Simple Turkey Cookies

Hello everyone! I hope you are ready for turkey #3 because here they are and they’re ready for a party!  These simple turkey cookies are made from a birthday hat cookie cutter but don’t stress if you don’t have one because you can find other cutters to use below. I know they don’t look excited or they don’t look ready for a party because they just found out it is November.

Simple Turkey Cookies - Thanksgiving Cookies are Sugar Cookies Decorated with Royal Icing www.thebearfootbaker.com

We all know what happens to turkeys in November because Thanksgiving is a huge deal. Yikes! Poor guys. Well, we have the party hats so let’s get this party started.

Supplies for Simple Turkey Cookies:
(contains affiliate links)

Recipes:
Sugar Cookie Recipe or  Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
Royal Icing Recipe

Cookie Cutter:
Birthday Hat Cookie Cutter

Royal Icing Colors:

15 Second Icing in the following colors:

  • Brown Icing
  • Orange Icing
  • Red Icing
  • Green Icing
  • Yellow Icing

Royal Icing Transfers and we also call them Candy Eyes:
(click the links for the free patterns)

Small, Medium or Large Royal Icing Eyes (click here for the templates)

**UPDATE 11\22\19**

When I originally made these cookies I use decorating bags with couplers and tips. Since way back in 2014, tipless bags have been offered and I love them. Here are some that I use, but there are many tipless bags out there. You might want to try a few to see if you like them because they make decorating fun with an easy cleanup process.

Tipless Decorating Bags I use:

Food-Safe Marker

Optional:

Cookie Turntable Swivel for Cookies turntable with the Mini mat
Place your cookies in front of a fan so the icing will dry with a nice shine.

If you are new to cookie decorating and would like more information on how to outline and flood cookies you might want to take a look at this tutorial.

Simple Turkey Cookies - Sugar Cookies Decorated with Royal Icing with www.thebearfootbaker.com

  • A birthday hat cookie cutter with a pom-pom on top works best for this design but if you don’t have one, just trim the top of the dough off of any birthday hat cutter and replace it with a flower cookie before you bake the cookie. The flower will work great for the turkey tails.
  • Begin by drawing a circle on the hat with a food-safe marker as a pattern for the body.

How to Make Simple Turkey Cookies with a Birthday Hat Cookie Cutter | The Bearfoot Baker

  • By the way, if you don’t have a birthday hat cookie cutter like this one, don’t worry because almost any birthday hat cookie cutter will work. Or you can replace the design at the top of your hat with a flower cutter. You can even use a dress cookie cutter like this one because the top of the dress will be a really cute turkey tail.

Simple Turkey Cookies | The Bearfoot Baker

  • All you have to do is cut out your hat shape then cut the top off with a flower cookie cutter. Then cut out a flower out of the cookie dough and place it on the hat.

Simple Turkey Cookies - Sugar Cookies Decorated with Royal Icing by thebearfootbaker.com

  • After you draw the circle with the food-safe marker, outline, and flood it with the brown icing. You can make the edges of the circle smooth or you can make a zig-zag circle for a more interesting turkey. I like the saying, “Ruffle your feathers” so my turkeys look scared with their little ruffled feathers. If you want to make your turkeys have a crazy little outline chose the zig-zag lines.
  • Let the icing dry for about an hour unless you live in an area with high humidity which will require a longer drying time.

Simple Turkey Cookies - Sugar Cookies Decorated with Royal Icing via thebearfootbaker.com

  • Next, outline and flood the turkey’s red and yellow tail feathers because we want to pipe every other feather so we can give them plenty of room to dry. If we pipe the feather side by side while the icing is wet the colors may bleed together and make our turkey’s look like a big royal icing mess.
  • Then, pipe a circle for the face and make a few wild feathers on top.
  • While the icing is wet add the royal icing eyes. For this turkey, I used one large eye and one small eye.
  • Next, pipe the feet and legs with the orange icing.
  • Let the cookie for several hours.

Simple Turkey Cookies - Sugar Cookies Decorated with Royal Icing via www.thebearfootbaker.com

  • Once the icing has dried for a little while, pipe the orange and green tail feathers on this simple turkey cookie.
  • Then, pipe the beak with the orange icing.

Simple Turkey Cookies - Thanksgiving Cookies are Sugar Cookies Decorated with Royal Icing www.thebearfootbaker.com

  • Then, pipe the snoods with the red icing and let the cookie dry overnight.

If you like to watch a video of these guys being made check it out here:

How to Make a Simple Turkey Cookie with a Video

I like to challenge myself sometimes and do projects like this “10 days. 10 turkeys. 10 different cutters” because it forces me to look at my cookie cutters with a creative eye. Before I started this project, I only saw a birthday hat when I looked at the birthday hat cookie cutter. Now I can see a turkey.

I want to give you some homework this week because this is fun stuff and good practice. Look through your cookie cutters and find three unique shapes that you can use to make cute turkey cookies. You don’t actually have to make the cookies because this is good practice for getting creative with your cutters. Leave a comment and let us know what cutter you’ll use for your turkeys!

More Turkey treats:

Bear hugs,

Lisa