These easy turkey cookies use Nutter Butters, candy eyes, and pretzel turkey feathers for the cutest Thanksgiving cookies you’ll ever see! They’re a fun Thanksgiving treat that should be on every Thanksgiving dessert table!
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Ever since I shared these cute chocolate turkeys (made with a peanut butter cup and candy corn feathers) a few years back, I’ve been wanting to make another turkey treat that could be added to every Thanksgiving table!
These cute little guys are just that! They’re cute little turkey cookies that are simple to make since they start with store-bought Nutter Butter cookies!
And kids love them – love making them and eating them after! They’re a fun treat that are not only cute but also delicious! I mean who doesn’t love chocolate covered pretzels, I know I do!
So make up a batch of these fun Thanksgiving turkey cookies to enjoy after all the mashed potatoes and sausage stuffing, they make a great holiday treat and the best part is that they’re no bake cookies that take just a few minutes to make!
Or you could even add these to your Thanksgiving place settings as a festive treat to start the big Thanksgiving dinner feast!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Fun project – if you want something to make with the kids, these are a great option! Let them make the turkey face on their own and help them with dipping and sticking the pretzels!
- Simple ingredients – these simple turkey cookies use simple ingredients you can find at every grocery store! If you can’t find something, I’ve included substitution options for making these turkey treats with other ingredients.
- Festive – these are a festive way to end your Thanksgiving meal or just to get in the Thanksgiving spirit! These would also be a perfect treat to take to neighbors if you’re doing some of these gratitude activities!
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Red frosting – you can either buy red frosting or just buy some white or vanilla frosting and mix it with a little red food coloring to make it red. I recommend using a thicker frosting compared to a thinner royal icing or white icing (dyed red) because you want it to have some thickness and texture on the turkey’s face.
- Chocolate candy corn – I used the pieces of candy corn to make the beaks on the turkeys, but you could really use any orange candy you want. I’ve also used Reese’s Pieces (leftover from these Reese’s Pieces cookies) cut in half, M&Ms cut in half, and even Skittles. The Skittles are my last choice though because they don’t really go well flavor wise with these turkey cookies!
- Sprinkles – any fall colored sprinkles that would normally use on sugar cookies work just fine!
- Chocolate chips – I used a semi-sweet chocolate chip but you could easily use milk chocolate or dark chocolate as well. You could also make these with chocolate melting wafers or chocolate almond bark too.
- Oil – adding a little vegetable oil or melted coconut oil to the chocolate can help it melt a little smoother, but it is optional!
- Nutter Butters – make sure to get the full size Nutter Butter cookies, not the little bite-sized ones. And if you’d prefer not to use store-bought, you could also make these with my homemade nutter butters! Just don’t dip in chocolate!
How to make turkey cookies
These adorable turkey cookies are actually really easy to make. They do take a little bit of time just because the pretzels have to chill, but they time is totally worth it!
1 – Make the Turkey Face
- Place the red frosting into a zip-top bag with the corner cut off or a piping bag with a small round tip. You can use my cupcake decorating hack to do this mess free!
- Using the frosting as glue, pipe two little dots on the top of the Nutter Butter cookies and place a candy eye onto each little dot.
- Next, to make the turkey’s beak, cut off the brown part of the candy corn and make a little vertical line just below the eyes and place the candy corn onto the frosting with the orange side down.
- Use the red frosting again and make a vertical line on either the left or right side of the turkey’s beak.
2 – Add Turkey Feathers
Once the turkey faces are done, it’s time to add on the turkey feathers! Start by lining 2-3 baking sheets or cutting boards or other flat moveable surfaces (charcuterie boards work too) with parchment paper.
These are pretty big, so they won’t fit on one baking sheet without overlapping (and you don’t want to do that).
In a medium safe bowl combine the oil and the chocolate chips. Microwave in 20 second increments making sure to stir well between each increment (or just follow the package directions for melting). Repeat until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.
To make the turkey’s tail, dip each mini pretzel into the melted chocolate and place four mini pretzels in a half circle on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. If your pretzels are a bit larger, you can do three pretzels as well so that they look like a turkey’s tail.
While the chocolate pretzels are still melted, place the Nutter Butter with the turkey’s face up over ends of the chocolate-coated pretzels. Make sure the pretzels are not covered completely, so you can still see the turkey’s tail. Press down gently to really stick the cookie into the chocolate.
