Thanksgiving Turkey Cookies with Royal Icing

 Wondering how to mix a little family bonding time with your Thanksgiving preparations? Try our special turkey sugar cookies recipe! This isn’t just about the cookies, but the quality time and laughter you share while making them!   This is a Thanksgiving Turkey Cookies recipe with homemade royal icing decorations.  

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Let’s get our hands doughy! Ready to create mouth-watering and memory-filled cookies? 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 large egg
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cream of tartar

How to make the Thanksgiving Turkey Cookies:

Directions:

• Beat together the powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, almond extract, and egg, until smooth and creamy. Mix in remaining ingredients using the paddle attachment of the mixer.
• Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
• Heat oven to 375 degrees.
• Roll dough in portions to about 1/8- 1/4 inch thickness and cut with a large circle cookie cutter (approximately 3 ½ inches in diameter).
• Bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a baking mat for approximately 7 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes then move the cookies to a cooling rack.

• In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar, vanilla, and melted butter. Stir well.
• Then add milk, 1 tsp at a time until the frosting is of desired consistency to frost cookies.
• Finally, color with brown gel food color, mixed to your desired color of turkey

Note: I use almond extract instead of the traditional vanilla for 2 reasons. First, I have found that the flavor is much better. Second, vanilla darkens my white icing, making it look brown and dirty. Since the almond extract is clear, I don’t have that problem. This was irrelevant for this project, but I still prefer the flavor of the almond extract.

Royal Icing Decoration Recipe:

Note:  Traditionally, Royal Icing is made with Egg Whites. However, if you have small children, it is not recommended that children (or pregnant women for you that this applies to) eat uncooked or undercooked eggs.  Therefore, it’s a good idea to use this recipe instead. It worked beautifully and tasted great

Ingredients:

• 5 Tablespoons of Meringue Powder
• 1/3 cup water
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• Juice from 1 lemon
• Gel food coloring (4-5 colors of your choice for the feathers, beak, and waddle)
• Candy Eyes

Other Cookie Recipes:

• Candy Candy Chewy Cookies
• Classic Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies
• Kiss Cookies
• Pilgrim Hat Cookies

Print Recipe

5 from 10 votes

Thanksgiving Turkey Cookies

Thanksgiving Turkey Cookies recipe with homemade royal icing decorations. These turkey sugar cookies are coated with powdered sugar icing and decorated.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Cooling Time2 hours hrs

Total Time2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course: Dessert, Snack, snacks

Cuisine: American

Keyword: turkey cookies, Thanksgiving turkey cookie

Servings: 16

Calories: 375kcal

Author: Kristi

Equipment

• Mixing Bowls
• mixer
• Pastry Mat
• Rolling pin
• 3 ¼ Cookie Cutter
• Baking Sheets
• plastic squeeze bottles
• card stock
• wax paper

Ingredients

For the cookies

• 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup butter softened
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ½ tsp almond extract
• 1 large egg
• 2 ½ cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cream of tartar

For the powdered sugar icing

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 tbsp melted butter
• milk
• brown gel food coloring

For the Royal Icing

• 5 Tablespoons Meringue Powder
• ⅓ cup water
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• Juice from 1 lemon
• Gel food coloring 4-5 colors of your choice for the feathers, beak, and waddle

Instructions

To make the cookies

• Beat together the powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, almond extract, and egg, until smooth and creamy. Mix in remaining ingredients using the paddle attachment of the mixer.
• Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
• Heat oven to 375 degrees.
• Roll dough in portions to about 1/8- 1/4 inch thickness and cut with a large circle cookie cutter (approximately 3 ¼ inches in diameter).
• Bake on a cookie sheet lined with a baking mat for approximately 7 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes then move the cookies to a cooling rack.

To Make the Powdered Sugar Icing

• In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar, vanilla, and melted butter. Stir well. 2. Then add milk, 1 tsp at a time until the frosting is of desired consistency to frost cookies.
• Finally, color with brown gel food color, mixed to your desired color of turkey. (I use almond extract instead of the traditional vanilla for 2 reasons. First, I have found that the flavor is much better. Second, vanilla darkens my white icing, making it look brown and dirty. Since the almond extract is clear, I don’t have that problem. This was irrelevant for this project, but I still prefer the flavor of the almond extract)

For the Royal Icing

• Beat meringue powder and water on high for approximately 1-2 minutes, until the mixture, is slightly thickened.
• Note: Add the sugar and lemon juice and mix until smooth. (You don’t want the icing to thin, so it will not run when you are creating your designs. Traditionally, Royal Icing is made with Egg Whites. However, I have small children and it is not recommended that children (or pregnant women for you that this applies to) eat uncooked or undercooked eggs. Therefore, I have provided this recipe instead. It worked beautifully and tasted great)
• This makes for a good amount of icing. I divided the icing into separate bowls, one for each color I was going to be using and mixed in the gel food coloring of the colors I wanted. I then placed each color into a plastic squeeze bottle to allow for easy tracing of the decoration designs.
• So, for these royal icing decorations, I used elongated ovals for the feathers and a simple drawing of a beak and waddle to create a template for the icing decorations. I printed these on a small square of card stock, slightly larger than my cookies. I taped a rectangular piece of cardboard to create a “handle” on the back of the template.
• I taped a piece of wax paper, just big enough for my design, to another piece of cardboard.  Then I slid the template between the wax paper and cardboard and then traced my design, using the desired colors with the squeeze bottles of royal icing.
• Once I was done, I removed the template from under the wax paper and set aside the design to dry. I repeated this as many times as the number of cookies I wanted to make. It is best to let the icing dry at least overnight so that it is firm when you remove it from the wax paper.
• Once I had iced the Thanksgiving turkey cookies with the brown powdered sugar icing, I then removed the royal icing decorations from the wax paper and arranged them on these turkey sugar cookies.  You want to be very gentle removing these from the wax paper to prevent them from breaking or cracking. Either use a toothpick to gently prod the icing decorations off the wax paper, or place the wax paper on the edge of the counter or table and roll it down over the edge. This will easily dislodge the pieces.

Nutrition

Calories: 375kcal | Carbohydrates: 64g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 43mg | Sodium: 192mg | Potassium: 59mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 48g | Vitamin A: 392IU | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 1mg