Thanksgiving Turkey Cupcakes Recipe

Prep: 40 mins

Cook: 15 mins

Total: 55 mins

Servings: 12 servings

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Thanksgiving cupcakes are an adorable addition to your holiday dessert table. Simply top pumpkin spice cupcakes with chocolate frosting, candy corn, and vanilla wafers to create cute little birds that kids and adults will love.

Making these cupcakes with the kids are a fun Thanksgiving activity. They’re super easy to put together and don’t require a lot of tools or skills. You can find the candy eyes at craft stores or online and everything else is available at your local grocery store.

You can easily make the cupcake base ahead of time and freeze them. Decorate the day before Thanksgiving for an easy dessert that won’t take up oven space on the big day.

We love the pumpkin spice base for these festive cupcakes, but you can substitute with chocolate cupcakes, vanilla cupcakes, or any store-bought option if you’re short on time.

To continue the Thanksgiving theme with cookies, try these Oreo Turkeys.

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed
4 ounces (1/2 cup) salted butter, melted
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons molasses
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup whole milk

For the Decoration:

1 cup chocolate frosting
12 vanilla wafers
60 pieces candy corn
24 candy eyes
1 small fruit roll up, cut into small strips
6 pieces M&M's candy, optional

Steps to Make It

Make the Cupcakes

Gather the ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Beat together the brown sugar, melted butter, eggs, molasses, and vanilla extract in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix well until all the ingredients are combined.
Add in the pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice and mix again.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add 1/2 the dry ingredients and then 1/2 of the milk to the pumpkin puree mixture and mix. Add the remaining dry ingredients and then the remaining milk. Mix until no lumps remain.
Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Fill each liner about 2/3 full. Place in the preheated oven and bake for about 15 minutes, or until when you insert a toothpick into the center it comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and allow them to cool completely before decorating.

Decorate the Cupcakes

Gather the decorating ingredients.
Frost each cupcake with the chocolate frosting.
Place a vanilla wafer on the bottom half of the cupcake.
Add the candy corn above the vanilla wafer, white side touching the wafer, to create the feathers.
Add a tiny bit of frosting to the back of each candy eye and place them on the upper section of the vanilla wafer.

If you are using M&Ms, you can cut them in half and dip them in the frosting and make them into the nose. You can also cut the orange part off of the candy corn and use that as the beak.
Add a strip of the fruit roll up next to the beak to create the waddle.
Serve and enjoy.

Tips

Use the cupcakes as place cards. Add a toothpick with a name attached or simply place it just under the cupcake on the plate. It's an adorable way for people to find their seat.
Store in an airtight container for up to two days or serve right away.

Recipe Variation

You can replace the vanilla wafers with round Nutter Butter cookies. You can use any round, tan-colored cookie you wish, just make sure they are about the same size as a vanilla wafer.

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 12
Amount per serving
Calories	574
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 23g	29%
Saturated Fat 10g	49%
Cholesterol 68mg	23%
Sodium 524mg	23%
Total Carbohydrate 89g	32%
Dietary Fiber 2g	7%
Total Sugars 58g
Protein 6g
Vitamin C 2mg	12%
Calcium 106mg	8%
Iron 4mg	22%
Potassium 300mg	6%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.