Tip!
If you’re in a hurry and don’t want to dip your own chocolate covered pretzels, you could also use store-bought chocolate covered pretzels. Then just melt some chocolate and use the melted chocolate to connect the Nutter Butter to the chocolate covered pretzel feathers instead by adding it to the back of the cookie and pressing it down onto the pretzels. You won’t be able to do the sprinkles (unless you drizzle chocolate on the pretzels) but will still be able to get the turkey look.
Quickly sprinkle the tail with orange sprinkles while the chocolate is still melted on the pretzels. I recommend using orange circle sprinkles for this and if not those, the long skinny sprinkles (jimmies) so you can actually see the color.
Place the baking sheets with the turkey cookies in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to allow the chocolate to set completely. I recommend leaving them in the fridge as long as you can so the chocolate is completely chilled before you move these around.
Line a serving tray or plate with a piece of parchment paper and transfer the turkeys to the tray for serving. The parchment paper underneath will help people pick these up without the chocolate sticking to the parchment paper.
Serve chilled or at room temperature. If you are serving at room temperature, I recommend making sure the room isn’t too hot or the chocolate can start melting (as chocolate does).
Expert Tips
Keep these chilled until you’re ready to serve them. If you leave them out for a long time, the chocolate on the pretzels can begin to melt, especially if your house or serving venue is warm. If the chocolate melts, the feathers can fall off and no one wants molting turkeys.
Refrigerate any leftovers in an airtight container for up to five days then toss. I do not recommend freezing.
Let kids of all ages help make these! Younger kids can help decorate faces and older kids can help with dipping the pretzels and putting the turkeys together! Treats taste even better when they’re made by your own hands, and these are so much fun to make!
Try to find the smallest pretzels possible. The tiny twists are my personal preference because you can get four pretzels around each of the peanut butter turkey cookies!
Recipe FAQs
More Thanksgiving Desserts
If you like these fun little things for Thanksgiving, you should try these other festive treats too!
- Acorn Oreo Balls – these yummy Oreo cookies combine Oreo crumbs, peanut butter, and pretzels in a fun Thanksgiving treat! Or skip the nuts and these are the perfect size for treats for classroom parties!
- Pumpkin pie rice krispie treats – these Thanksgiving rice krispie treats look just like a pumpkin pie but with less pumpkin!
- Cut out sugar cookies – this is the best sugar cookie dough for rolling out shapes! Make this and some cream cheese frosting to make classic turkey cookies!
- Pumpkin cookies – these 4 ingredient pumpkin cookies are easy as pie to make!
- Pumpkin crunch cake – the ultimate pumpkin dessert for anyone who doesn’t want pumpkin pie!
Nutter Butter Turkey Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp red frosting
- 8 Nutter Butter Cookies
- 16 small candy eyes
- 8 chocolate candy corn (brown and orange candy corn)
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 32 mini pretzels
- 3 tbsp orange sprinkles
Instructions
- Place the red frosting into a zip-top bag with the corner cut off or a piping bag with a small round tip.3 tbsp red frosting
- Using the frosting as glue, pipe two little dots on the top of the Nutter Butter cookies and place a candy eye onto each little dot.16 small candy eyes, 8 Nutter Butter Cookies
- Next, to make the turkey’s beak, cut off the brown part of the candy corn and make a little vertical line just below the eyes and place the candy corn onto the frosting with the orange side down.8 chocolate candy corn
- Use the red frosting again and make a vertical line on either the left or right side of the turkey’s beak.
- Start by lining 2-3 baking sheets or cutting boards or other flat moveable surfaces (charcuterie boards work too) with parchment paper.
- In a medium safe bowl combine the oil and the chocolate chips. Microwave in 20 second increments making sure to stir well between each increment. Repeat until chocolate is smooth.1 tsp vegetable oil, 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
- To make the turkey’s tail, dip each mini pretzel into the melted chocolate and place four mini pretzels in a half circle on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.32 mini pretzels
- While the chocolate pretzels are still melted, place the Nutter Butter with the turkey’s face up over ends of the chocolate-coated pretzels.
- Quickly sprinkle the tail with orange sprinkles while the chocolate is still melted on the pretzels.3 tbsp orange sprinkles
- Place the baking sheets with the turkey cookies in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to allow the chocolate to set completely.
- Serve chilled or at room temperate.
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