
A big treat this morning. My daughter recently had fun making Thanksgiving turkey cookies with her little girls. I asked her to share her super cute recipe with everyone. And she happily obliged so here’s Kristi!
Hi all! I am Kristi, Evelyn’s oldest daughter. I was recently chatting with Mom about some turkey sugar cookies I make, and I was so excited about them. Now I’m happy to volunteer to write this guest post and share this easy turkey cookies recipe with homemade royal icing decorations.
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These are Thanksgiving Holiday Turkey Sugar Cookies my daughters and I made last weekend and we had a lot of fun making them. They turned out so cute and I was really excited to share this turkey cookies recipe on Mom’s blog. The best part is that it took a while to make them and it was that much more quality time I was able to spend with my daughters.
Note: 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 royal icing decorations recipe instead. It worked beautifully and tasted great.
How to make Thanksgiving Turkey Cookies:
Scroll down for the printable recipe
For this turkey cookies recipe you will need:
- 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
- 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 non-stick foil 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.
For the powdered sugar icing
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
- 1 cup of powdered sugar
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1 tbsp melted butter
- milk
- brown gel food coloring
How to make Royal Icing Decorations:
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)
- Beat meringue powder and water on high for approximately 1-2 minutes, until the mixture, is slightly thickened.
- 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.
- 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.


If you enjoy these turkey sugar cookies then see these:
Thanksgiving Turkey Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies
- 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
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
- 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
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 ½ 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.
- 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.
Nutrition
Steph @ Three Loud Kids!
Sunday 1st of December 2013
These are so super cute!
Debi and Charly @ Adorned From Above
Tuesday 26th of November 2013
So Cute. Thanks so much for sharing. Have a great Thanksgiving.Debi and Charly
Winnie
Monday 25th of November 2013
These are absolutely adorable!!
Clairejustine oxox
Sunday 24th of November 2013
Aww these are so sweet...Thanks for sharing and pinning
Michelle Williams
Saturday 23rd of November 2013
These are so cute!! I'm pinning them!! :)