Thanksgiving is the perfect time to get creative in the kitchen, and decorated cookies add a personal, festive touch to your dessert table.
Whether you’re baking for kids, family, or a holiday party, these 12 Thanksgiving cookies decorated ideas will inspire you to mix flavor, color, and creativity for cookies that look as amazing as they taste.
1. Turkey Sugar Cookies
Turn classic sugar cookies into adorable turkeys using royal icing and candy details.
Use brown, orange, red, and yellow icing to create feathers, add candy eyes, and finish with a tiny orange beak.
These cookies are a hit with kids and make perfect table favors.
2. Pumpkin Decorated Cookies
Shape your cookies like pumpkins and decorate them with bright orange icing, green vines, and a little brown stem.
Add shading with darker orange or gold tones to give the pumpkins a realistic, harvest-time look.
3. Fall Leaf Cookies
Use maple or oak leaf cookie cutters, then decorate with marbled icing in warm tones—red, yellow, and orange.
You can drag a toothpick through the icing to create a beautiful, swirled autumn leaf effect that looks professional and festive.
4. Acorn-Shaped Cookies
Make acorn cookies with a chocolate-dipped top and a sprinkle of crushed nuts for texture.
Use light brown icing for the base and dark brown for the cap.
They pair beautifully with other fall-themed cookies on a dessert platter.
5. Pumpkin Pie Slice Cookies
Create pumpkin pie lookalike cookies by cutting triangles from round sugar cookies.
Decorate with orange icing for the filling, a tan crust, and a small swirl of white icing “whipped cream” on top for a realistic finish.
6. Plaid Thanksgiving Cookies
For a cozy, rustic vibe, decorate rectangular or round cookies with plaid patterns in fall colors—think red, yellow, orange, and brown.
Use a fine piping tip to layer lines of icing to create that warm flannel look perfect for the season.
7. Cornucopia Cookies
These beautiful cookies are shaped like cornucopias and filled with icing “fruit” and “vegetables” such as grapes, pumpkins, and corn.
They make stunning centerpiece cookies for a dessert platter or gift box.
8. Apple Decorated Cookies
Simple but classic—apple-shaped cookies decorated with red or green icing and brown stems.
Add a touch of white shading for dimension and tiny leaf details with green icing for a realistic finish.
9. Pilgrim Hat Cookies
Transform round or square cookies into cute pilgrim hats by using black or dark brown icing, adding a gold buckle made with yellow icing, and finishing with a trim of white or orange.
These cookies look great alongside turkey-themed treats.
10. Harvest Wheat Cookies
For a simple, elegant touch, make long oval cookies decorated with golden yellow and tan icing to resemble wheat stalks.
Add details with a fine tip for texture.
These cookies give a farmhouse, rustic charm to your cookie display.
11. Cranberry Wreath Cookies
Use round cookies with a hole in the center and decorate with red and green icing to form a cranberry wreath design.
You can add small white sugar pearls for “snowberries” or edible glitter for sparkle.
12. “Give Thanks” Message Cookies
Add a heartfelt touch with cookies that have piped messages like “Give Thanks,” “Grateful,” or “Blessed.”
Use leaf or plaque-shaped cutters, then decorate with fall-colored icing and gold accents.
These cookies make thoughtful gifts or place settings for your Thanksgiving table.
Decorated Thanksgiving cookies are a fun, creative way to bring color and personality to your celebration.
Whether you go for cute turkeys, elegant wheat designs, or heartfelt messages, each cookie becomes a mini work of art that captures the warmth and gratitude of the holiday season.
