3D Turkey Sugar Cookies
Want to serve a dessert thats not pie for Thanksgiving? Also want to impress your guests with 3D turkey sugar cookies? This post will give you tips and show you how to assemble 3D cookies.
How to Get Started
In order to make these cookies, we need a few tools! I recommend reading the whole post or watching the entire video before you start!
- 3D turkey cookie cutter set
- Piping bags
- AmeriColor gel food dye (specific colors below)
3D Cookie Tips
- You must chill your cookie dough. This will ensure that each cookie has crisp edges and won’t spread. Cookies that spread may not fit together.
- Only ice the first half of the turkey body (more on that below).
- Roll out the dough for the feather cookies slightly less than 1/4 inch.
- Make sure the icing is completely dry before assembling. Overnight drying is the best.
Step 1: Bake the Cookies
To make these cookies I used my easy soft cut-out sugar cookie recipe.
Make the cookie dough and roll out the turkey body to be 1/4 of an inch thick. Then, when you are rolling out the dough for the feathers, roll it slightly less thick. If the feather cookies are too thick, it will difficult to get all of them onto the body.
Tip: I recommend making a few more than you need. This is because fitting the feathers onto the body of the cookie is like a puzzle. I had to swap out different cookies to get them to fit.
Step 2: Make/Dye Royal Icing
While the cookies cool it’s time to make the icing! I used my easy royal icing with egg whites.
This recipe makes pipe-able icing consistency which is good for outlining cookies.
Color Your Icing
The color palette for our turkey sugar cookies is muted and warm for a cozy autumn vibe. We are going to add a little bit of chocolate brown using a toothpick to the lighter colors to make them muted.
The Americolor food gels used are: Chocolate brown, espresso, super black, chili pepper, burnt orange, apricot, lemon yellow. Remember, you can always use whatever colors you have.
To dye, separate the frosting into five bowls and mix in the dye with a rubber spatula. For white icing, you can add it straight to a piping bag.
* The number of food gel drops in this chart is per 1 cup of icing. When dying more or less icing, you need to adjust the drops! ? *
| COLOR | GEL COLOR |
| White | No gel needed |
| Warm Brown | 1 espresso; 1 drop chocolate brown |
| Red | 1 drop chili pepper; 1 very small drop chocolate brown |
| Orange | 1 drop burnt orange; 1 very small drop apricot & chocolate brown |
| Yellow | 1 drop lemon yellow; 1 very small drop apricot & chocolate brown |
| Black (1/4 cup icing, don’t need much) | 1-2 drops super black |
Check Out The Video
Step 3: Decorate
3D turkey sugar cookies are pretty easy to make when you break down each part into steps.
Body
To be honest, I started by outlining the entire cookie with warm brown icing. Then filled it in. I found that when I was assembling the cookies, sliding on the feathers crushed the icing on the body even though it was completely dry.
To fix this, I scraped off half of the icing. (See the photo below)
I recommend to only ice half of the turkey body. This way, royal icing won’t get all over the place when adding the feathers.
Start by piping on the head with white icing. Use a scribe tool or a toothpick to add the little orange beak. To make it pointed, use the scribe or toothpick to angle it. Then, add the wattle with red icing.
Lastly, use a tiny dot of black icing. To change the shape, gently pull the icing back use the scribe or toothpick to angle it.
Feathers
Outline the small feather cookies will yellow icing, then fill in. Repeat for the medium and large feathers with orange and red royal icing.
Let the cookies dry overnight.
Step 4: Assemble
After the cookies have fully dried, it’s time to put them together!
Start by adding the largest feather cookie to the back of the turkey. Carefully slide the cookie on. Then carefully add the medium, and small cookies.
The cookie should be pretty stable because of the weight of the feather cookies. If not, try switching out different feather cookies until they fit right.
I recommend assembling the cookies onto the plate you plan to serve them so they don’t have to move around too much.
The 3d turkey sugar cookies are ready to impress your guests!
How to Store Sugar Cookies
Decorated cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. You can freeze undecorated cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
