Friday, November 23, 2012

Turkey gobble day

It is a rare occasion that I even get to have Thanksgiving off from work and even more rare to be able to take a week of vacation surrounding the holiday. I made it my goal during my vacation to spend some time cooking and crafting while relaxing.

As part of the relaxing phase of my vacation I was watching the Today show the other morning with my mom with Giada de Laurentiis had a segment about Thanksgiving cooking. While the lemon and thyme didn't appeal to me, the adorable Oreo turkeys she had caught my eye. And appropriate to my vacation goal it was both a food and craft project.


What you need to make six candy turkeys:
12 Oreos (I found that the Double Stuffed version worked the best)
     Note: Six of the Oreos will need to have one side of the cookie removed
36 Candy corns
     Note: The white tip will need to be taken off from 6 of the candy corns to be used as a beak
6 Malt balls
6 Reeses miniatures
3/4 Cup bittersweet chocolate chips
2-3 Tablespoons of red frosting

Carefully insert five candy corns, white tip down, around the top of each of the Oreos. It's best to hold steady the Oreo near the top while pressing the candy corns into the creme filling as to not separate the cookie.


Place the chocolate chips into a glass or stainless steel bowl. Place over a pot with a small amount of simmering water and stir occasionally until the chocolate is melted. Dip the large end of the peanut butter cup (I actually used Christmas chocolate bells) into the melted chocolate and place that end against the bottom of the cookie opposite of the candy corns. The chocolate will act as a glue.



Once the peanut butter cups are in place, repeat with the malt balls and place them between the cups and the candy corn making the head of the turkey.


Finally, dip the white portions of the candy corns that were broken off into the chocolate and place it onto the malt ball as the beak of the turkey. Once you have assembled all of the turkeys, place in the refrigerator to set for about 10 minutes.

While the chocolate is setting, take time to color your frosting with food coloring. In the case of my turkeys I used Betty Crocker's Cake Icing which came with piping tips rather than having to put frosting into a plastic bag to pipe on to the malt ball as the turkey's beard.

Once this is finished, place the Oreo's with the attached candy onto the frosting up cookie to use as a base that will allow the turkey to stand up right.

Note; These are not the most sturdy of decorations, so try not to move them around too much after they are finished. To reinforce the base a little more, you could always try using a little of the extra chocolate on the base and refrigerating them again for a few minutes. These made lovely name cards by attaching a piece of paper with someone's name to a little toothpick and placing that into the creme of the base cookie.

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