Thanksgiving Dessert Trays: A Sweet Twist on Thanksgiving Dinner

If you’re looking for a fun Thanksgiving treat to make for friends, neighbors or anyone you’re thankful for, these little Thanksgiving dessert trays are such a cute idea!

I made an entire Thanksgiving dinner out of cookies, cupcakes, candy and buttercream frosting. There’s a sugar cookie turkey leg, mashed potatoes with gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole and even a slice of pumpkin pie. Except everything is sweet!

The best part is that most of the components are really simple to make. You can bake the cookies and cupcakes ahead of time, then assemble everything in the trays when you’re ready.

Here’s everything I used and how to make your own.

What You’ll Need

Each tray includes five Thanksgiving-inspired desserts:

You’ll also need a five-compartment or larger food-safe takeout tray to package everything.

1. Turkey Leg Sugar Cookies

These are made using my signature Jenny Cookies sugar cookie recipe. They’re soft, buttery and perfect for dipping into the mashed potato buttercream.

Ingredients:

Instructions:

1. Prepare sugar cookie dough according to my recipe.
2. Roll dough to approximately ¼-inch thickness.
3. Cut turkey leg shapes and transfer to a baking sheet.
4. Bake according to the recipe, adjusting the time as needed for larger cookies.
5. Let cool completely.

I left the turkey leg cookies undecorated so they could be dipped into the buttercream mashed potatoes.

2. Buttercream Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

This might be my favorite part of the entire tray! The mashed potatoes are actually vanilla buttercream frosting, topped with caramel gravy and edible salt and pepper.

Ingredients:

Instructions:

1. Prepare a batch of vanilla buttercream.
2. Spoon a generous scoop into the mashed potato compartment.
3. Use the back of a spoon to create a little well in the center.
4. Drizzle with caramel sauce to resemble gravy.
5. Finish with white sanding sugar for salt and black nonpareils for pepper.

The buttercream doubles as a dip for the turkey leg cookies!

3. Candy Green Bean Casserole

No actual vegetables required! This little side dish is made entirely from candy and cookies.

Ingredients:

Instructions:

1. Cut the green apple candy straws into short pieces, approximately ¾ to 1 inch long.
2. Arrange the candy pieces in the tray to resemble green beans.
3. Crush a few vanilla wafer cookies into small pieces.
4. Sprinkle the cookie crumbs over the green candy to look like crispy fried onions.

That’s it! Such a simple way to make a recognizable Thanksgiving side dish.

4. Sweet Potato Casserole Mini Cupcakes

These mini cupcakes are topped with orange buttercream and toasted marshmallows to look just like sweet potato casserole.

Ingredients:

Instructions:

1. Bake mini vanilla cupcakes and allow them to cool completely.
2. Tint a portion of vanilla buttercream with a small amount of AmeriColor Burnt Orange. Add coloring gradually until you reach a warm sweet potato shade.
3. Spread or pipe the orange buttercream onto each cupcake.
4. Top with mini marshmallows.
5. Lightly toast the marshmallows using a kitchen torch, taking care not to burn the frosting or cupcake liner.

I love how the toasted marshmallows make these look like actual sweet potato casserole!

5. Pumpkin Pie Slice Sugar Cookies

No Thanksgiving dinner is complete without pumpkin pie!

For these, I used my signature sugar cookie dough and decorated each cookie to resemble a little slice of pumpkin pie.

Ingredients:

Instructions:

1. Roll out the sugar cookie dough and cut into pumpkin pie slice shapes.
2. Bake according to the sugar cookie recipe and cool completely.
3. Tint buttercream orange for the pumpkin filling and ivory for the crust.
4. Using piping tip #4, fill in the pumpkin pie portion with orange buttercream.
5. Use petal tip #104 and ivory buttercream to create the pie crust edge.
6. Pipe a small dollop of white buttercream using star tip #18 to resemble whipped cream.
7. Finish with a tiny sprinkle of cinnamon, if desired.

These are adorable on their own, but even cuter tucked into the Thanksgiving dessert trays.

How to Assemble the Thanksgiving Dessert Trays

Once everything is prepared, assembling the trays is easy.

1. Place the turkey leg sugar cookies in the largest compartment.
2. Add the pumpkin pie slice cookie to its own compartment.
3. Scoop buttercream mashed potatoes into another compartment and finish with caramel gravy and salt-and-pepper sprinkles.
4. Add the green apple candy pieces and crushed vanilla wafers for the green bean casserole.
5. Place a sweet potato casserole mini cupcake in the final compartment.

I love the way all the colors and textures come together. They really do look like little Thanksgiving dinners!

Shop Everything I Used

Here are the supplies and ingredients you’ll need to recreate these Thanksgiving dessert trays.

Packaging

Cookie Decorating

Cupcakes

Candy and Toppings

Can You Make These Ahead of Time?

Absolutely! In fact, I’d recommend making the cookies and cupcakes a day or two before assembling.

Sugar cookies: Bake ahead and store in an airtight container. Decorate the pumpkin pie cookies before assembling the trays.

Mini cupcakes: Bake ahead and store in an airtight container. Frost and add marshmallows closer to assembly.

Buttercream: Prepare ahead and refrigerate until needed. Let it soften before scooping into the trays.

Candy green beans: Cut the candy ahead of time, but wait to add the wafer crumbs until assembling so they stay crunchy.

Final assembly: For the prettiest presentation, assemble the trays shortly before gifting or serving. Keep refrigerated if they contain buttercream that requires chilling, and avoid stacking anything against the decorated cookies.

A Sweet Little Thanksgiving Gift

These would be such a fun treat to deliver to friends, neighbors, teachers or anyone you want to surprise around Thanksgiving.

They’re also a great way to use one batch of sugar cookie dough for several different treats.

I love a holiday project that’s creative, a little unexpected and something people can actually make themselves. And these little Thanksgiving dessert trays check all three boxes!

Happy Thanksgiving and happy baking!

If you make this, let me know! I always love hearing from you.

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