Cookie Bouquets

Happy Mother's Day! I know Mother's Day was two days ago but I couldn't post what I made for it until I gave away my gifts so that they would still be a surprise. Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed their day, I know I did. I made my Mom a cookie and candy bouquet and am very happy with the way it turned out! What do you think?

I also crossed-stitched the bread cloth that I used to line the flower pot and that was the most time consuming part. I used Mary's Sugar Cookie from my Sweets for the Sweet post for my cookie dough. I have been experiencing some problems with this dough lately and haven't been able to figure out why.....but I have figured out how to fix it! So, I amended the recipe in my Sweets for the Sweet post in case you experience the same problem as I have. I thought my Mom's came out a little crowded looking but I'm still very happy with the way it turned out.

I also made another smaller one to give to a friend of ours for Mother's Day.

But these don't have to be just for Mother's Day. My husband and I also had to get-together the night before Mother's Day for a friends birthday so I made one for him too!

I promise that these are pretty easy to make. Simply make your sugar cookie dough, cut out your shapes with a cookie cutter and place them on your baking sheet. Then take sucker sticks and gently pressed them into the dough. I also found it helpful to take some dough scraps and cover part of the sucker sticks to "encase" them into the cookie.

Bake your cookies according to your directions. When removing them from the pan after they have baked, make sure to use a large spatula as to not crack or bend them at all. It is also better to leave them in the oven slightly longer. You don't want a soft and chewy cookie for these flower pots. A stiff cookie will make this much easier.  Once the cookies are completely cooled, decorate them as you wish. Don't be afraid of using a pipping bag, all you have to do is make dots using a simple star tip. You could also make a runny icing (simply mix powdered sugar and a little water until you get your desired consistency), dip the cookies and decorate them with sprinkles. It also helps to decorate the side of the cookie that you stuck the sucker stick to. This way you hide the stick and have a pretty side (the back side) showing.

I made the chocolate flower sucker the same way I did for my Dirt Dessert post. A big help is if you have a electric skillet. Fill it with a couple inches of water and set it to a low temperature setting. Then using glass measuring cups or coffee mugs, you can have all you colors and flavors of candy melts all ready and waiting for whenever you need them.

To assemble everything, take a terra-cotta flower pot and place in flower foam to fit very snugly. If you want to add a decorative cloth or towel, place it in the pot before the flower foam. You may also want to wrap the flower foam in plastic wrap so it doesn't rub off and stain the cloth.

Add colored shredded paper, tucking it down into the sides and begin to push in your cookie and candy flowers. If you want to cover it for travel, take a few glue dots and attach them around the outside edge  (rim) of the flower pot.

Then carefully slip a clear treat bag (usually found in the cake and candy decorating supplies) over the top and press on you glue dots. Attach a decorative ribbon around using glue dots again to hide the edge of the bag.

And just in case you're wondering, here is what I got for Mother's Day!

Here is a link to the cookie cutter set that I used: Wilton Cookie Cutter Set
In this set, the "6" also doubles as the "9" and the "O" also doubles as the "zero".

Butter cream icing I used to decorate cookies: Cupcakes at Tiffany's