Thanksgiving Cookies & A Cautionary Tale

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. 

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  I love going home and spending time with family.  Playing games, eating, and laughing together. 

I’m in charge of cookies again this year; my mom is going to handle the rest!

  

Before we get to the cookies, a cautionary tale…

Last week we celebrated an early Thanksgiving with my husband’s family.  They traditionally deep fry their turkey.  So while the women and kids relaxed inside (most of the side dishes were made ahead), the men went out to the garage to heat the oil and do manly things.

The men were out there a long time when they came in to tell us that the oil had been so cold that they were having trouble heating it (after over 30 minutes, it was still onely at 150 degrees F and needed to be at 350).  So they increased the flame on the propane tank considerably.  And it still wouldn’t heat up!

Then the deep fryer began to smoke (not good), and then my father in law opened the lid and it LIT ON FIRE (really bad!)  But being men, they had to be sure, so they lifted the cover a second time and flames shot into the air (really really really bad!)  Thankfully no one was hurt nor was the garage lit on fire.

Once everything was under control, they checked online and found that the smoke point of peanut oil is 600 degrees F and the flash point is 800 degrees F.  Those men were very lucky.  So the point of this store is: use caution and make sure all of your equipment is in good working condition!

Now let’s talk cookies!

I started out with the iconic hand turkeys, only make them in cookie form! (You can find my inspiration here).  I added names so these cookies can be used as place cards too.  And so my boys can’t hoard all of them.

Those are their actual hands, by the way.  I just traced their hands onto card stock, cut them out and used a sharp knife to cut them out of rolled sugar cookie dough!  It makes the cookies just a bit more special, I think.  Here’s the whole gang!

I also made little Cookie Pumpkin Pies (inspiration here)!  The slices have a little dollop of “whipped cream” because you have to have whipped cream with pumpkin pie, right?

I hope you all have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!