
Peanut Butter Cup Turkey Cookies


Ingredients
- Cookies
- 3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour*
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup shortening
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 cup Dixie Crystals Extra Fine Granulated Sugar
- 1 cup Dixie Crystals Light Brown Sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup smooth peanut butter
- Frosting
- Double recipe Basic Butter Cream Frosting
- 4 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
- Red, Orange, and Yellow food colorings (gel paste preferred)
- Assembly
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 30 peanut butter cups
- 60 white chocolate chips
- *Spoon & Sweep method: Use a spoon to fill measuring cup with flour until required amount is obtained. Scooping measuring cup directly into flour bag will firmly pack flour resulting in too much flour required for recipe.
Directions
Cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.
- In a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream shortening, butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Add in peanut butter and mix until smooth.
- Stir in flour mixture.
- Scoop dough using a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop onto prepared sheets. Flatten slightly with bottom of a glass.(Dip bottom of glass in flour if dough is sticking.)
- Bake for 13 minutes, or until cookies are golden and baked through. Let them rest on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. The cookies will look poofy out of the oven, and deflate as they cool.
Buttercream:
- Prepare Butter Cream Icing, adding peanut butter at end and beating until incorporated.
- Divide into three bowls and color red, orange and yellow.
Assembly:
- Melt dark chocolate chips and place in a piping bag. Snip off end.
- Apply melted chocolate to top of peanut butter cup, and place face down onto cookie so that bottom of cup is face up.
- Press 2 white chocolate chips into each peanut butter cup for eyes. Use melted chocolate to add pupils.
- Fit three piping bags with star tips, and fill with red, orange and yellow buttercream. Starting with yellow, closest to peanut butter cup, pipe “feathers.” Add a row of orange and a row of red.
- Switch tips on red and orange frosting to #2 tips. Add feet with orange frosting and smiles in red.
Note: To make only a dozen turkeys, make a single batch of buttercream (adding 2 tablespoons peanut butter), use 12 peanut butter cups, and you’ll have 18 big, delicious, peanut butter cookies leftover.
Recipe developed for Dixie Crystals by Bridget Edwards @Bakeat350.