Thanksgiving Cookies
Thanksgiving belongs to the pies, and nobody here is arguing. But someone always wants a cookie with their coffee, and the neighbor who stops by at four needs a plate to take home. Thirty cookies for that end of the table, from pie in cookie form to turkeys the kids can build.
Six to Bake First
One from each section. If you only bake one batch before Thursday, start in this row.
Pumpkin Pie Cookies
A soft cookie cup baked around a real pumpkin custard, so every bite gets crust and filling in the right ratio. Dust the tops with Royal Cinnamon just before serving.
Turkey Sugar Cookies
Cream cheese sugar cookie cut-outs, flooded in cocoa-tinted royal icing and piped into turkeys. Her icing starts with meringue powder, or skip the measuring entirely with Royal Icing Mix.
Chewy Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Extra egg yolks and cream of tartar keep these chewy, which is the hard part with pumpkin. The cinnamon-sugar coat is where Royal Cinnamon's bold, sweet flavor shows up most.
Brown Butter Maple Pecan Cookies
Maple syrup and browned butter in the dough, a maple glaze on top, and a full cup of pecans in between. Every flavor this section is named for, in one cookie.
Fresh Cranberry Orange Cookies
Chopped fresh cranberries bring real tartness to a soft cream cheese dough with orange zest and white chocolate chips. The reddest cookie on the plate, and the brightest-tasting.
Peanut Butter Turkey Cookies
Three-ingredient peanut butter dough a kid can stir, topped with a chocolate drop body, candy corn feathers and candy eyes. Peanut allergy at the table? Build the turkey on a sugar cookie.
Pie-Inspired Thanksgiving Cookies
Everything people love about the pie, in a size that fits in one hand. Most start from a pie crust or a shortbread base, so the dough is half the point.
Pumpkin Pie Cookies
A soft cookie cup baked around a real pumpkin custard, so every bite gets crust and filling in the right ratio. Dust the tops with Royal Cinnamon just before serving.
Pecan Pie Cookies
Tender sugar-cookie thumbprints hold a dark brown sugar and cream pecan filling that sets up just like the pie. Think of it as the corner piece, no knife required.
Apple Pie Cookies
Flaky from-scratch crust cups filled with cooked cinnamon apples under a brown sugar crumble. With a filling this simple, a bold cinnamon like Royal Cinnamon really earns its spot.
Sweet Potato Pie Thumbprint Cookies
Silky sweet potato pie custard, spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, baked into brown sugar thumbprints. Made for the families who serve sweet potato pie next to the pumpkin, or instead of it.
Cinnamon Sugar Pie Dough Cookies
The leftover-crust cookie, made on purpose: pie dough, butter and a whole tablespoon of cinnamon. The recipe recommends Saigon cinnamon, which is exactly what Royal Cinnamon is.
Pumpkin Pie Crust Cookies
Crumbled pie crust goes right into a cinnamon-sugar cookie dough, then a maple-sweetened pumpkin filling sits on top. A spoonful of whipped cream finishes the pie impression.
Royal icing, minus the math
Royal Icing Mix is complete, so there is no meringue powder to measure and no sugar to sift. Add water, thin it for flooding or keep it stiff for leaf veins and turkey feathers, and it sets glossy.
Decorated Thanksgiving Cookies
Turkeys, leaves and tiny pies in royal icing. Bake a few days early and decorate the night before, since the icing needs time to set before anything gets stacked.
Turkey Sugar Cookies
Cream cheese sugar cookie cut-outs, flooded in cocoa-tinted royal icing and piped into turkeys. Her icing starts with meringue powder, or skip the measuring entirely with Royal Icing Mix.
Marbled Autumn Leaf Cookies
Orange, red and yellow dough gets marbled together before cutting, so every leaf comes out different without any flooding. A few piped royal icing veins finish them off.
Iced Maple Leaf Sugar Cookies
Shortbread-style cut-outs warm with cardamom, cinnamon and cloves, under a maple icing brushed with bronze and gold luster dust. Meringue powder in the icing helps it dry firm for stacking.
Round Sugar Cookie Turkeys
No turkey cutter needed: a plain round almond sugar cookie, a brown glaze, then royal icing feathers piped as long teardrops. Simple enough to hand the piping bag to a kid.
Thanksgiving Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
Nutmeg and a splash of bourbon make this the grown-up sugar cookie of the weekend. Her royal icing is the classic egg-white kind, for bakers who like to mix it from scratch.
Pumpkin Pie Slice Cut-Out Cookies
Pumpkin-spice cut-outs shaped and iced to look like slices of pie, with pumpkin pie spice stirred into the royal icing too. Expect a few double takes at the dessert table.
Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Cookies
Pumpkin bakes into a soft, cakey cookie, and roasted sweet potato gives a denser, earthier one. Blot either puree before it goes in the dough.
Chewy Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Extra egg yolks and cream of tartar keep these chewy, which is the hard part with pumpkin. The cinnamon-sugar coat is where Royal Cinnamon's bold, sweet flavor shows up most.
Cheesecake-Center Pumpkin Cookies
Chilled cream cheese hides inside a melted-butter pumpkin dough rolled in pumpkin-spice sugar. It tastes like a slice of pumpkin cheesecake, minus the springform pan and the water bath.
Spiced Brown Butter Pumpkin Chip Cookies
Browned butter gives the pumpkin a toasty depth, and five warm spices plus chopped semisweet chocolate do the rest. For the table that thinks every dessert needs chocolate in it.
