Valentine's Cookie Bouquets

Need more valentine ideas? Here are a couple of pictures I took at a cake club meeting. Note that I did not baked or created these cookie bouquets - Kelle did. The cookies shown below are iced with buttercream!! I was impressed, since we try not to use buttercream on cookies due to its soft consistency. However, these turned out just great. I want to bring to your attention, that buttercream won't have that shiny finish as color flow (see color flow recipe here). The buttercream recipe is Colette Peter’s.

Kelle’s mom’s cookie recipe:

• 1c butter


• 1 1/4 c granulated sugar


• 2 eggs


• 1 tablespoon of milk


• 2 teaspoon vanilla


• 1 1/2 c flour


• 1 tablespoon baking powder


• 
  
  1/4 teaspoon of salt
  
  Tip: you can add about 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg for 1 batch
  
  I had posted instructions for creating cookies on a stick HERE. It should apply to this recipe. Bake at 400 degrees Farenheits for 8 - 10 mins.
  

Colette Peter’s Buttercream recipe:

• 2 cups butter (unsalted - room temperature)


• 1 cup milk (room temperature)


• 4 pounds of powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar)


• 3 teaspoons vanilla


• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Add all ingredients to bowl and mix them until all are incorporated and the icing is smooth. Fill a piping bag with buttercream. Pipe buttercream icing onto cookies (for outline). Pipe more icing to fill the outline.

I had posted color flow / royal icing recipes and “How to Decorate your Cookies” previously HERE. These might be helpful.

Heart cookie cutters recommended

Color Flow Icing Recipe : Cookie Decoration

Full strength consistency. Yields 1 3/4 cup

1 lb sifted pure cane confectioners' sugar (4 cups)
2 tablespoons Color Flow Icing Mix ( I use WILTON Color Flow Mix
1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon water.

Make sure all utensils are grease free. ** Tip: boil egg beaters to remove grease. **

• Mix all ingredients starting at slow speed (stay at slow if using a stand mixer) and increase to medium (if using a hand mixer).
  
• Mix for 8 minutes.
  
• Stir in desired icing colors (I use Wilton gel colors to keep full strength consistency).


• Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth to avoid drying. Color flow dries pretty fast.

Links to:
Cookie Recipe and step-by-step instructions
Color Flow Icing Technique: How to decorate your cookies
Thinning Color Flow
Royal Icing as Color Flow: Coming Soon

Royal Icing Recipe

By popular demand, here is the Royal Icing recipe by Wilton.


Stiff Consistency (Yields 3 cups)

Ingredients:

3 level tablespoons of Meringue Powder
1 lb. sifted pure cane confectioners' sugar
5-6 tablespoons lukewarm water

**Make sure all your utensils are grease free. Tip: boil egg beaters to remove grease.**

- Place confectioners sugar on a large bowl and add the meringue powder. Mix at low speed until blended.
- Add water and mix for about 8 minutes at low-medium speed until the icing looses its sheen (if you have been mixing for 8 minutes and the icing still has some sheen, don't worry about it, your icing is done).
- To prevent drying cover the bowl of icing with a damp cloth while you are working with it.

Stiff, Medium or Thin Consistency:

Stiff consistency- See recipe above

Medium consistency- Add a teaspoon of water per cup of icing above

Thin consistency- Add two teaspoons of water per each cup of stiff consistency. One teaspoon of water or milk per each cup of medium consistency icing.

To read more about icing cosistency, read buttercream consistency here which applies to Royal Icing.

Store in airtight container for up to two weeks. If you want to use it after a while, notice the the icing top layer has dried a little bit. Just mix in low speed to restore original texture. Sometimes you might need to add some water.

Black Buttercream Icing

I often hear people complain that their black icing did not come quiet black. Here is some good advice: a true shade of black cannot be obtained from white icing. The black coloring will reduce to a gray or a very dimmed black color. Before you start coloring, start with a chocolate icing, i.e., add cocoa powder to your icing before the black coloring.

Try working with gel colors, which to my opinion, pick up the color better than liquids and won't change the consistency of your icing. This become very handy when working with royal icing and fondant which can change the consistency or make it hard to work with.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing Recipe

Add to the Buttercream Icing 3/4 cup of cocoa or 1 oz. of unsweetened melted chocolate and 1-2 tablespoons of water or milk to the recipe. Mix until all ingredients have been mixed thoroughly.

HINT: to achieve a darker color you can use brown or black coloring on the recipe until you achieve the color desired.

Icing Consistency (Buttercream)

Buttercream icing Recipe

STIFF consistency is used for making roses and flowers with stiff petals. If the icing is not stiff enough the flower petals will fall. If the Icing is too stiff the petals can crack.

This an example of a drooping rose (the consistency wasn't stiff enough):



Note that the petals are falling and the rose doesn't look natural.

Test the consistency of your icing to know when you have achieved STIFF consistency.

Take a small amount of icing between your fingers. If you can roll a little ball with no residue left in your fingers, you know the icing is TOO stif and your petals may break. Add a little more water and mix.

If you can roll a ball between your fingers and leave a small residue, the consistency is good to go.

A stiff consistency will allow you to make STIF peaks of icing as depicted in the picture below:



MEDIUM consistency is used for star tip decoration, borders, fiigure piping (3-dimensional shapes), flowers without stiff petals and bows.

The picture below are flowers made with medium consistency icing:



THIN consistency is used for icing the cake, lettering, outlines, dots, leaves and vines decoration.

Buttercream Icing Recipe (Yield: 3 cups)

The recipe shown here contains shortening. You can substitute the shortening with butter (see amount below**). However, this wilton recipe with shortening is one of the best for making flowers and roses, since the shortening helps create a good icing texture and consistency for decorating.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white vegetable shortening (Crisco)

• 2 tablespoons of water or milk (this amount of water will yield a stiff consistency)

• 1 teaspoon of clear vanilla flavoring (to keep the white color of the icing)*

• 1lb. confectioners' sugar (pure cane works best)

• 1 tablespoon Meringue Powder

• A pinch of salt (optional-to cut down on the sweetness of the icing)

TIP: Sift your confectioners' sugar to avoid sugar lumps that can clog your decorating tip.

Directions:

In one large bowl, cream the shortening, flavoring, water. Add the sugar and meringue powder in intervals while mixing on slow speed until the ingredients have mixed. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a Rubber Spatula. Continue mixing at medium speed until all indredients have mixed thoroughly.

Consistency:

Stiff consistency- See recipe above

Medium consistency- Add a teaspoon of water or milk per cup of icing above

Thin consistency- Add two teaspoons of water or milk per each cup of stiff consistency. One teaspoon of water or milk per each cup of medium consistency icing.

Read more about Icing consistency here

* Substitute any flavoring to suit your taste (vanilla, almond, butter)

** Substitute shortening with 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of butter at room temperature