Turkey-decorated peanut butter cookies
These adorable turkey-decorated peanut butter cookies will make a fun, kid-friendly Thanksgiving dessert!
You can make them ahead of time to wow your Thanksgiving guests, or wait until the day-of and have the kiddos help you decorate them. Bonus: It will keep them busy while the food cooks.
A Reese’s peanut butter cup makes the turkey’s face, Candy Corn make the feathers, a Red Hot candy makes the beak, and a Swedish Fish makes the turkey’s snoods. And truth be told, with a little frosting as an adherent, you could even decorate pre-made or store bought cookies to make things a little easier.
Turkey-Decorated Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter, natural versions not recommended
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 18 large Reese’s peanut butter cups
- 90 candy corns
- 18 Red Hot candies
- 9 red Swedish fish, sliced in half to an angle
- 36 eyeballs
- 2-3 tablespoons vanilla frosting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line your cookie sheets with nonstick cooking mats and set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat together the peanut butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat until smooth and then add the egg, baking soda, and vanilla extract.
- Roll the dough into large balls and place on the cookie sheet.
- Press the tops down slightly and then bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to continue to “cook” on the sheet for another 3 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack.
- Remove the cookies to the cooling rack and press in the peanut butter cups (before the cookies have cooled all the way).
- Press the candy corns into the cookies, again before they have cooled. (If the cookies have cooled too much and the candy doesn’t stick, you will need to use frosting to adhere the candies. Pressing everything in while the cookies are warm will help everything stick together and dry hardened)
- By this time the chocolate on the Reese’s cup should be softened enough to be able to press into two eyes, a red hot candy (as the beak), and a halved Swedish fish.
- Allow to harden completely and re-adhere any parts that didn’t stick with a small glob of frosting.