Have you ever needed a Thanksgiving dessert that's actually fun to make? I'm talking about something that doesn't require rolling out dough or waiting hours for cookies to bake. These Nutter Butter Turkey Cookies changed everything for my family's Thanksgiving prep.
Last year, Amy came home from school absolutely obsessed with making turkey crafts. She'd been working on paper turkeys in art class and wanted to make something "turkey-ish" for our Thanksgiving dessert table. I'll be honest – I was not about to spend hours cutting out turkey-shaped cookies and decorating them with royal icing. But then I remembered seeing these adorable Nutter Butter turkeys at a friend's party years ago.
We made our first batch together on a rainy Saturday afternoon, and Bradley actually put down his phone to help. That's when I knew we had a winner! These little turkey treats are now our go-to Thanksgiving dessert, and I make them every single year without fail.
The best part? You don't even need to turn on your oven. Just some Nutter Butters, chocolate, pretzels, and candy decorations. The kids can help with everything, and honestly, these cookies taste way better than they have any right to. There's something about that combination of peanut butter cookie, melted chocolate, and salty pretzel that just works.
If you love easy Thanksgiving treats that bring the family together, you'll also want to check out my Easy Thanksgiving Turkey Cookies – another crowd favorite that's perfect for the holiday season.
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love These Turkey Cookies
- Ingredients For Nutter Butter Turkey Cookies
- How To Make These Thanksgiving Nutter Butter Turkeys
- Storage And Serving Tips For Turkey Cookies
- Tips For The Best Nutter Butter Turkeys
- Nutter Butter Turkey Cookie Variations
- Frequently Asked Questions About These Turkey Cookies
- Recipes You May Like
- Bring These Turkeys To Your Thanksgiving Table
- Nutter Butter Turkey Cookies
Why You'll Love These Turkey Cookies
- No baking required – Everything comes together with store-bought cookies and simple decorating
- Kid-friendly activity – Perfect for keeping little hands busy while you prep Thanksgiving dinner
- Quick assembly – From start to finish, you'll have adorable turkeys ready in about 45 minutes (most of that is just chilling time)
- Customizable decorations – Use whatever sprinkles, candy, or decorations you have on hand
- Make-ahead friendly – Prepare these up to 2 days before your Thanksgiving gathering
- Budget-friendly – Uses simple ingredients you can grab at any grocery store
Ingredients For Nutter Butter Turkey Cookies
Here's what you'll need to create these adorable Thanksgiving treats:
- 3 tablespoon red frosting – This acts as your edible glue for attaching all the decorations
- 8 Nutter Butter Cookies – The base of your turkeys (the peanut butter flavor is perfect)
- 16 small candy eyes – Two per turkey for that cute googly-eyed look
- 8 chocolate candy corn (brown and orange candy corn) – These make the most realistic turkey beaks
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil – Helps thin the chocolate for easier dipping
- 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips – For coating the pretzel feathers
- 32 mini pretzels – Four per turkey creates a beautiful feathered tail
- 3 tablespoon orange sprinkles – Adds texture and color to the turkey tails
Ingredient Notes:
I always use mini pretzel twists because they're the perfect size for turkey feathers. Regular pretzels are too big and throw off the proportions.
Can't find chocolate candy corn? No worries! Regular candy corn works just fine – you'll just use the orange section for the beak. I've also used small pieces of orange fondant when I couldn't find candy corn at all.
The red frosting can be store-bought or homemade. I usually grab a container of Betty Crocker red frosting because it's the right consistency and one container makes way more than enough for several batches.
How To Make These Thanksgiving Nutter Butter Turkeys
Prepare Your Frosting:
- Place the red frosting into a zip-top bag with the corner cut off or a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. This gives you control for those tiny details.
Create The Turkey Faces:
- Using the frosting as glue, pipe two small dots on the top portion of each Nutter Butter cookie. Press a candy eye onto each dot. Don't worry if they're not perfectly symmetrical – I think the slightly wonky eyes make them even cuter!
- To make the turkey's beak, carefully cut off the brown part of the candy corn. Make a small vertical line of red frosting just below the eyes. Place the candy corn onto the frosting with the orange side facing down. It should look like a little triangle pointing down.
