I know it seems odd to take advice from the girl who still has Valentine's Day decorations up...but I've made my share of cookie bouquet mistakes. I've also probably made your share as well. So in an effort to even things out...let me share with you these 21 tips for creating the perfect cookie bouquet!
1. Before you even get your butter out or power up the mixer...make sure you have the right sticks for your bouquet. The key to a gorgeous cookie bouquet is VARYING LENGTHS of sticks. If I am making a bouquet with 12 cookies-- I will bake 4 of them on the 11.75 inch sticks, 6 of them on the 8 inch sticks and 2 of them on 6 inch sticks. If you are only going to get two sizes - go with the
11.75 inch sticks and the
8 inch sticks.
2. Place your cut-out on a baking sheet. Keep a finger or two on top of the cut-out as you push the cookie stick in to the cut-out. I find it helpful to gently rotate the stick as it goes into the dough.
3. Place your cut-out on a baking sheet. Lay the cookie stick on top of the cut-out and cover with a small circle of dough.
4. When the cookie is baked, simply flip over to decorate.
5. Roll the dough twice as thin as you normally do. Cut two cut-outs for each cookie. Place one on the baking sheet. Lay the cookie stick on top and cover with a second cut-out.
6. To save room on a baking sheet, cut cookie sticks in half before placing them in the cookie.
7. After the cookies are baked, but while they are still warm- remove the short sticks and replace with longer cookie sticks. If you forget to switch them out while the cookies are still warm, add a little royal icing to the long stick before putting it in the cookie.
8. You can also add sticks to the cookies after they are fully decorated. Let the icing dry for 24 hours before flipping the cookie over. Pipe a zig-zag down the middle of the cookie with stiff royal icing. Gently press a stick in to the icing and allow the icing to dry for another 4 hours.
9. You can also add cookie sticks to the packaging as well. Place a decorated cookie inside a cellophane bag. Seal the bottom of the bag, leaving 2-3 inches of extra space between the cookie and the seal. Turn the cookie over and tape a cookie stick to the back of the cookie packaging. Gather the excess bag around the cookie stick and secure with a small piece of tape. Tie a ribbon over the tape if you like.
10. Packaging cookies that already have the sticks attached is similar. Place a cookie inside a cellophane bag with the opening facing the bottom of the cookie. Gather the excess bag around the stick and use a piece of tape to tightly secure the bag around the stick. Try to make it as airtight as possible so the cookies stay fresh. Tie a small piece of ribbon over the tap to hide it. (Not that there is anything wrong with tape on a cookie bag. It's not like it needs to be ashamed of itself or anything. But sometimes even a piece of tape likes to get all dressed up, you know what I'm saying?)
11. You can use pretty much any container for your cookie bouquet as long as it is at least 5 inches deep. Larger bouquets require larger containers. My general rule is a container will hold 1 cookie per square inch of the top surface. So if I bucket is about 3 inches by 3 inches (3 X 3 = 9) then you can put 9 cookies in that container.
12. The secret ingredient to any cookie bouquet is WEIGHT. You can use glass stones, rice, beans, marbles, pebbles....anything vaguely heavy. Place it in a sealed bag and toss it in the bottom of your container.
13. Grab some florist foam. (I get mine from the dollar store.) Invert your container on top of the foam and use a sharp knife to cut it to size. This stuff makes a mess...so maybe cut it on top of a piece of plastic wrap so you can just toss all the mess in the garbage.
14. Wrap your newly cut piece of florist foam in tissue paper.
15. Invert the foam and press it into your container. It should be a snug fit. Use a little pressure to get it in there...but be careful not to break the foam.
16. Star at the back of the container with the tallest sticks.
17. Work your way forward. Angle the cookies on the edges outward to create a fuller look. Push the sticks into the foam at least 2 inches to keep them secure. I push the cookies at the front almost all the way down to the foam.
18. If you want more color or interest to your bouquet use paper clips to add tissue paper behind the cookies.
19. Twist a paper clip until it breaks in half. Push it through the edge of the tissue paper to hold it in place.
20. Use cellophane to wrap the entire bouquet. Most rolls of cellophane aren't really wide enough for most of my bouquets. The trick is to make sure you have enough cellophane to meet above the bouquet -- both in front and in back. Gather that together and just tuck the side pieces in.
21. Use a wide ribbon to secure the cellophane. And I'm sure it won't come as a surprise at this point for you to learn that I also use tape to keep that cellophane together while I'm trying to tie some kind of presentable bow on it.
NEED MORE?
See how I made these cookies
HERE.
