Newspaper Column: Cookie Bouquet

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Homemade Cookie Bouquet
By Cathie Filian and Steve Piacenza

Add some sweet flavor to your next party with this unique cookie treat that is sure to impress. The bouquets are easy to make and can be customized for any occasion. Kids love cookie bouquets at birthday parties and parents love the “no mess” serving of cookies. If you want to say thanks, a special hello, bon voyage or get well - bake up a bouquet of cookies.

Cookie ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour

Royal icing ingredients:
3 large pasteurized egg whites
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 lb. sifted powdered sugar

Supplies:
Vegetable oil spray
Lollipop cookie pan
Lollipop sticks
Icing bags and tips
Food coloring
Small beach pail
Floral marbles
Styrofoam
Brown sugar

Steps:
1. To make the cookie dough: Preheat oven to 400˚. Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in egg and vanilla. Next, add baking powder and flour, adding flour one cup at a time. Blend in last cup of flour by hand. The dough will be fairly stiff, but if the dough becomes too stiff, add water, one teaspoon at a time.

2. Spray each well in the cookie treat pan with vegetable oil spray. Fill each well with dough, filling almost all the way to the top. Slide a lollipop stick roughly halfway into each cookie. We used 6” sticks and 11 ¾” sticks. (Be aware of how large the inside of your oven is when deciding what size lollipop sticks to use.) Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool before removing them from the pan. You can use the tip of a spatula or a knife to help ease the cookies out of the pan. Allow the cookies to cool completely before decorating.

3. To make the royal icing: Beat the pasteurized egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer until frothy. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat for 5-7 minutes.

4. Transfer some of the icing into small bowls and add food coloring to each small batch of icing. Any icing you have left over in bowls at this point should be covered with a damp towel to prevent hardening.

5. Prepare a few decorating bags for icing. Insert the decorating tip coupler into a plastic piping bag, add icing, and twist the end of the bag. Cut the tip of the bag and screw on a decorating tip. Transfer each color of icing into a decorating bag and decorate the cookies. Allow the icing to harden.

6. To create a cookie bouquet, start by filling the bottom portion of a small beach pail with floral marbles. (for weight) Place a piece of styrofoam on top. Sprinkle brown sugar on top of the styrofoam to create “sand.” Poke the cookies into the styrofoam, placing the ones with the longer sticks in the back.

Cathie Filian and Steve Piacenza created and co-host Creative Juice on DIY and HGTV. Visit www.cathieandsteve.com for more information.