- Use the red frosting again to make a vertical line on either the left or right side of the turkey's beak. This creates the wattle (that dangly thing under a turkey's chin). Amy always insists on making this part extra wiggly.
Set Up Your Workspace:
- Line 2-3 baking sheets, cutting boards, or other flat moveable surfaces with parchment paper. I've used charcuterie boards in a pinch when all my baking sheets were in use! You just need something flat that fits in your fridge.
Melt The Chocolate:
- In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the vegetable oil and chocolate chips. Microwave in 20-second increments, stirring really well between each increment. This is important – if you don't stir, you'll end up with hot spots and burnt chocolate. Repeat until the chocolate is completely smooth and glossy.
Create The Turkey Tails:
- Working quickly (chocolate waits for no one), dip each mini pretzel into the melted chocolate. Make sure to coat one side completely. Place four chocolate-dipped pretzels in a half-circle pattern on your parchment-lined baking sheet. The chocolate sides should be facing up, and they should slightly overlap to form a fan shape.
Assemble Your Turkeys:
- While the chocolate on the pretzels is still wet, place a Nutter Butter cookie (turkey face up) over the ends of the chocolate-coated pretzels. Press down gently so the cookie sticks to the chocolate. Don't press too hard or you'll crack the cookie – learned that one the hard way!
Add The Finishing Touch:
- Quickly sprinkle the orange sprinkles over the chocolate pretzel tails while everything is still melted. Work fast here because chocolate sets up quickly!
Chill And Set:
- Place the baking sheets with your completed turkey cookies in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. This allows the chocolate to set completely and everything to firm up.
- Serve these cuties chilled or at room temperature. Both ways are delicious!
Storage And Serving Tips For Turkey Cookies
Keep these chilled until you're ready to serve them. This is especially important if your house runs warm or if you're serving them at a party where they might sit out for a while.
If you leave them at room temperature for too long, the chocolate on the pretzels can start to melt. Trust me, nobody wants to see their turkeys losing feathers all over the dessert table! I made that mistake during our first Thanksgiving potluck, and it was not pretty.
Refrigerate any leftovers in an airtight container for up to five days. After that, the Nutter Butters start getting a bit stale and the chocolate loses its snap. I don't recommend freezing these – the cookies get weird and soggy when they thaw.
When transporting these to a party, I stack them carefully in a storage container with parchment paper between layers. Keep them in a cooler if you're traveling more than 15 minutes. They're surprisingly sturdy once the chocolate sets, but better safe than sorry!
Tips For The Best Nutter Butter Turkeys
Work In Batches
Don't try to dip all 32 pretzels at once. The chocolate will start setting up before you can get all the cookies placed. I usually do 8-12 pretzels at a time (enough for 2-3 turkeys), then repeat. It takes a few extra minutes, but you'll have much better results.
Size Matters With Pretzels
Try to find the smallest pretzel twists possible. The tiny twists are my personal preference because you can fit four pretzels perfectly around each Nutter Butter cookie. Regular-sized pretzels work, but the proportions look a bit off.
Get The Kids Involved
Let kids of all ages help make these! Younger kids like Amy can help decorate the faces and add sprinkles. Older kids like Bradley can help with dipping the pretzels and assembling the turkeys.
Treats taste even better when they're made with your own hands, and these are so much fun to create together. John always says our kitchen sounds happiest when we're making these because everyone's laughing and talking.
Make It Personal
Feel free to switch up the decorations! I've used yellow sprinkles, fall-colored nonpareils, and even crushed graham crackers on the tails. You can also use different colored candy eyes – blue eyes make them look extra silly!
Temperature Control
If your melted chocolate starts getting too thick while you're working, pop it back in the microwave for 10 seconds. Sometimes it just needs a quick reheat to get back to the right consistency.
Nutter Butter Turkey Cookie Variations
Chocolate Peanut Butter Turkeys
Use chocolate Nutter Butters instead of regular ones for an extra chocolatey version. These are Bradley's favorite because he's obsessed with anything chocolate.
White Chocolate Turkey Cookies
Swap semi-sweet chocolate chips for white chocolate chips. The pretzels look super elegant with white chocolate, and you can add fall-colored sprinkles for a festive touch.
