Sunday, May 9, 2010

Cupcake and Cookie Bouquets

Happy Mother's Day!!!


Last Cute Food Saturday Mara posted a cupcake bouquet and I thought it looked so adorable! Unlike 99% of the other things she posts, this was something I might actually be able to make myself!

I invited Di (Johnny's sister and my friend) over for a Saturday play date. We baked and decorated Mother's Day gifts while our two puppies played tug-of-war and wrestled.

First we tackled the cupcake bouquet using zip bags to "pipe" and Smarties candies. I think it turned out so cute!

I just used store-bought cake mix and frosting, then put the cupcakes in the fridge to cool and firm up. I washed out an old planter and Johnny filled it with a block of styrofoam. He also cut a craft styrofoam ball in half, which I painted green. To affix the cupcakes, hold them against the ball to get a feeling of where you want them and mark with a pen. Place two toothpicks angled upwards and gently press the cupcakes onto them. For the bottom cupcakes I also had to put a diagonal toothpick angled from the top.

Next was the cookie bouquet. We made oatmeal spice cookies with raisins and nuts on a stick. I used oven-safe sticks found at a craft store. To stick them in the stryofoam ball I used an extra stick to make a hole first, and then stick the cookies into them. To cover the extra space I just bunched up some tissue paper and affixed a bow!

The cookie recipe came from an old Better Homes and Garden book of mine.

1 cup flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
2 Tbsp milk

1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped nuts
(I used 1/4 cup pecans and 1/4 cup walnuts)

Mix the first list of ingredients until incorporated. Then stir in the second list of ingredients. Drop by teaspoonful onto greased baking sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes at 375°. Yields 40 cookies.

If you're going to be making them much larger, as we did, cook for 12-14 minutes at 375° and yields a dozen 3" cookies.

8 comments:

Mara @ What's For Dinner? said...

LOVE THEM!!!!! I love seeing homemade cute food :)

Simply Life said...

oh what an adorable idea!!!

sophia said...

Aw, what a cute concept! I love that. You always have so much fun with creative cooking ideas!

Laura said...

Ok your floors are way to clean and pretty, seriously my kids need to come and play in a dirt pile then get in a fist fight on that floor... :D

I love the edible creations, so so cute! Were they appreciated?

Jessie said...

Wow, Christina, I am so impressed with your cupcake and cookie bouquets! They look gorgeous for Mother's Day, and I'm sure they were darn tasty to eat :)

A@ Please Don't Eat Me! said...

ohhhhhh aww! those are SO cute! i love them! wish i were there in Chic land to enjoy them with you!!

Christina said...

Thanks everybody! :)

And Laura another ESP moment - I was actually smirking to myself how clean my floors looked in that pic! Must be an illusion of light. I promise in person they're covered w/ Corky's white hair and tumbleweeds of Poe's long hair blow past. I have to vacuum the floors 2-3 times a week and the furniture almost daily if I want it to look presentable!

Laura said...

HA!!