
Candy eyeballs – You can often get candy eyeballs at your local craft store in the baking section. You can also order them online here.
Vanilla icing – You can use store bought or follow this easy vanilla buttercream recipe.
Red food coloring – You could use gel or regular food coloring.

For kitchen supplies, you’ll want:

Cookie Sheet
Wire Cooling Rack – We like these stacking ones because they save some valuable counter space.
Piping Bag (optional but allows you to make the icing fancier if you like)

How to Make Easy Turkey Cookies

1. Bake the sugar cookies.

If you are using store bought cookie dough, follow the instructions for slicing and baking the cookies.

Once they are done, place the cookies on a wire cooling rack and allow them to come down to room temperature.

2. Ice the sugar cookies and assemble the turkey.

Once the sugar cookies cool, use a knife or piping bag to completely ice the tops of the sugar cookies.

Starting at the about the center line of the cookie, start adding candy corn following the round edge of the cookie and stopping roughly even with the candy corn you started with.

Repeat this for each cookie.

Next, make a second row of candy corn “feathers” following the previously laid candy corns.

Finally, place a Milano or other elongated cookie in the center so its base rests in the icing and the top rests on the bottom row of candy corn.

3. Make the faces.

To make the faces for the turkey cookies, take a small dab of vanilla icing and coat the back of a candy eye.

Place the candy eye about a half inch from the top, roughly towards the center line of the cookie.

Repeat the process and place a second eye next to the first one.

Continue the process until each turkey cookie has two eyes.

Once all your eyes are placed, mix red food coloring into the vanilla icing to make the watttle on the turkey.

You may want to play around with the amount of red you add because adding too little can cause the icing to appear pink instead of red.

When you get the right consistency of red, use a knife or piping bag to place a small triangle of red under the eyes of each turkey.

Repeat until each has their own wattle.

The last step is to place a candy corn sticking straight up towards the top of each wattle.

Serving and Storing

You can serve these cookies with other desserts in a Thanksgiving spread, bring them as a fun dessert for a Friendsgiving, or just use them as a fun, edible craft with the kids.

To store, place the cookies in a single layer in an air tight container.

They should stay fresh for about 5 to 6 days on the counter.

We don’t recommend freezing the cookies.

Tips and Tricks

Make sure you have some extra icing, eyes, red dye, and candy corn on hand so you can make adjustments as needed.
You could use prebaked sugar or short bread cookies if you prefer too.
You could also use superior cookies – like chocolate chip cookies – or other favorites to make the base of the turkey cookies. You cover them in icing so you won’t see the difference in the final food craft.
You can pipe icing on in different fall colors or use other candies, like Reese Pieces, to make the tails if you don’t have or don’t like candy corn.
You can make your own buttercream icing if you like. This can create a tastier final cookie.

More Easy Baked Goods

Looking for other easy baked goods? Check out these:

Did you make this? Let me know!

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