A bountiful display of iced cookies, dressed up as a floral bouquet.This makes a wonderful gift, as well as a fabulous centrepiece for a festive table.
Prep Time1 hourhr
Cook Time10 minutesmins
Drying time3 hourshrs
Total Time4 hourshrs10 minutesmins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: English
Servings: 20
Calories: 263kcal
Ingredients
Cookie dough:
150gbutter
200gcastor sugar
2tspvanilla extract
2eggs
350gplain flour
1/2tspbaking powder
1tspsalt
To decorate:
500gicing sugar
egg whites
cocoa powder
food colouring
vodka
Instructions
Cookie dough:
Cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the vanilla and then the eggs, beating well after each addition.
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together, then sprinkle over the wet ingredients.
Stir everything together until just combined.
Press the cookie dough into a flat disc, and wrap in cling film.
Chill for at least 45 minutes in the fridge before rolling out the dough.
Pre-heat oven to 180c / 160c fan
Dust the work surface with plain flour. Roll out dough to about 5mm thick.
Cut out flower shapes and transfer to baking sheet with a palette knife or hamburger turner.
Insert a wooden skewer into the bottom of each cookie.
Bake for approximately 10 minutes until the edges of the cookie start to brown, then leave to cool on the baking tray for 5 minutes.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
To decorate:
Sift the icing sugar, and add the egg whites.
Adjust the icing by adding more egg whites, or icing sugar, until you reach a '15 second icing' consistency; When you break up the surface of the icing, it should take 15 seconds to become completely level again.
Transfer the icing into a piping bag, fitted with a number 2 tip, or simply cut a small 2mm opening at the end of the bag.
Outline a cookie, then immediately use the same icing to flood the inside.
Use the wooden skewers to give the cookie a shake, and the icing should all smooth over nicely.
Set aside to harden, and repeat with the rest of the cookies.
Take the remaining icing and sift over a little cocoa powder to help darken it.
Add some black food colouring, then cover and set aside for later.
After 2-3 hours, decorate the cookies in a variety of different colours. Mix food colouring with vodka to create edible paint.
I like to paint the centres yellow and dot with orange or brown, then paint the outer petals in a lighter colour, and streak out a darker colour from the middle.
Once coloured, outline with the black icing to make them look bold and really stand out.
To display, place some polystyrene, or other suitable foam into a flower pot.
Insert the cookies, using needle-nose pliers to hold the sticks.
Once happy with your display, cover the foam to disguise the base - I like to use green tissue paper.