Dark Chocolate Sweet Potato Cookies
Roasted sweet potato and a spoonful of cornstarch give these a thick, soft middle full of chopped dark chocolate. Earthier than pumpkin, and the chocolate likes it that way.
Toasted Meringue Sweet Potato Cookies
Sweet potato casserole in cookie form: a spiced sweet potato cookie under a cloud of torched meringue. Meringue Powder whips up that same topping without separating four eggs.
Marshmallow Sweet Potato Cookies
For the marshmallow side of the casserole debate. Halved marshmallows bake onto a cinnamon sweet potato cookie until they go soft and stretchy, and canned or homemade puree both work.
Pecan, Maple & Brown Butter Cookies
For the relatives who head straight for the pecan pie. Toast the nuts first, every time.
Brown Butter Maple Pecan Cookies
Maple syrup and browned butter in the dough, a maple glaze on top, and a full cup of pecans in between. Every flavor this section is named for, in one cookie.
Slice-and-Bake Maple Pecan Cookies
An icebox log loaded with toasted pecans and maple, finished with maple icing. Make the log the week before, freeze it, and slice and bake on Wednesday night.
Salted Brown Butter Pecan Cookies
Salted browned butter and a whole cup of chopped pecans under a white chocolate drizzle. A splash of Pure Vanilla Extract rounds out all that toffee-like brown butter flavor.
Cranberry, Orange & Spice Cookies
Something sharp to cut through a heavy meal. Cranberry and orange wake the plate up, and a good cinnamon carries the rest.
Fresh Cranberry Orange Cookies
Chopped fresh cranberries bring real tartness to a soft cream cheese dough with orange zest and white chocolate chips. The reddest cookie on the plate, and the brightest-tasting.
White Chocolate Cranberry Orange Cookies
Orange zest gets rubbed into the sugar before anything else goes in, so the whole cookie tastes of orange. Dried cranberries, white chocolate and a little coconut fill in the rest.
Cranberry Pistachio Orange Shortbread
Buttery powdered-sugar shortbread with two tablespoons of orange zest, dried cranberries and chopped pistachios, so the red and green handle the decorating. Lovely with coffee after the pie.
Crackly Molasses Spice Cookies
Chewy molasses cookies with ginger and cinnamon, rolled in coarse turbinado sugar before baking. Roll them in White Sparkling Sugar instead and the crunch keeps its sparkle through the oven.
Orange Cardamom Crinkle Cookies
Dark brown sugar and molasses crinkles scented with cardamom and orange zest. A quieter spice cookie for anyone who finds gingerbread a little loud.
Chai Sugar Cookies
Seven warm spices, black pepper included, in a cinnamon-sugar-rolled cookie under an eggnog-style glaze. Royal Cinnamon is bold enough to hold its own in that crowd.
Turkey Treats Kids Can Make
Easy builds for the kids' table, most with no oven involved. Set out the pieces and let them assemble while the grown-ups baste.
Peanut Butter Turkey Cookies
Three-ingredient peanut butter dough a kid can stir, topped with a chocolate drop body, candy corn feathers and candy eyes. Peanut allergy at the table? Build the turkey on a sugar cookie.
Thanksgiving Turkey Pretzels
No oven needed here: pretzel rods dipped in melted chocolate, then dressed with candy corn feathers and candy eyes. Set up an assembly line and the kids' table runs itself.
Turkey Crispy Rice Treats
Homemade crispy rice treats cut into rounds and turned into turkeys with candy corn feathers and a peanut butter cup head. Any round candy works for a nut-free table.
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We've Got Answers
How far ahead can I bake Thanksgiving cookies?
Most cookie doughs keep three days in the fridge and about three months in the freezer, so the dough can be done the weekend before. Baked, undecorated cookies freeze well for a month in an airtight container. For decorated cookies, bake two or three days out and ice them the day after, which leaves a full night for the icing to dry before the drive.
How do I make turkey cookies without a turkey cutter?
Start with a round cutter and pipe the feathers as a fan of colored icing around the top half, then add a small circle for the head. A cut-out hand shape works too, with the fingers as feathers, which is a favorite job for kids. Leaf and pumpkin cutters cover most of the rest of the table.
How long does royal icing take to dry?
A thin flood layer is dry to the touch in about an hour and set through in six to eight hours, so overnight is the safe plan. Thick piped details take longer. Let the cookies dry uncovered at room temperature, and wait until the icing is firm all the way through before you stack or bag them.
How do I keep pie cookies from going soggy?
Use a thick filling, and cook any fruit filling down before it goes in. Chill the shaped cookies for 15 minutes so the crust holds its edges, then bake until they turn deep golden. Store them loosely covered at room temperature, since an airtight tin traps moisture from the filling. A pinch of coarse sparkling sugar on top adds a crunch that lasts.
Can I swap sweet potato for pumpkin in cookies?
Yes, one for one in most recipes. Roasted sweet potato puree is thicker and sweeter than canned pumpkin, so you can trim the sugar by a tablespoon or two. Canned pumpkin carries more water, and blotting it with a paper towel before it goes in keeps the cookies chewy instead of cakey.
How do I pack cookies to take to someone else's house?
Sturdy cookies like shortbread, snickerdoodles and hand pies travel in a tin with parchment between the layers, with crumpled parchment filling any gaps so nothing slides. Soft or frosted cookies ride best in a single layer in a shallow container. Decorated cookies need their icing fully dry first, then pack them flat.
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