Heart Cookie Bouquets

Last February I saw a sugar cookie bouquet in a magazine and I told myself I was going to try one this year. Not only are these a great gift idea, but they would be a fun Valentine's Day decoration for your home during the month of February. They almost seem to pretty to eat...well, almost. These definitely take more time than the giant sugar cookie idea I showed you, but they sure are beautiful.

Besides your dough and frosting, here are the supplies you will need: skewers, tin cans, foam, scrapbook paper to cover the can, sugar to weigh down the can, paper shreds, and photo squares to mount the paper on the can.

Your supplies for your "vase"

To make these, you need to start with your dough. After letting the dough chill, roll your dough out on a floured surface and cut out the hearts with a cookie cutter. I used two different sized hearts (Wal-Mart has a pack of all different heart sizes right now). Then you gently put the pointy end of the skewer into the bottom of the heart--pressing until it is half-way up the cookie. You will need to make these cookies fairly thick in order for the skewer to fit (I cut mine about 3/8").
Place four cookie on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper and bake for 8 minutes. After they cool you can frost the cookies. Butter cream frosting doesn't look as fancy as a glaze icing, so I didn't use it for this project. I decided to try my friend Sara's icing from her site Our Best Bites. For detailed tips and tricks on this icing visit her post. The recipe is also listed below.

Glacé Icing (courtesy Our Best Bites)
1lb powdered sugar (about 3 3/4 C)
1/4 C + 2T C whole milk (low-fat actually works, but use whole if you can)
1/4 C + 2T light Corn Syrup
1 t extract

With a whisk, combine sugar and milk until smooth (no lumps!) Then stir in corn syrup and extract.

Once you make the icing, you can be creative and decorate!Stick the foam in the bottom of the can and then fill with sugar. You can then place your cookie skewers into the foam and arrange as you please. Then add the shredded paper as the final touch. People will be so impressed with your beautiful bouquet! Update: After making these bouquets, I decided the sticks were too tall for the tin cans, so I shortened them and it made the bouquets sturdier and more visually appealing.

I am giving some individual cookies to my son's little friends, so I wrapped them individually in a plastic baggie and tied with a ribbon. I put these in a wrapped spaghetti jar and placed as a giant bouquet in my kitchen.