Today I’m going to show you how to make a fun Thanksgiving craft perfect for both kids and adults! These darling turkeys are made from candy and completely edible! They are a fun activity for holiday parties, family nights, or just for fun. I’m also going to show you how to make a great little pilgrim hat at the end as well.
Ingredients Needed
Turkeys
- Double stuff Oreo cookies – Yes, the double stuff is important. You need the extra room to attach the candy corn feathers!
- Candy corn – Some people have a strong aversion to candy corn. Other times it can be hard to track down. In either case, readers have reported they’ve used Mike and Ikes in place of candy corn and that it works well.
- Whoppers
- Mini peanut butter cups – Readers have reported success with marshmallow filled cups as well as Rolos in place of peanut butter cups.
- Chocolate frosting, yellow frosting, red frosting (optional) – For these kinds of things I love to use the little pre-filled tubes of colored frosting you can buy in the baking aisle. The chocolate is easy to make, and homemade actually works a little better because you can make it stiff. However, for the colored details like yellow and red, these little tubes are great. It doesn’t really matter what they taste like and they last forever (which is both cool and disturbing at the same time.) I’m using store-bought tubes for everything here purely for convenience- works great!
- Black sprinkles – Optional, for eyes.
Pilgrim Hats
- Regular size marshmallows – The standard size you would use for s’mores.
- Fudge stripe cookies
- Chocolate chips or chocolate flavored candy melts – For dipping.
- Yellow frosting – For buckle.
How to Make Oreo Turkeys and Cookie Pilgrim Hats
Oreo Turkeys
- Grab a cookie. You don’t have to put frosting in there, but I like to because it holds in the candy corn a little better. Just give it a little squeeze of chocolate.
- Then stuff in your candy corn feathers. If you’re in some sort of candy corn shortage, you can cut off the white tips to use later for your beaks. I think the candy corn sticks in better with the tip so I leave it on. Go ahead and do all of the cookies through this step.
- Next, put a dab of frosting on the opposite end of the cookie and secure it to the “base” cookie. It helps to place them next to a wall as they dry so they stay put.
- While those are drying, unwrap your peanut butter cups. Place your peanut butter cup upside down then take a sharp knife and cut a sliver off one end. (I don’t need to tell you what to do with the sliver, do I?) It helps to gently cut in a sawing motion so you don’t break the PB cup. (Although I wouldn’t have to tell you what to do with a broken one either, would I?) Once those are ready, flip your cookies over, but you may find it’s easy to keep them next to the wall. My frosting was a bit soft, so they needed the extra support.
- Place a dab of frosting on the peanut butter cup, and place it on the cookie as pictured.
- Now those little guys will need heads, so glue a whopper on there with frosting as well. I put frosting on the side of the whopper that hits both the cookie and the PB cup. We wouldn’t want a turkey running around with its head cut off, would we?
- While they’re still lying there, use a dab of frosting (I use yellow) and glue on the white tip of a candy corn for a beak. Put two yellow dots on for eyes, and for the black spots in the eyes you can use a dab of chocolate frosting, or a mini chocolate chip, or a little sprinkle like I’ve used. A sprinkle is really the perfect size if you have them.
- Once the beak is secure, you can flip them over and draw on some little yellow feet. If you have red frosting too (usually comes in a set with the tube of yellow) you can add a little wattle. And there you go, cute as can be!
Storing and Other Tips
- If you make these a day ahead of time, store them in an airtight container on the counter. This will help the cookie not go stale!
- These make really cute place card holders too, for either a kid, or adult table! How cute is my little turkey family? Stick one on each plate and everyone will say “Awwwwww….” If you have kids old enough to handle making them, it’s a fun project for them to be in charge of.
- If you need to transport these, they fit perfectly in the bottom of a muffin tin.
- Oreo turkeys are also also darling combined with pilgrim hats (below).
Pilgrim Hats
- Melt some chocolate or chocolate flavored candy melt in the microwave.
- Attach marshmallows to skewers or forks and dip.
- Allow chocolate to harden and then use a dollop of melted chocolate to attach them to an upside-down fudge stripe cookie.
- Use yellow frosting to draw a buckle and you’re good to go! (Pretty much the Thanksgiving version of the Halloween witch hats seen in this post!)
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make these allergy friendly?
