Turkey Cookies

Photos and recipe courtesy of www.justapinch.com 

1 (16.5) Pkg. Refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough roll, or homemade cookies

3/4-1 cup chocolate frosting

1/3 cup sliced almost (sub candy corns if wanted)

48 white chocolate chips

48 mini chocolate chips

24 candy corns

48 pretzel twist pieces 

Here is a new way to enjoy a rather unconventional holiday turkey. First, start out with pre-made or homemade chocolate chip cookies that are completely cooled. To make your turkey come to life, scoop a mountain of brown frosting into the center. Next, add some almond slice or candy corn feathers on one half of the outer edge of the cookie. White chocolate chip candy eyes and mini chocolate chip pupils glued on with frosting and a candy corn nose will bring your turkey’s face to life. Next, add pretzel feet and see your finished turkey ready to walk. (If you want to get really fancy, add a strip of red frosting down the nose and chin to imitate a wattle.) This will give you two dozen “cute turkey cookies!” Try saying that fives times fast.

Cucumber Cups

Photos and recipe courtesy of www.spoonful.com

6 medium cucumbers

1 (8-ounce) container red pepper hummus

1(8-ounce) container lemon hummus

Chopped chives for garnish

This recipe will be the centerpiece at your Thanksgiving feast. Turn your Thanksgiving appetizer into something healthy. First, take your cucumbers and give them a decorative feel by creating alternating light and dark green slices with a vegetable peeler or a citrus zester to change up the stripe sizes. Once your cucumbers are dressed in their pinstripe green suits, cut them into ¾ inch slices and scoop out the seeds to create a 1/3 inch deep ditch where you will be putting a delicious dip. Next, scoop ½ tablespoon of your choice of red pepper hummus or lemon humus to fill the ditch. Top it all off with chopped chives, and you’ will have 64 of the most popular appetizers at your family Thanksgiving!  

Pigs in a Pilgrim Hat

Photos and recipe courtesy of www.spoonful.com

2-3 hot dogs

Tube of crescent roll dough

Bologna (hand-sliced from the deli counter, for a larger diameter than prepackaged)

Sliced yellow American or Cheddar cheese

Flour

First thing is first: preheat the oven to 350°. Next, take your precooked hot dogs (my favorite are Applegate’s organic all natural grass fed beef hot dogs) and cut them into eight 1-inch segments. Separate the dough along its perforations, and place the hog dogs pieces on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. Make sure they are spaced far enough apart in order to prevent them from sticking to each other. Then, place a triangle of dough over each hot dog pile. With either a glass dipped in flour or a circle cookie cutter, make circles out of the dough with the hot dogs as the center. With your hands (make sure they are floured up) shape the dough into hat shaped coverings. Put these puppies in the over for 10-12 minutes. While the hats are hardening, cut eight slender strips of bologna and eight small squares of cheese for the hatbands. Once the hats have cooled, place the bologna and cheese around the hat and use the cheese to cover the ends of bologna that don’t touch. There you have it, or should I say there you “hat” it. 

Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie

Photos and recipe courtesy of www.allrecipes.com

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup margarine, melted

3 tablespoons white sugar

1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream, softened

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup packed brown suga


1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 tablespoon orange juice

The key to creating a delicious pie is the perfect crust. Skip the store bought ones and opt to make a tasty homemade pie crust by combining crumbs, sugar and margarine in a mixing bowl. Then, press the crust mixture firmly into a pan. This needs to chill for about an hour or until its slightly hard. (For a quicker hardening technique, bake for 10 minutes in a 375° oven or until the edges start to brown.) Also, make sure to cool this before putting anything inside. Now it’ is time for the sweetest part. Mix together ice cream, pumpkin, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and orange juice. Pour this mixture into the homemade crust and then freeze until it is ready to be gobbled up.