All About Cookie Bouquets

The best thing about iced cookie bouquets is that you can make the cookies in just about any shape or size imaginable. This flexibility makes it easy to design a bouquet to specifically suit your recipient's interests or the occasion such as sending get well soon cookie wishes or cookies to say happy birthday.

Here are some unique cookie bouquet ideas that you can either make yourself or order online from companies like Gourmet Cookie Bouquets.

The majority of cookie bouquets are made using cut-out sugar cookies that are decorated with royal icing. Several online websites have step-by-step instructions for creating your very own bouquets of iced cookies. The first step is to buy cookie cutters in the shapes for the occasion you are commemorating. For instance, you might choose flowers and butterflies for Mother's Day. Secondly, you must use a cookie dough recipe that will yield cookies that hold their shape during the baking process and are sturdy enough to stand up on stems.

---------------------------------------
No Fail Sugar Cookie Recipe
6 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract or desired flavoring (I like almond myself)
1 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together. Chill for 1 to 2 hours.

Roll to desired thickness (1/2" recommended for bouquet cookie gifts) and cut into desired shapes. Pre-heat the oven for at least 1/2 hour prior to baking. Then, bake cookies on ungreased baking sheet at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges. This recipe can make up to 5-dozen 3" cookies. For cookies on stems, immediately upon removing cookies from the oven, slide a long white paper stick into the warm dough about 1.5" into the cookie. To make this process easier, they recommend that you place the cookies on the sheet facing outward prior to baking so you can slide the sticks in easily for the last step. Let the cookies cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet after inserting the stick and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Recipe from Kitchen Collectables.

---------------------------------------
Soft Sugar Cookie Recipe
4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter (room temperature - do NOT use margarine)
3/4 cup sour cream
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs

Sift the dry ingredients together. Cream butter, slowly add sugar. Add vanilla and eggs. Alternately beat in sour cream and dry ingredients. Chill dough for 1 hour.

Roll out to 1/4" - 3/8" thickness and cut into shapes, you can use as large as you like and whatever shape you wish-just make sure you'll have skewers long enough to hold cookie. Press wooden skewers into cookies with the stick anchored in dough about 2". If making quite large cookies, it's best to fit the skewers through most of the length-till about 1" from the top. Bake cookies on an ungreased sheet for 10 minutes (or until edges are golden brown) at 450 degrees.

Remove cookie sheet from oven, but allow cookies to sit for a minute or two before moving to cooling rack. Do not handle the cookies by the sticks at this point, they'll pull out and fall apart.

Recipe from Tip Nut.

---------------------------------------

After your cookies on sticks are completely cooled, you are ready to begin icing them. Just watch the videos and follow the instructions below.

All those beautiful iced cookie gifts that you see online cookie companies create are made using Royal Icing. It is the best choice because royal icing tastes great and dries hard so it holds up well when cookies are mailed across the country. Royal icing decorated cookies will arrive looking as good as they did when you decorated them.

Standard royal icing recipes call for powdered sugar, meringue powder and water. Basically, the water is added until you achieve the desired consistency. Some people use raw egg whites instead of the meringue powder, but I don't recommend that method because of possible salmonella contamination. These days, it is fairly easy to find meringue powder in upscale grocery stores and craft stores such as Michael's (in the cake decorating section).

---------------------------------------
Standard Royal Icing Recipe
3 3/4 cups powdered sugar - sifted
3 Tbsp. meringue powder
6 to 8 Tbsp. water (depending on consistency desired)

In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar and meringue powder. Then add water a little bit at a time (until the desired consistency) beating with an electric mixer on medium speed. NOTE - a thicker consistency (6 Tbsp water) is used for outlining the cookie while a thinner 'flow' consistency is used to flood the cookies inside the outline. If you'd like almond flavored icing, consider substituting 2 Tbsp. almond extract for the first 2 Tbsp. of water.

After the icing is fully mixed and the desired consistency, just divide it up and add color. Deep rich colored icing works best for birthday cookies and flower cookie bouquets. Keep the icing containers covered until you are ready to use the icing as it will turn to concrete quickly.
---------------------------------------

For tips on how to ice the cookies and acheive the look you want, watch Cat Cora's cookie decorating video below or visit Kitchen Collectables for Cookie Decorating 101.

Finding a fun and unique container is easy if you have a craft store like Michaels nearby. They have baskets shaped like footballs, giant tea cups, pumpkins and more. You can also find ceramics such as flower pots and large coffee mugs. Finally, colorful tin pails and bird houses with open tops are available. Just find something that coordinates with your theme and you'll be all set.

I've found the easiest way to arrange the cookies on stems in the containers is to use floral foam as a base. Basically I cut the floral foam with a sharp knife to fit the container. Note that it should be a TIGHT fit requiring you to wedge the foam in the container. This keeps the foam from moving when the cookies are inserted. Some floral styrofoam flakes off so I wrap it in a piece of tissue paper before wedging it in the container (this keeps pieces of foam from flaking off when the sticks are inserted).

Once the foam is wedged in the container, you are ready to insert the cookies. If you are using a mug or some other short container, you may find that you need to trim the end of the sticks. A wire cutter or heavy duty scissors should do the trick. Just insert the cookies in a pattern to create a flower-like bouquet. To hide the sticks I sometimes insert paper tissue puffs in the styrofoam as well.

Whether you've created a birthday cookie arrangement or box of longstem cookie roses, your friend or family member will love the unique gift that you made just for them!

Not everyone has the time or patience to create cut-out sugar cookies and to decorate them with royal icing. In addition, not everyone likes sugar cookies. So a great alternative to iced cookie bouquets are bouquets made with standard gourmet cookie flavors such as M & M, snickerdoodle and chocolate chip cookies.

The basic principles are the same as those used for iced cookies, but instead of making rolled sugar cookie dough, you make your favorite cookie dough flavor like chocolate chip. I recommend that you make the cookies a bit bigger than you usually do to achieve cookies that are 3 to 4 inches in diameter. Like the iced cookies, you insert the wooden skewers prior to baking or the paper skewers immediately after baking while the dough is still soft. It is best to use cookie recipes that yield soft, chewy and moist cookies (rather than crispy light and airy cookies). They stay on the sticks better.

To dress the cookies up, buy some clear or colorful cellophane at your local craft store along with some curling ribbon or yarn. Once the cookies are cool, just wrapped the cookies with the cellophane, tying it around the stem with either the ribbon or yarn.

Follow the same tips for arranging the cookies in the container that I gave for the iced cookie bouquets. Embellish the cookie gram with ribbons, silk baby's breath and leaves for a stunning presentation.

And if you don't feel like baking, you can always purchase one of these great gifts from Cookie Gift Baskets.com. As you can see, they have something for just about any season or reason including housewarming cookie gifts, birthday cookies, and anniversary cookie grams.

CLICK HERE
to join Squidoo
for FREE

Share your tips, ideas and photos with the world right here on Squidoo. You can add Amazon, Zazzle and other modules to earn money. Then, you can keep the profits you make on your lenses or donate them to charity like I do!

All of the proceeds from this lens benefit the CAER Food Shelf.

Idea Squid clip art from Squidoo Graphics.