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.