Make Easy Thanksgiving Cookies with Our New Turkey and “Happy Thanksgiving” Designs

This Thanksgiving, decorating cookies can be simple and stunning! In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to use our new Thanksgiving cookie cutters and coordinating stencils to create perfectly themed cookies without the stress. We have two new designs: a turkey cookie with “Thankful” across the middle, and a “Happy Thanksgiving” phrase cookie paired beautifully with our royal icing transfer sheets for quick, consistent results. Whether you’re prepping treats for a holiday gathering or your cookie shop lineup, these tools make it easy to achieve professional-looking cookies that your guests will be grateful for.

Thanksgiving Cookie Cutter & Stencil Bundles

Just added to the shop for the upcoming Thanksgiving season are two new cookie cutter and stencil bundles.

First up, we have a Thankful turkey cookie cutter stencil set that is very easy to decorate.

The second design is our "Happy Thanksgiving" cookie cutter and stencil set. There's a place on the design you can personalize by adding two icons of your choice.

Template for the Thanksgiving Royal Icing Transfers

To help with the decorating process, I made a PDF template for the royal icing transfers used in the tutorial below. Included in the file are transfer images of a pumpkin, a pumpkin pie slice, and a fall leaf.

• Thanksgiving Icon Royal Icing Transfer Sheet

I recommend printing out these pages and placing them in sheet protectors to icing the designs onto.

Step-By-Step Cookie Decorating Guide

Decorating cookies always starts with a good royal icing recipe. This is my easy royal icing recipe for decorating sugar cookies that I always use.

For the colors used for these Thanksgiving cookies, you will need the following suggested colors:

• Tan icing (I mixed a small amount of Warm Brown and Americolor Ivory.)
• Dark Brown icing (I mixed Americolor Chocolate Brown with a touch of Super Black.)
• Pumpkin Orange icing (I used Americolor Pumpkin.)
• Burnt Red icing (I mixed Super Red with Chocolate Brown.)

Step 1

For the thankful turkey cookies, start by flooding the entire cookie with tan icing. Let this cookie dry completely (at least 4 hours).

Step 2

Once the base layer had time to dry, stencil on the Thankful Turkey design with stiff icing. I used a dark brown color, but you can use whatever color you please.

Step 3

For the the Happy Thanksgiving cookie, begin the same way as above by flooding the entire cookie with tan icing. Let this icing dry completely (about 4 hours).

Step 4

While the cookie is drying, we can work on the royal icing transfers. In the transfers PDF file, there are 3 designs to choose from-- a pumpkin, a pumpkin pie slice, and a fall leaf.

I placed the printed pages in a plastic sheet protector. The sheet protector helps release the icing transfer after it dries.

Decorate the transfers as you normally would a cookie. Let these icing transfers dry for a few hours.

Step 5

Now back to cookie that is now fully dry, stencil on the "Happy Thanksgiving" design onto the cookie with stiff dark brown icing. Let this icing dry.

Step 6

When the icing transfers are fully dry, you should be able to peel them off the sheet protector fairly easy. If the transfers are not coming off easily, they require more time to dry.

Step 7

The last step is to attach the royal icing transfers to your cookie in the two empty spaces of the cookie. Add wet royal icing to the back of the transfer to attach it to the cookie.

Thanksgiving Cookie Decorating Video Tutorial

The steps above are summarized in the time-lapsed video below.

Here are the Thanksgiving cookies all finished.

I love the Thankful turkey cookie design. It's elegant, simple, and so easy to decorate. It's just two steps-- flooding the cookie, then stenciling on the design.

Also, I love how the Happy Thanksgiving cookie turned out. I added the different transfers so you can see how each one looks on the cookie. The royal icing transfers really made it a breeze to decorate.

With the help of these new cutters, stencils, and royal icing transfers, creating beautiful Thanksgiving cookies has never been easier. Whether you’re baking for family, friends, or your customers, these designs are sure to add a festive touch to any dessert table. Be sure to visit our shop for even more Thanksgiving cookie cutters, stencils, and decorating ideas to make your holiday cookie sets truly stand out.