There are so many allergy friendly imitations of these ingredients. Almond butter cups, gluten free sandwich cookies, dairy free chocolate, etc. It should be fairly easy to track down ingredients that will work for you!
How do I make nametags?
Keep it simple and write names on a piece of paper, tape them to a toothpick, and pop them in. You can also find already made tags to write or print on, or design your own to print and cut out.
Oreo Turkeys and Cookie Pilgrim Hats
These easy, edible Thanksgiving crafts make great placeholders on the dining table and are especially fun to make with kids!
Ingredients
Oreo Turkeys
- Double Stuff Oreo Cookies (not regular or there's not room for the candy corn) 2 per turkey
- Candy Corn 6 per turkey
- Whoppers 1 per turkey
- Mini peanut butter cups 1 per turkey
- Chocolate frosting See notes
- Yellow Frosting See notes
- Red frosting Optional, for waddle
- Black sprinkles or mini chocolate chips Optional, for eyes
Cookie Pilgrim Hats
- Regular marshmallows (standard s'mores size)1 per hat
- Chocolate chips or chocolate flavored candy melts If using chocolate chips, add 1 tsp shortening per cup of chocolate chips
- Yellow frosting
Instructions
Oreo Turkeys
- Grab a cookie. You don’t have to put frosting in there, but I like to because it holds in the candy corn a little better. Just give it a little squeeze of chocolate.
- Then stuff in your candy corn feathers. If you’re in some sort of candy corn shortage, you can cut off the white tips to use later for your beaks. I think the candy corn sticks in better with the tip so I leave it on. Go ahead and do all of the cookies through this step.
- Next, put a dab of frosting on the opposite end of the cookie and secure it to the “base” cookie. It helps to place them next to a wall as they dry so they stay put.
- While those are drying, unwrap your peanut butter cups. Place your peanut butter cup upside down then take a sharp knife and cut a sliver off one end. (I don’t need to tell you what to do with the sliver, do I?) It helps to gently cut in a sawing motion so you don’t break the PB cup. (Although I wouldn’t have to tell you what to do with a broken one either, would I?) Once those are ready, flip your cookies over, but you may find it’s easy to keep them next to the wall. My frosting was a bit soft, so they needed the extra support.
- Place a dab of frosting on the peanut butter cup, and place it on the cookie as pictured.
- Now those little guys will need heads, so glue a whopper on there with frosting as well. I put frosting on the side of the whopper that hits both the cookie and the PB cup. We wouldn’t want a turkey running around with its head cut off, would we?
- While they’re still lying there, use a dab of frosting (I use yellow) and glue on the white tip of a candy corn for a beak. Put two yellow dots on for eyes, and for the black spots in the eyes you can use a dab of chocolate frosting, or a mini chocolate chip, or a little sprinkle like I’ve used. A sprinkle is really the perfect size if you have them.
- Once the beak is secure, you can flip them over and draw on some little yellow feet. If you have red frosting too (usually comes in a set with the tube of yellow) you can add a little wattle. And there you go, cute as can be!
Cookie Pilgrim Hats
- Melt some chocolate or chocolate flavored candy melt in the microwave.
- Attach marshmallows to skewers or forks and dip.
- Allow chocolate to harden and then use a dollop of melted chocolate to attach them to an upside-down fudge stripe cookie.
- Use yellow frosting to draw a buckle and you’re good to go!
Notes
- Note on frosting: For these kinds of things I love to use the little pre-filled tubes of colored frosting you can buy in the baking aisle. The chocolate is easy to make, and homemade actually works a little better because you can make it stiff. However, for the colored details like yellow and red, these little tubes are great. It doesn’t really matter what they taste like and they last forever (which is both cool and disturbing at the same time.) I’m using store-bought tubes for everything here purely for convenience- works great! You could also use melted chocolate to hold everything together.
- Note on candies and allergies: It should be pretty easy to find allergy friendly versions of most ingredients. Readers have reported success using Rolos in place of peanut butter cups and Mike and Ikes in place of candy corn.
- If you make these a day ahead of time, store them in an airtight container on the counter. This will help the cookie not go stale!
- These make really cute place card holders too, for either a kid, or adult table! How cute is my little turkey family? Stick one on each plate and everyone will say “Awwwwww….” If you have kids old enough to handle making them, it’s a fun project for them to be in charge of.