Gluten-Free Option
Use gluten-free peanut butter sandwich cookies and gluten-free pretzels. The rest of the ingredients are naturally gluten-free. I've made these for my friend Sarah who has celiac disease, and they turned out perfect!
Mini Turkey Cookies
Use Mini Nutter Butters and smaller pretzels to create bite-sized versions. These are adorable for kids' parties or when you want to make a lot of turkeys.
Frequently Asked Questions About These Turkey Cookies
Yes! Make them up to 2 days ahead and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until serving.
You can use regular candy corn (just use the orange section), orange M&Ms cut in half, or small pieces of orange fondant.
Make sure your melted chocolate is warm and hasn't started to set. Work quickly and press the cookie gently onto the chocolate-dipped pretzels while still wet.
Absolutely! Kids can add the candy eyes, place the beaks, sprinkle the decorations, and older children can help dip pretzels with supervision.
Recipes You May Like
Looking for more fun Thanksgiving treats to add to your dessert table? Try these family favorites:
- Pumpkin Whoopie Pies – Soft pumpkin cookies with cream cheese filling that taste like fall in cookie form
- Brown Butter Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies – The perfect combination of pumpkin spice and cinnamon sugar
- Pumpkin Roll Cake – A stunning dessert that's easier to make than it looks
Bring These Turkeys To Your Thanksgiving Table
These Nutter Butter Turkey Cookies have become such a special part of our Thanksgiving tradition. Every year, the kids ask when we're making the turkeys, and honestly, it's one of my favorite pre-holiday activities.
There's something really special about sitting around the kitchen table together, creating these silly little turkeys while we talk about what we're thankful for. It's not just about making cookies – it's about making memories.
The best part? These turkeys actually taste amazing. The combination of sweet chocolate, salty pretzels, and that classic Nutter Butter peanut butter flavor is absolutely perfect. Kids love them because they're cute and fun. Adults love them because they're actually delicious (not just pretty to look at).
Whether you're looking for a fun activity to do with your kids, an easy contribution to the Thanksgiving dessert table, or just something that'll make people smile, these turkey cookies are it.
Make a batch this Thanksgiving and watch how quickly they disappear! And don't forget to save this recipe to Pinterest so you can find it again next year when the turkey cookie requests start rolling in.
Nutter Butter Turkey Cookies
Description
Have you ever needed a Thanksgiving dessert that's actually fun to make? These Nutter Butter Turkey Cookies are adorable no-bake treats that bring the family together. Perfect for keeping little hands busy while you prep Thanksgiving dinner.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp red frosting
- 8 Nutter Butter Cookies
- 16 small candy eyes
- 8 chocolate candy corn (brown and orange candy corn)
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 32 mini pretzels
- 3 tbsp orange sprinkles
Instructions
- Place the red frosting into a zip-top bag with the corner cut off or a piping bag fitted with a small round tip.
- Using the frosting as glue, pipe two small dots on the top portion of each Nutter Butter cookie. Press a candy eye onto each dot.
- Carefully cut off the brown part of the candy corn. Make a small vertical line of red frosting just below the eyes. Place the candy corn onto the frosting with the orange side facing down.
- Use the red frosting to make a vertical line on either the left or right side of the turkey's beak to create the wattle.
- Line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the vegetable oil and chocolate chips. Microwave in 20-second increments, stirring well between each increment, until the chocolate is completely smooth and glossy.
- Dip each mini pretzel into the melted chocolate, coating one side completely. Place four chocolate-dipped pretzels in a half-circle pattern on your parchment-lined baking sheet with chocolate sides facing up, slightly overlapping to form a fan shape.
- While the chocolate on the pretzels is still wet, place a Nutter Butter cookie (turkey face up) over the ends of the chocolate-coated pretzels. Press down gently so the cookie sticks to the chocolate.
- Quickly sprinkle the orange sprinkles over the chocolate pretzel tails while everything is still melted.
- Place the baking sheets with your completed turkey cookies in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to allow the chocolate to set completely.
- Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Notes
Work in batches of 8-12 pretzels at a time so the chocolate doesn't set before assembly. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Keep chilled until serving to prevent chocolate from melting.
