Homemade Cookie Bouquets

I have always thought cookie bouquets were such a neat gift idea, but they're pretty expensive so I decided to try to make my own a couple of weeks ago and was happy to find they were fairly easy to make. I just thought I'd share what I did since I know I'm always looking for cute, easy, unique, and inexpensive gift ideas. I am NOT a crafty person at all, but somehow these turned out pretty well.

Here are a couple of pictures of the ones I made. I made three Easter ones, but you could really make them for any occasion.

I bought the buckets for $1 each at Wal-mart. Inside the buckets I put a piece of green floral arranging foam and covered it with Easter grass (the foam pieces were about $1 each too).
I then made some regular sugar cookies and slid a bamboo skewer in the bottom of each one as close to the top of the dough as possible before cooking them. I wet the bamboo skewers ahead of time because I was afraid they'd burn in the oven or something. I baked the cookies, let them cool on the pan some and then transferred them to a cooling rack to cool completely. I then made some icing, decorated the cookies (I got ideas by looking at professional cookie bouquets on the internet), and put them in some clear craft bags that came with twist ties. Then I just arranged the cookies in the foam and they were done. The little Happy Easter sign is just some cardstock taped to a toothpick.

An important side note:

I would put something heavy in the bottom of the buckets next time since they were pretty top heavy. I loaded them all into a pan to carry out to the car for delivery. It was really windy that day and when I got outside a big gust of wind came and knocked one of them all over the ground and the other two just fell over in the pan. It looked like a little bunny massacre. I was only able to salvage one of them. Oh well. It would probably also help to use something sturdier like popsicle sticks, but I like the height of the bamboo skewers.

Here are the recipes I used:

Sugar Cookies

• 1 c. sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. butter
• 1 c. sour cream
• 3 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Mix sugar, egg, and butter together. Add sour cream. Mix well. Add flour, soda and baking powder. Roll on floured surface and cut into desired shapes. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

Icing

• 1/2 c. Crisco
• 1/2 c. butter
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 1 tsp. lemon extract
• dash salt
• 5-6 c. powdered sugar
• Milk

Mix shortening, butter, extracts, and salt. Add powdered sugar and enough milk to make a good spreading consistency (I used a few teaspoons, but it could take a little more). Mix until light and fluffy.