How to Make a Cookie Bouquet
Updated: Mar. 01, 2024
Ever wonder how those stunning edible arrangements are made? This handy guide will walk you through how to make a cookie bouquet step-by-step.
If you’re looking for a crafty gift to give a loved one, look no further than a homemade cookie bouquet. Don’t be intimidated! It’s easier than you think. Just whip up a batch of sugar cookies, add skewers and decorate with icing before arranging in a decorative vase for a truly impressive gift.
What we love most about cookie bouquets is their versatility and scalability to suit just about any occasion. Bring a large bouquet studded with dozens of colorful cookies to feed your family after Easter brunch, make a smaller arrangement of three to five cookies as a Mother’s Day treat, or use a red-and-pink color scheme for an edible Valentine’s Day bouquet.
Keep scrolling to learn how to make a cookie bouquet from start to finish!
The supplies
Making a sugar cookie bouquet is fun and easy—but it takes some advance planning to make sure you have all of the right materials on hand for a gorgeous arrangement. You’ll need:
- Ingredients to make our Favorite Sugar Cookies
- Your go-to royal icing or buttercream frosting
- Decorative vase, flower pot, pitcher, bucket or other container
- Florist foam block or disc sized to fit your container
- 6 to 12-inch cookies sticks (we love these Wilton sticks because they’re oven-safe)
- Piping bags or bottles fitted with round tips for icing
- Sprinkles and candies for decorating
- Assorted flower- and insect-shaped cookie cutters
- Greenery and/or tissue paper
- Clear cellophane, tissue paper and ribbon for wrapping
If you’re short on time, you can also make a killer-looking cookie bouquet using your favorite store-bought sugar cookie dough and frosting. We won’t tell, we promise!
Mix the cookie dough
Prepare your sugar cookie dough according to your recipe’s instructions. We’re using our favorite Taste of Home sugar cookie recipe for our bouquet. We love this recipe because it makes sturdy sugar cookies that don’t spread a lot when baked and hold up well to being skewered and arranged upright in a bouquet.
Test Kitchen tip: Add some pizzazz to your sugar cookie dough with a teaspoon of your favorite extracts like vanilla, almond, coconut or lemon. Here are our favorite vanilla extracts.
Roll and chill
Once the dough is mixed, divide it into two balls and roll each out on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, using a rolling pin. Roll the dough out to a little more than 1/4-inch thick.
Cover the sheets of dough gently with plastic wrap and transfer to the fridge to chill for at least 1 to 2 hours or overnight for best results.
Test Kitchen tip: You may also sandwich your dough between two lightly floured pieces of parchment paper when rolling it out. This prevents the dough from sticking to your rolling pin and makes transferring the dough to the fridge a breeze. Find even more tips on how to roll out cookie dough.
Cut out shapes
Remove the dough from the fridge once firm and preheat your oven to 350°F. Line two or three baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Next, use a selection of floral cookie cutters to cut out the chilled dough. In terms of size, use cookie cutters that are at least 3 to 4 inches in diameter. For variety and interest, you can mix a few butterfly or bumblebee cookies into your bouquet design.
Skewer and bake
Arrange the cookie dough shapes 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets and then gently insert a skewer into the bottom of each cookie. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes until the cookies are just barely golden on the edges. Remove promptly.
Test Kitchen tip: Make sure your skewers are inserted deeply into each cookie; almost to the center. Shallow skewers will not be as secure, which means there’s a greater chance of your cookies cracking or crumbling once assembled into a bouquet.
Cool completely
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for at least 5 minutes and then, using a spatula, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Do not pick up the cookies by the sticks when moving them to a cooling rack. The dough will still be soft at this point and the sticks will tear through the warm cookies.
Prepare the icing
While the cookies cool, prepare the icing. For a cookie bouquet, royal icing or an American buttercream that dries and sets firmly is best. Either one will allow your finished cookies to hold up well while you create your arrangement. Once the icing of your choice is mixed, divide it into a few smaller bowls and dye each with a few drops of food coloring before transferring to piping bags or bottles.
Decorate
Decorate your cookies however you like, using different colored icings, sprinkles and small candies. Once decorated, allow the icing to fully set so it is no longer tacky to the touch.
Learn how to decorate cookies with royal icing like a pro.
Arrange the bouquet
To assemble your cookie bouquet, place a foam block into the bottom of your vase or container. Then, taking one cookie at a time, gently press the cookies by their sticks into the foam. Make sure you insert the sticks deep enough into the foam, so they are secure. As you add cookies, we suggest trimming the length of the sticks using scissors so some are shorter and others taller. This will help add dimension and fullness to your cookie bouquet.
Test Kitchen tip: The foam should fit snugly and not be able to shift or tip easily. If your foam does not seem secure, you may adhere it to the bottom of your vase with a bit of hot glue or adhesive squares (like these).
Add weight and filler
Depending on your container, you may find that your bouquet is a little top-heavy once your cookies are arranged. To prevent the bouquet from tipping over, fill your container with colorful glass beads for extra weight. An added bonus to these beads is that they can also help hide the foam if you’re using a glass container.
Finally, add some tissue paper or greenery to your bouquet to fill in any gaps between the cookies and hide the sticks. You’ll be amazed at how this will help take your bouquet to the next level by making it look lush, full and professional.
Wrap your cookie bouquet
Wrapping isn’t always necessary but it’s a great way to add a finishing touch to your edible masterpiece. Our preference is to wrap each cookie individually with a small piece of cellophane secured with a ribbon around the stick prior to assembling the arrangement. We especially love this wrapping method if you’re gifting your bouquet to a group who may want to divvy up the cookies for later enjoyment.
You can also use a large piece of clear cellophane gift wrap to encase the entire bouquet and secure it with a few colorful strands of ribbon at the top.
Originally Published: February 01, 2021
