20 A May Bouquet!

 Many years ago, my mother in law received a cookie bouquet from a popular store nearby.  The cookies were gorgeous, but after biting into one of them, they were hard and almost dry.

I wanted to try my Soft Sugar Cookie recipe and see if they would "stand" up to the cookie bouquet test ~ if you like Granny B's or Lofthouse cookies, this recipe is for you!

I couldn't resist these cute 3" cookie cutters at Michael's craft store, especially with a 40% off coupon. 

After chilling the dough, I rolled it to a 1/2" thickness, dipped the cookie cutter into the flour and put it on my Silpat baking sheet.  I inserted the flat end of a bamboo skewer (a package of 100 cost .99 cents!) half way up inside the cookie.

 
This is how I arranged the cookies.

Since these cookies were a little thicker than I normally roll them, I baked them for a couple of minutes longer until the tops were dry and sprung back when touched....like you would test a cake.

You can see how puffy these cookies are.  Almost like a three dimensional flower!

After cooling on a rack, I prepared the icing.  My favorite icing is buttercream, but this I found this glaze to be the perfect blend...it is not hard and crackly, but soft and holds it's shape.

The first step is to outline the cookie.  Apparently, this glaze is too runny.  I scraped off the white runny glaze, added more powdered sugar to it and started over.

After letting the outlined cookies dry for about 30 minutes, I "flooded" the inside, using a toothpick to spread the glaze into the corners.  Allow to dry for 30 minutes.

Pipe over the dry cookie with your design details.

Immediately sprinkle decorating sugar on wet icing...

You may need to use a dry watercolor brush to brush off excess sugar.  Here, I am brushing off the excess yellow sugar from the center of the daisy.

The daisy above looks like a sunny side up egg.  Adding details make a world of difference!

Again, allow to dry before "planting" your flowers.  Basket, styrofoam, and grass are all from Dollar Tree!

I did not want the cookies to dry out, so I cut of the closures of Ziploc baggies and added a twist tie...

If you are transporting a bouquet to a friend, have someone hold the arrangements or better yet, arrange them in the car just before you give it to them.  One of my baskets tipped over and the skewer poked all the way through the top.

Soft Sugar Cookie Recipe

Soft Sugar Cookie Secrets

Soft Sugar Cookies
(4x6 printable recipe) (full page recipe)

Sugar Cookie Glaze
(4x6 printable recipe) (full page recipe)