Thanksgiving Cornucopia Cookies (A Fun & Easy Holiday Treat!)

Are you looking for the ultimate cute, festive, and completely irresistible treat for your Thanksgiving celebration? A fun, edible craft that is perfect to make with your kids and will be the star of the dessert table? These incredible, from-scratch-tasting Thanksgiving Cornucopia Cookies are that perfect recipe! We’re talking a soft, chewy, and buttery nutmeg-spiced sugar cookie, topped with a fluffy buttercream and cleverly decorated to look like a tiny cornucopia, overflowing with a “bountiful harvest” of chocolate chips and festive sprinkles.

This isn’t just another cookie recipe; it’s a guide to your new favorite Thanksgiving tradition. We’ll show you the simple but brilliant secrets to a flawless, from-scratch soft sugar cookie and the easy, fun techniques for creating these adorable, edible works of art. This is a guaranteed, crowd-pleasing hit that is as fun to decorate as it is to eat!

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Recipe Overview: The Ultimate Cute & Festive Holiday Treat

What makes these Cornucopia Cookies so spectacularly fun is their brilliant, easy-to-achieve design and their classic, crowd-pleasing flavor. This recipe is a masterpiece of festive creativity. The cookie itself is a super-soft and chewy, nutmeg-spiced sugar cookie. The real magic, however, is in the decoration. A simple, from-scratch American buttercream frosting acts as the delicious “glue.” The “cornucopia horn” is a brilliant and easy shortcut—a single Bugles® corn snack! The “bountiful harvest” spilling out is a fun and colorful mix of chocolate chips and fall-themed sprinkles.

Metric	Time / Level
Total Time	2 hours (includes cooling)
Active Prep Time	35 minutes
Difficulty Level	Easy
Servings	About 24 cookies

The Baker’s Orchard: The Essential Ingredients

This iconic party treat uses a handful of high-quality pantry staples to create its signature festive look and delicious flavor.

• The Soft Sugar Cookie (The Perfect Base!):
  • An Extra Egg Yolk: The secret to a super-rich, tender, and chewy cookie is the addition of an extra egg yolk to the dough.
  • Nutmeg: A hint of warm, fragrant nutmeg is the key that gives these cookies a wonderful, cozy, and distinctly autumnal flavor.
• The “Cornucopia” (The Shortcut Superstar!):
  • Bugles® Corn Snacks: This is the brilliant hack that makes this impressive recipe so achievable!¹ The iconic, conical shape of a Bugles® snack is the perfect, ready-made horn of plenty.
• The “Bountiful Harvest” Decorations:
  • Chocolate Chips & Sprinkles: A fun and festive combination of different colored chocolate chips (semisweet, butterscotch, white chocolate) and some fall-themed sprinkles creates the perfect, edible “harvest” spilling from your cornucopia.²

The Baker’s Masterclass: The Secret to a Perfect Cookie

This recipe uses a few simple but brilliant techniques that guarantee a flawless, delicious result.

1. Room Temperature is Key: The number one, non-negotiable secret to a soft, tender, and evenly baked cookie is to use room temperature ingredients, especially your butter and your eggs. This is the key that allows the butter and sugar to cream together properly, which incorporates air and creates a light texture.
2. The Perfect Thickness: The recipe has a brilliant and crucial trick: after you have scooped your dough, you must roll it into a ball and then flatten it into a 1/3-inch thick round. This is the secret that gives your cookie the perfect, sturdy base for decorating and a wonderfully soft, chewy center.
3. The Frosting as “Glue”: Don’t skip the frosting! A thin layer of the simple buttercream is not just for flavor; it’s the essential, edible “glue” that holds your Bugle and all your delicious “harvest” sprinkles in place.

Step-by-Step to the Best Thanksgiving Cornucopia Cookies

This fun and festive project is a joy to prepare.

Part 1: The Art of the Soft Nutmeg Sugar Cookie

Step 1: First, preheat your oven to 350°F (³$175^{\circ}C$).⁴ Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Step 2: In a large bowl, beat your 1 1/2 sticks of room temperature butter, the 3/4 cup of granulated sugar, and the 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Step 3: Beat in your 1 large egg plus 1 large yolk and the 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract until they are completely incorporated.

Step 4: In a separate medium bowl, whisk together your 2 cups of all-purpose flour, the 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, and the 1/4 teaspoon of salt. With your mixer on a low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing only until a soft dough forms.

Step 5: Using a 1 1/2-tablespoon cookie scoop, drop level scoops of the dough about 2 inches apart on your prepared baking sheets. Gently roll each scoop into a ball and then flatten it into a round that is about 1/3-inch thick. Bake for 10 to 11 minutes, until the cookies are lightly golden brown on the bottom. Let the cookies cool completely on a wire rack.

Part 2: The Easy Buttercream “Glue” and Festive Assembly

Step 1: To make the frosting, in a large bowl, beat the 6 tablespoons of room temperature butter, the 1 1/2 cups of confectioners’ sugar, the 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, and the 1/4 teaspoon of salt with an electric mixer until they are light, fluffy, and smooth. Mix in 1 to 2 teaspoons of milk as needed if the frosting is too stiff.

Step 2 (The Fun Part!): Spread about 2 teaspoons of your frosting on top of each of your cooled cookies.

Step 3: Place one Bugles® corn snack off-center on each cookie, with the pointy end facing out, to create your “cornucopia.”

Step 4: Add your mix of chocolate chips and festive sprinkles so they look like they are spilling out of the opening of the cornucopia.

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Storage and Make-Ahead Tips

These Cornucopia Cookies are the ultimate make-ahead holiday treat!

• Make-Ahead: You can bake the un-decorated cookies up to 3 days in advance and store them in an airtight container at room temperature. The frosting can also be made a day in advance and stored in the refrigerator.
• Storage: For the best, crispiest Bugle®, it is a great idea to decorate the cookies on the day you plan to serve them. Store the finished, decorated cookies in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)