Everyone knows that Thanksgiving revolves around food. And whether your kids will be helping with the main meal or not, there are always a million recipes you can cook together! It can be good practice for the day of baking and cooking, or just for fun while we get our fill of pumpkin spice and apple pie!

Mini Pumpkin Pies

These are much simpler and easier to make if you have little ones at home. You’ll need pre-made dough or homemade if you’re up to the task. Roll the dough out thinly, and cut small squares, then trim it to make a pumpkin shape. Create a pumpkin pie filling with all the spices you’d like, and put a dallop onto the middle of each pumpkin. Place a top piece over it and pinch all the ends with a fork. Bake until brown and you’ll have hand-held pies everyone will love!

Turkey Leg Rice Krispie Treats

These don’t even require cooking! Follow the recipes for making rice Krispie treats using marshmallows and cereal. You can even mix some cocoa rice krispies to give it a more “golden” texture. Melt some white chocolate and make sure to hold some marshmallows to the side, along with pretzel sticks. Grab a pretzel stick, and place two marshmallows on one end to make it look like a bone. Use a basting brush to “paint” the pretzel sticks white, which will help keep the marshmallows on the rod. Once they have cooled, grab your rice Krispie mixture and spoon out a slightly generous amount relative to your pretzel rods. Form a turkey leg shape over the bottom of the pretzel rod, opposite of the marshmallows. Allow all of them to set slightly before showing off your own fun take on a turkey dinner! 

“Pumpkin Pie” Cheese and Crackers

For the more artistic, these snacks are delicious and adorable. You can use saltines or a Triscuit brand cracker if you’d like. Purchase a medium cheddar cheese to give it the right color, along with some cream cheese. And if you happen to have a frosting bag and tip, look for the teeniest, tiniest tip you can find! You can make these any size you want, really, but the smaller you make them, the more adorable they will turn out. Cut the cheese into tiny triangles that will fit onto a portion of a cracker. Break up the crackers into small triangle shapes, as well as the backing portion, so small squares. Place the cheese against the crackers, and use a tiny amount of cream cheese to keep them together. Using your piping bag and tip, put a small amount of cream cheese inside to top off the cheese with a little “whipped cream”. 

Katie Kyzivat