- If you need to transport these, they fit perfectly in the bottom of a muffin tin.
Cost: $8
Did You Make This Recipe?Snap a picture, and hashtag it #ourbestbites. We love to see your creations on our Instagram @ourbestbites!
Questions & Reviews
Not only ADORABLE…but also DO-ABLE! THANK YOU for taking the time to post!!
I was so happpy to see your post. I made these (they were very similar to these) one year for Thanksgiving, and that’s been many years ago. My extended family still remembers them…they are fun to make, and make the cutest table ornaments. Thanks for posting.
this is just so cute, I’ll have to make them for my daughter’s class for thanksgiving!!!!!
My husband, 5 year old and I just made 12 of these 🙂 So fun, thanks for the idea!
How do you make the name tags & secure them to the treat?
I just printed out a name tag and then I taped the tags onto toothpicks and just shoved the toothpick into the oreo 🙂
That has got to be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! I mean ADORABLE.
Thanks for sharing this. My little goddaughter will go wild over these!
XO,
Sheila
I LOVE these!!! I just made a batch of Hamburger Cookies {http://formamas.blogspot.com/2011/10/hamburger-cookies.html}
I am definately trying these for Thanksgiving!
Chrissy @ ForMamas
Adorable!!!
ADORABLE! I can’t wait to make these for my daughter’s preschool class!
Thanksgiving turkeys
I am even more excited for fall now! 🙂
I have also used the “pilgram hat’ idea as graduation hats. Just add a dot and string of icing on top. I do this every time one of my kids graduates kindergarten for a class treat! So fast and easy and the child loves to help.
My kids, nieces & nephews had so much fun making these. LOVE your website!!
These were a huge hit at my family's Thanksgiving. Thanks for such a cute idea!
SO So cute! I made mine last night. I also wanted to tell you my wonderful idea. 🙂 I used cinnamon hearts for the wattle 🙂 works perfectly.
We made these last night — what fun! Thank you for the idea.
SOOOOOOoooooo cute!
I made these for my son's sixth birthday party (my Thanksgiving-time baby) and they were a hit. Everyone asked "did you MAKE those?" Yep. The kids loved them! Thanks!!
I am making these with my daughter's class tomorrow. Thank you for the adorable idea. I know that the kids will love them.
We made these last night for a pre-thanksgiving dinner and put them at the top of each place setting. So cute and festive. We figured out if you very carefully with a sharp serrated knife cut a bit off the bottom of an oreo (the one that has the candy corn feathers in it) to make it flat (kind of like you do with the PB cup) it sits on top of the base oreo much easier!
Hey this looks great idea! Thanks for the inspiration! Here's our link to what we came up with http://adventuresofuniqueus.blogspot.com/2010/11/thanksgiving-adventure-turkey-pops.html
These are so cute!! Definitely doing this! Thank you for sharing!! 🙂
Wattle Wattle Wattle..I will be keeping my neice and nephew occupied with this place card project-thanks!
Lisa
Thank you for this. I made this and brought it to my company's Thanksgiving potluck and was a huge hit. I also made your candy corn cupcakes and use the turkeys as toppers. They are adorable.
On a chicken it is called a wattle, on a turkey, I think simply a beard.
Great job! Adorable!
Congratulations on a wonderful!:)
Figen Karavaş
Congratulations on a wonderful!:)
Figen Karavaş
AWW these are sooo cute!!! They remind me of something similiar I made in brownies when I was a little girl. Love it!
Can I please copy your article to my Kids In The Kitchen section of "Cooking Up A Storm All Over The World?" I created a Word Doc out of it and I am making sure to let others know that I got your permission to post it.
I am a very nice lady though you don't know me. I am a freelance writer/editor/researcher here in Southern CA and am very privy to plagerism rules and would never do anything like that. However, you don't know me and I just want you to know that I am elated to have met you through Foodbuzz.com. I am also a Featured Publisher there.
I put your badge on my site hours ago and would be tickled if you'd check out my blog and see if you could return the favor.
God bless and look forward to hearing from you.
I want to post the recipe, so I am waiting to hear from you so I can write the words "Printed with Permission from Author."
Paulette Le Pore Motzko
(Polly Motzko)
http://www.CookingUpAStorminCA.ning.com
Tammie- Yes! You need double stuff- I totally forgot to specify! Glad you asked 🙂