Peanut Butter Cup Turkey Cookies
These cute little turkeys have a triple-shot of peanut butter: the cookie,
the peanut butter cup, and a peanut butter buttercream. They might
even make the real turkey jealous!
Yield: 30 cookies
Bake time: 13 minutes
Prep Time: 45 minutes
For the cookies:
3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¾ cup shortening
¼ cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup smooth peanut butter
For the frosting:
1 1/2 cups salted butter, shortening, or a combination (recommend 1 cup
butter and 1/2 cup shortening)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 pounds powdered sugar, sifted
6-8 tablespoons milk
4 TBSP smooth peanut butter
Red, Orange, and Yellow food colorings (gel paste preferred)
For the assembly:
½ cup chocolate chips
30 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
White chocolate chips
Bake the cookies:
Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together.
Set aside.
In a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the shortening, butter, and
sugars together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla
until combined. Add in the peanut butter and mix until smooth.
Stir in the flour mixture.
Scoop the dough with a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop onto the prepared
sheets. Flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass. (Dip the bottom
of the glass in flour if the dough is sticking.)
Bake for 13 minutes, or until the cookies are golden and baked
through. Let them rest on the 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.
Make the buttercream:
Cream the butter/shortening until completely smooth. Beat in the vanilla
extract. (If using all shortening, add 1/4 teaspoon fine sea or kosher
salt.)
On low speed, add in the sifted sugar, about 1 cup at a time, alternating
with 1 tablespoon of milk. Stop frequently to scrape down the sides and
bottom of the bowl. After the last addition of the sugar, evaluate the
consistency of the frosting before adding more milk. Beat for two more
minutes, on a medium-high speed.
The frosting should be thick and not fall off of a spatula unless tapped
on the side of the bowl. Adjust consistency by adding more milk or
powdered sugar as needed.
Add the peanut butter at the end and beat until incorporated.
Divided into three bowls and color red, orange, and yellow.
Assembly:
Melt the chocolate chips and place in a piping bag. Snip off the
end.
Apply the melted chocolate to the top of the peanut butter cup, and place
face down onto the cookie (so that the bottom of the cup is face up).
Press 2 white chocolate chips into each peanut butter cup for the
eyes. Use the melted chocolate to add pupils.
Fit three piping bags with star tips, and fill with the red, orange and
yellow buttercream. Starting with the yellow, closest to the peanut
butter cup, pipe “feathers.” Add a row of orange and a row of red.
Switch the tips on the red and orange frosting to #2 tips. Add the
feet with orange frosting and smiles in the red.
[Note: To make only a dozen turkeys, make a ½ batch of buttercream
(adding 2TBSP peanut butter), use 12 peanut butter cups, and you’ll have
18 big, delicious, peanut butter cookies leftover.]
