Thanksgiving Treats

These cute cookies are so easy to make. Nothing to cook or bake....just put together some "store bought ingredients" and you have something that everyone will talk about. Here are the directions.

Turkey Cookies


40 fudge-striped cookies
1/4 cup chocolate frosting
2 packages (5 ounces each) chocolate-covered cherries
20 pieces candy corn

Directions
Place 20 cookies on a flat surface, solid chocolate side down. With frosting attach a chocolate-covered cherry to the top of each base cookie. Position another cookie perpendicular to each base cookie; attach with frosting.
With a dab of frosting, attach one piece of candy corn to the front of each cherry for the head. Let stand until set. Yield: 20 servings.

If you want to get the kids involved and have more time, you can make handprint turkeys. I think that the ones here in the picture look kind of neat...kids probably didn't have a "hand" in making them. Here are the directions...

Handprint Turkeys

1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup sour cream
GLAZE:
5 cups confectioners' sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons water
2-1/4 teaspoons light corn syrup
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Red, yellow, orange, green and brown gel food coloring
3-3/4-inch hand-shaped cookie cutter or scissors, pencil and a piece of cardboard for tracing a child's handprint
Directions
In a large bowl, cream the shortening, butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg: add to the creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until easy to handle.
Use a floured hand-shaped cookie cutter or trace a child's hand onto a piece of cardboard with pencil and cut out for a pattern.
On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to a 1/2-in. thickness. Either use a sharp knife to cut around the cardboard hand pattern in dough or use cookie cutter to cut out hand shapes. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 425° for 7-9 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.
In a small bowl, combine the glaze ingredients and beat until smooth. Set aside 1 teaspoon of white glaze for eyes. Place 1/4 cup of glaze into each of four bowls. Tint one red, one yellow, one orange and one green. Place 1 tablespoon of glaze in another bowl and tint dark brown. Tint the remaining glaze light brown.
Frost the palm and thumb of each cookie light brown. Frost each finger a different color, using red, yellow, orange and green.
Place the remaining yellow glaze in a pastry or plastic bag. Cut a small hole in the corner of bag. Pipe a beak on each thumb.
Repeat with dark brown glaze to pipe a pupil in the center of each eye and to pipe wings in the center of each cookie.
Use remaining red glaze to pipe wattles on each thumb. Let dry completely. Yield: about 3 dozen. Finished size: Cookies shown measure about 2-3/4 inches across.

After reading what the directions are for these...You would probably have to start making them about Halloween time to get them done. It is a cute idea and maybe some of you Grandmas would like to do this with the grandkids.

Our Thanksgiving desserts are pretty traditional...pumpkin pie, apple pie, and one year....pecan pie. We eat the big meal and then the hostess says, "Anyone for dessert?" We see these delectable things on the counter and just can't resist one more bite. Some year we should start the meal with dessert.
I have a little story to tell...one year one of our grandkids was having a Thanksgiving Feast at school for the parents and grandparents. The kids were supposed to make the "dishes" to be served. I had my grandchild come out to the house and thought that we would have fun making yeast rolls. The kitchen was a disaster, but when the rolls came out of the oven...they were really nice. I got to the feast and everyone brought sweet snacky things...Thanksgiving candy, soda, corn curls, you name it...and here we were with dinner rolls. We had a good time making them and that was a memory maker.
Balisha