Nutter Butter Turkey Cookies

A simple Thanksgiving treat — Nutter Butter® Turkey Cookies made with Nutter Butter cookies, candy corn, edible eyes, and a miniature red candy. These Thanksgiving cookies make for great edible table decor!

As you’re prepping for Thanksgiving, check out this Thanksgiving Planning Guide, our complete Thanksgiving Menu, or download this free Holiday Hosting Guide!

Nutter Butter Turkey Cookies

These Nutter Butter Turkey Cookies only require six ingredients and are quick to whip together. They make a fun treat (Who doesn’t love a Nutter Butter now and again?!) and can double as table decor for your Thanksgiving dinner.

My kiddos get a kick out of these fun cookies and they love to “help” assemble them — it makes a great project to include the little ones.

Nutter Butter Turkey Cookie Ingredients

Everything for these cookies can be bought pre-made at the store– which makes for a nice shortcut when there are so many other things to prepare for the big eating day! Here’s what we’ve got in these cookies:

• Large Nutter Butters. These peanut butter-shaped, peanut butter-flavored sandwich cookies can be found next to other store-bought baked cookies in the grocery store like Chips Ahoy or Oreos.
• Nutter Butter Minis. Also sometimes called Nutter Butter Bites — these are typically found close to the larger Nutter Butter cookies.
• Candy corn. The candy corn forms the beak and feather of the turkey. The colors are perfect for this cookie design, even if the flavors clash a little. Guests can pick off the corn and eat it separately if they wish.
• Mini M&M’s®. Use M&M Minis baking bits as opposed to buying the small tubes of miniature M&M’s. The baking bits are cheaper and easier to find and are usually with other baking chips in the baking aisle of the grocery store. We only need the red miniature M&M’s for this recipe, so you can use the rest in these Chewy Granola Bars!
• Edible eyes. Edible eye candies have become increasingly popular over the years. They can be found at craft/hobby stores, most larger chain grocery stores, and online! I like getting miniature edible eyes for these Nutter Butter Turkey Cookies. Here is the exact kit I use. (I use the smallest eyes in the package.)
• Frosting. Many grocery stores sell freshly made frosting in the bakery section of the store (just ask!). Alternatively, frosting from the tub works great or you can make your own! Try my Cream Cheese Frosting as a homemade alternative to store-bought frosting.

Nutter Butter Turkey Cookie Assembly

While you don’t need any special tools to attach the candies to these cookies, I do find a  piping bag fitted with a #3 tip is helpful when attaching the smaller pieces onto the turkey’s face.

Recipe Variations

• For the true peanut butter lover, replace the cream cheese frosting with peanut butter frosting (I share my recipe for peanut butter frosting in this Banana Cupcakes post). Replace the regular candy corn with peanut butter candy corn.
• Replace the miniature Nutter Butter cookie “face” with a mini Reese’s® peanut butter cup.
• Not a fan of candy corn? Leave them off; a bald turkey is cute too! 🙂
• Press these Nutter Butter Turkey Cookies into these cake mix cupcakes as a festive cupcake topper
• Attach 2 miniature brown M&M’s at the bottom of the Nutter Butter as “turkey feet”

Recipe tips

• Use a very sharp serrated knife to cut the candy corn “beak” for the turkey.
• Use the freshest possible frosting — if it sits out for a bit and is dry or crusty, the ingredients won’t adhere as nicely.
• Be gentle handling these Nutter Butter Turkey Cookies. Even when the frosting has hardened, they are pretty fragile and can fall apart easily. If you want super-sturdy turkey cookies, use royal icing instead of regular frosting.
• These cookies are best made fresh — when these assembled cookies sit out, they become stale or softened from the frosting — especially if you live in a humid area.
• Use the freshest possible candy corn. When using old/hard candy corn, they crumble and break when cutting them into a beak. The fresher the candy corn, the nicer they cut and shape into a beak.

More Festive Thanksgiving Recipes

• Thanksgiving Treats a compilation of five Thanksgiving treats — Pilgrim hat cookies, acorn candy cookies, caramel Thanksgiving pretzels, chocolate caramel turkey legs, and turkey caramel pretzels
• Thanksgiving Cookies two different cookie recipes!
• Pumpkin Spice Snack Mix with mixed nuts
• Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Cookies with cinnamon-spiced cream cheese frosting
• Thanksgiving Muffins decorated to look like a turkey!

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5 from 3 votes

Nutter Butter Turkey Cookies

By Chelsea Lords

Mini Nutter Butter Turkey Cookies are the cutest Thanksgiving treat! Made with Nutter Butter cookies, candy corn, edible eyes, and a red candy, they double as adorable edible table decor.

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 32 turkeys

Equipment

• Piping bag with #3 tip or a small resealable plastic bag

Ingredients 

USMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 (16-ounce) container cream cheese frosting store-bought or homemade, see note 1
• ▢ 1 (16-ounce) package Nutter Butter Sandwich cookies I use 32 for this recipe
• ▢ 1 (8-ounce) package mini Nutter Butter Bites see note 2
• ▢ 64 candy eyeballs see note 3
• ▢ 1 (20-ounce) bag candy corn candies see note 4
• ▢ 32 miniature red candies I use mini M&M’s

Instructions 

• Fill a plastic bag with the frosting or use a frosting bag fitted with a #3 tip. I find using a piping bag fitted with a #3 tip is helpful when attaching the smaller pieces onto the turkey’s face. If using a plastic bag, add all the frosting into the bag and press it to the corner. Seal the bag without air in it and snip off the tip with scissors—homemade piping bag for the win!
• Lay out the large Nutter Butter Cookies. Frost the back of 3 candy corns and gently press to attach them to the top of the cookies. Frost the back of the mini Nutter Butter Bites and attach to the bottom 1/3 of the cookies. Frost the back of two edible eye candies and attach them to the small cookies.
• Take some of the candy corns and cut off the yellow and white part with a sharp, serrated knife. Cut the orange part in half and shape with your fingers to make a beak. Frost the back of that “beak” and attach it to the mini Nutter Butter below the edible eyes.
• Frost the side of a miniature red candy and attach it to the side of the “beak.”
• Allow the frosting to dry and set. Enjoy! Move these cookies carefully, because they can fall apart easily.

Video

Recipe Notes

Note 1: A lot of grocery stores sell freshly made frosting in the bakery section of the store that can be used instead of tub frosting. Or you can make your own! Try my cream cheese frosting as a homemade alternative. If using from the tub, you won’t use all the frosting, so store leftovers covered in the fridge according to package directions.

Note 2: If you can’t find miniature Nutter Butter bites, use mini Reese’s cups instead (unwrapped and attached wavy side up on the Nutter Butter).

Note 3: Edible eye candies can be found at craft/hobby stores, most larger chain grocery stores, and online! I like getting miniature edible eyes for these cookies—here is the exact kit I use (I use the smallest eyes in the package).

Note 4: Old candy corns do not cut well, so make sure you have fresh candy corn. 

Nutrition Note: Nutrition information is calculated based on packaged frosting.

Storage: These are best enjoyed the same day they’re made—as they sit out, the frosting makes the cookies soggy and the cookies can become stale.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 134kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 75mg | Potassium: 5mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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