Recipe: Handy Turkey Cookies for G. Spears

Handy Turkey Cookies
A Thanksgiving feast is not complete without dessert. And such a sweet ending can be a terrific way for youngsters to join in the preparation. Decorating these simple, "handy" cookies can be a light, tasty way to top a scrumptious meal-with some help from the little ones.

For the dough:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

For the decorations:

1 cup prepared vanilla frosting (from a 16 oz. can)
Assorted colored sugars
Mini chocolate chips
Candy corn
Red fruit leather

Special aids:

Hand-shaped template or cookie cutter
Small resealable plastic bag
Scissors

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add egg and beat for 1 minute longer. Beat in vanilla just until incorporated. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Using a wooden spoon, stir butter mixture, one-third at a time, into flour mixture until blended. (The mixture will be crumbly.) Gather dough into a ball; flatten into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours. Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly spray 2 baking sheets with vegetable cooking spray. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a 1/4-inch thickness. Using a template made by cutting out a tracing of your hand or a hand-shaped cookie cutter, cut out cookies. Transfer cutouts, 2 inches apart, to the prepared baking sheets. Reroll scraps for additional cookies. Bake until lightly browned around the edges, 8-10 minutes; transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Decorating the cookies:

Spoon frosting into a resealable plastic bag; snip off 1 corner. Pipe a feather design onto each finger. Sprinkle "feathers" with colored sugar. Pipe a dot for the "eye" on each thumb. Place a mini chocolate chip on each frosting "eye." Cut a candy corn for each nose and attach to thumb with a little frosting. Using scissors, cut the fruit leather on its backing paper into 2-inch pieces; cut out "wattles." Remove paper from fruit leather. Using a dab of frosting, attach "wattles" to thumbs. Let stand until frosting is set, about 1 hour.

Serving Size: Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies