Kids love to be a part of the holiday preparations.
Thanksgiving is a fun holiday for kids, especially when they get the chance to help put the holiday meal together. Children can contribute to the holiday meal by making some kid-friendly desserts. Parents can spend quality time with their children while they help their children create some tasty Thanksgiving themed desserts.
Pilgrim Hat Cookies
Pilgrim hat cookies are an easy Thanksgiving dessert that kids will enjoy putting together. There is more than one way to make a pilgrim hat cookie. Older children can make the dessert out of large marshmallows, melted chocolate chips, fudge striped cookies and yellow frosting. Have the kids stick a toothpick in each marshmallow, dip it in melted chocolate chips until it is completely coated and place it in the center of back of the cookies. Place the cookies in the freezer until the chocolate sets. Add a small yellow Pilgrim buckle at the base of each marshmallow with the yellow frosting. For children too young to work with the melted chocolate chips, substitute miniature peanut butter cups for marshmallows and secure them to the back of the cookies with chocolate frosting instead of melted chocolate chips.
Candy Turkeys
With a little imagination, a package of cookies and several bags of candy, your kids can make some cute turkeys for a Thanksgiving treat. Purchase a package of chocolate striped cookies, a bag of your favorite square miniature chocolates, candy corn and caramels. Put the chocolate square down on a plate to form the base of the turkey. Place a caramel on top of the chocolate . Add a piece of candy corn to the top of the caramel, letting the pointed end stick out from what will be the front of the turkey. This forms the turkey's beak. Add another piece of caramel on top of the candy corn for the turkey's head. Create eyes for the turkey with the white tips from two pieces of candy corn. Hold the striped side of the cookies against the back of the turkey and push the cookie against the caramels. Place the turkey in the microwave on high for about 8 seconds so that the caramel melts just enough to hold the turkey together.
Mini No-Bake Pumpkin Pies
No-bake mini pumpkin pies are another fun Thanksgiving dessert for kids to make. Purchase mini graham cracker pie crusts, two large boxes of vanilla pudding, 8 oz whipped topping and two cups canned pumpkin (See References 4). The kids can make the vanilla pudding and mix in the can of pumpkin, adding pumpkin spice and brown sugar to taste. Fold in the whipped topping. Spoon the pumpkin flavored pudding into the ready-made pie shells. Kids can garnish their desert with more whipped topping. They can also decorate the pies to look like turkeys by placing pecans vertically along one edge of the pie and an oval cookie on the opposite side, suggests National Geographic Kids. Before placing the cookie in the pudding pie, kids can use frosting to paint a turkey face on the cookie. Put the pies in the freezer for about an hour.
Tags: candy corn, chocolate chips, melted chocolate, melted chocolate chips, kids make