Turkey Cookie Tutorial!

Oh those Turkeys! Who knew so many people wanted to make them? Because you asked...here you go!

Oh!  And I have a new shopping button!!!
It's over in the sidebar...its pretty and navy blue and says "Lizy B's Favorite Things"!
It links to an amazon store where I've put together items I used in my tutorials.
Does that sound good? I get lots of 'where did you get that' emails, so I thought it would help!

Let's make Turkeys! (Just a warning....there's a lot of pictures.) You can pipe this little guy's body freehand if you'd like. I use some guides because I hate dislike piping circles and ovals. I have the worst time trying to keep them even.

  I use a boo-boo stick (or a toothpick), a circle cutter, an oval cutter and a regular sized decorating tip.

Oh yeah...and a cookie.  This turkey is really a seashell.

My oval cutter is about half as large as my cookie...1 1/2 inches.

Place it in the middle, almost at the bottom.

Don't forget to leave space for the little turkey toes.

Trace around the inside of your cutter with the boo-boo stick.

You've got a turkey body!

If your cookie is on the soft side you could just push on the cutter

and make a little indentation.

But then sometimes this happens.

Ouch.

Grab a decorating tip and place it where the head would be.

Make sure to overlap the circle and oval a bit.

Push down and rock back and forth (gently) to make an impression.

Almost there!

I use a 2 1/2 inch circle cutter for the tail....

...and trace inside with the boo-boo stick.

Yes...there will be lots of crumbs.

Brush them all off with a soft brush!

There he is!!

Hmmmm...Tom's looking a little pale though.

Time for some color!

(all colors are Americolor gels)

With light brown piping icing 

(a little chocolate brown + a drop of gold + a drop of black)

and a number 2 tip...

1. outline the oval

2. outline the top of the circle

3. outline the bottom curve of the tail

With dark brown piping icing

(a lot of chocolate brown + a little black + a little gold)

and a number 2 tip

1. outline the middle curve on either side of the head

2. outline the outer edge of tail.

Let that all dry.

For the tail feathers I used flood consistency icing in squeeze bottles 

1. dark brown (see above)

2. dark red (super red + maroon + a little chocolate brown)

3. orange (orange + terracotta)

4. ivory 

But use any colors you like!

Flood tail with dark brown and immediately pipe colored stripes.

Drag a toothpick through all three stripes, starting at the outer edge.

I like to start at the 'valley' of each little scallop.

Let it dry.

Don't touch!

Fill in the body with light brown flood.

Give him a nice round tummy.

It might crater a bit, but I kinda like it.

Let dry.

Fill in sides a little less than the tummy.

(wanna guess what's next)

Let dry.

Fill in the head, make it nice and round.

Letting him dry well (I try to give him an hour with a fan) between steps

helps to create lots of dimension.

...and then it got dark and there were no more pictures...

so I'll walk you through the rest.

For the wings, use dark brown icing and a number 4 tip for the outer edge 

and build it up past the height of his middle section.

Then switch to a number 2 for the inside edge.

I've done the entire outline in a number 2, but sometimes the flood icing spills out.

Not good.

Flood with dark brown.

At this point, let him dry overnight.

The next morning, dress him up however you'd like!

Hat: black piping icing with a 2

Hatband, waddle and bow: red piping with a 1

Nose and toes: orange piping with a 1

Eyes: dark brown with a 1

Remember...no two turkeys look exactly alike,

so make them however you'd like!

Have a Happy Turkey Day Everyone!!

If you enjoyed this tutorial, you might also like:

Fall Leaf Cookie Tutorial

Let's Talk About Writing On A Cookie!

Royal Icing, Step-by-Step