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How To Make Your Own Cookie Bouquets
By Ricky Alberta, Wed Mar 7th
We've all seen them. Clusters of big, gourmet cookies,individually wrapped in shiny, colored cellophane, with bows andribbons. They come in many styles and with different treats,toys or gift items attached to or inside a basket or vase ofsome sort. They make a terrific and edible gift idea. After all,who doesn't love cookies? Sadly, they can be very expensivegifts, especially when considering that cookies don't cost awhole lot to bake. Here's how to make your own cookie bouquets at home withoutspending a fortune! What You Will Need:
Chopsticks or Wooden Skewers - Make sure they are heat-proof. Ifyou're smaller cookies, then popsicle sticks would alsowork. Cookies - Find a delicious cookie recipe that makes larger sizecookies, (your favorite or your gift recipients favorite will dofine) Container - This needs to be a sturdy container that is abit bottom heavy, especially if you plan to include more than afew big cookies. You can try putting some pebbles in the bottomto make sure the container won't tip over, if needed. Some ideasfor containers include: a coffee mug, a metal or plastic pail, abasket, a vase, a planter, cookie jar or glass jar, glassbottle, a toy or wood box of some sort, teapot, porcelain orpottery serving ware. Cellophane - The shiny, colored kind looks best, but the coloredplastic wrap you get at your local supermarket would work too. Ribbon - The curly kind works well for this. Any colors youlike. Decorations - Anything goes! What's appropriate to the occasionand what does the gift recipient like? Some ideas include:stuffed animals, small toys, candy, balloons, fake or realflowers, stickers or whatever you find at the local craft store. Block of styrofoam or florists foam - You know that stereo youbought last December? You probably kept the box, just searchyour garage for some spare, clean, stryofoam. Something to cover up the stryofoam or florist's foam - You canuse a big ribbon, some moss, plastic grass, tissue papercrumpled up or whatever else you have handy. Instructions: 1. When you place the cookie dough on the cookie sheet, pressthe dough down a bit to flatten it so that it doesn't spread toomuch while and so that the stick can be insertedproperly. Before you bake the cookies, you must insert thechopstick or wooden skewer into one side of each cookie. Push itin almost the length of the cookie without going out the otherend. This is an important step, as if your cookie is too big andyour stick is not sturdy enough, the stick won't hold it and thecookie may fall apart when you pick it up. When bigcookies, you probably won't be able to fit more than 3 cookieswith their sticks to a cookie sheet. 2. After the cookies with their sticks, cool the cookiesthoroughly, then wrap each one with the colored cellophane. Adifferent color for each cookie would
be ok, or all the samecolor appropriate to the occasion. Tie each one with some curlyribbon at the base where the stick comes out of the cookie. Tieit very tightly so the cookies will stay fresh on the stick. Youcan adorn each cookie with additional, larger ribbons or bows atthis point. When using curly ribbon, don't forget to curl it! 3. Now cut your styrofoam or florist's foam to the size of thetop of the container you chose. Then fit the foam in so it isnice and tight and near the top of the container. Remember, youcan place something heavier in the bottom of the container sothat it does not tip over. Small pebbles work well for this.Remember that the sticks will poke through the foam and into thebottom of the container. 4. Here comes the fun part, let's assemble the cookie bouquet!Take each of your cookies and stick them through the foam sothey go all the way through the foam and further, near to thebottom of the container. You can assemble the cookies in anymanner you like, but most cookie bouquets have one cookie at thecenter that is taller than the other cookies, so keep that inmind. Decorate with additional ribbons, toys, candy, flowers,gifts etc. Each item can be attached with additional ribbon tothe container or the sticks of the cookies or even with a gluegun (if appropriate). 5. Give your gift and watch the smiles! Make sure to give thebouquet as soon as possible after you have assembled it, youdon't want the cookies to go stale! Tips: Make sure you bake enough cookies for your container, if bakingsmall cookies, you may run out if you are filling a largecontainer. Always bake more than enough. Surely your extraswon't go to waste. Bake both large and small cookies and use them both in thebouquet for a nice varied look, like a more traditional flowerbouquet. More Ideas: Some cookie bouquets use cutout cookies, these can be fun tomake and decorate. Use your favorite sugar cookie cutout recipeand cut into shapes appropriate for the occasion. For cutoutcookies to work, you may want to double your sugar cookie recipeas the cookies need to be nice and thick for the stick to gothrough them. For this type of cookie, wooden skewers will workbest, chopsticks may be too thick. Then decorate the cookieswith frosting or icing. The icing should be the kind thathardens a little so that it won't stick to the wrapping. No needfor colored cellophane with these cookies, use regular plasticwrap or clear cellophane so that the beauty of your handdecorated cookies shines through. Remember, your cookie bouquet doesn't need to look professional,it's the homemade touch that makes it a truly special gift. About the author:Ricky Alberta is a baker and one of the editors ofCookie-Recipes.net. Cookie-Recipes.net is a site devotedexclusively to cookie recipes. Includes a recipe exchange forum,baking tips, how to's, articles, a blog, as well as hundreds oftasty cookie recipes.
http://www.cookie-recipes.net
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