This is another one of those “whipped up with leftover icing” things. I’m not crazy about my piped designs, for which I blame my kids. Ugh, they always need stuff like dinner and formula. Point being, I really did whip these up. Too quickly. I may revisit the flower thing the next time I have leftover icing. But the beauty is, you can make your own, way better flowers.

to make royal icing flowers

you will need:*

royal icing

food coloring

disposable decorating bags

couplers

decorating tips, sizes “3″ and “4″

rubber bands

baking tray

wax paper

*Find the decorating bags, couplers and tips in the craft store. You’ll need one of each for each color you choose. For food coloring, I suggest Americolor Soft Gel Pastes (Electric Green, Electric Pink, Electric Purple, Egg Yellow and Orange used here).

step one: prepare your icing according to the recipe. Divide and tint your preferred colors. Prepare decorating bags with couplers and tips, fill with your colors and close tightly with rubber bands.

step two: pipe your designs. Line a baking tray with wax paper. Pipe small flowers, 1 to 2 inches tall. Let the icing dry very well, overnight.

step three: top your cupcakes. Carefully pull the flower off of the wax paper and gently insert into the cupcakes right after they are frostd (see below).

to make field of grass cupcakes

you will need:*

cupcakes

frosting

green food coloring

disposable decorating bag

size 233 tip

rubber band

*Find the decorating bag and tip in the craft store. Number 233 is also known as the “grass tip.”

step one: make your cupcakes and frosting. Prepare cupcakes and frosting. If you’re using store-bought frosting, you may need to thicken it with powdered sugar so it holds its shape. Tint green (I used Americolor’s Electric Green). Prepare the decorating bag with the tip, fill with frosting and close with a rubber band.

step two: frost your cupcakes. Holding the decorating bag vertically over the cupcake, squeeze and pull up while squeezing. Repeat to cover the cupcake. Immediately insert the flower toppers.

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Geez, I’ve done a lot for Spring in the past few years. Which is funny since I much prefer Winter. I know, I know, I’m the lone person out there for whom this is true. But snow is so dang pretty, I never tire of it. Just wish we actually got some this year. And I’m the type who doesn’t want the cold to end, I want to wear sweatshirts and sit in front of a fire. And the world is just quieter in winter, and gosh I like the quiet. And… enough longing for Winter. I need to psych myself up for Spring. Above are vegetable garden cookies. Ha, as if I actually “garden.”  As always, you’ll find everything seasonal in the Seasonal button up there, but below I’m linking to a few of my favorites.

I noticed a few themes in the collection. Each one is pretty predictable.

Cherry blossoms, of course, since I live in Washington DC and all. Cherry blossom cookies, painted cookies in cones, cherry blossom marshmallows, painted cherry blossom cookies.

Birds!   Bluebird brownie pops, poured sugar birdie cookies, painted birdhouse cookies, chicken (or hen?) cake pops.

Bugs! Bug marshmallow pops, butterfly cookies, bug topper printable on Oreo Cakester petits fours, bug cookies, easy Starburst dragonfly toppers, fondant bugs.

And of course, flowers.  Felt flower cupcake toppers, gerbera daisy cookie pops, carnation cookie pops, bite-size daisy cookies, how to make a flower cookie arrangement, springtime marshmallows.

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I suppose it’s only fair that if my brother had to work for his birthday cookies, my sister would, too. And I had to make sure my two, young nieces have my sister assemble these flowers before eating them, because she’s good at finding loopholes. For the record, she’s also good at throwing parties, being a mom, sharp jokes, discerning the character of others, giving advice and yelling while driving.

The cookie package contains four stems, five leaves, four flower centers and twenty-four petals. I included a note of explanation, but I think she might have even figured it out on her own. She’s a smartie. (I almost wrote “one smart cookie,” but then I figured you’d judge me for the bad pun.)

And by the way, to make sure these were assembled before eating, my nieces took the liberty of doing the assembling themselves. Here they are in action:

And here’s the final result. Interesting. I never thought to do multi-colored petals, but I like them much better than my own, boring, monotone ones. Kids are smart. (And these cuties are also available for any lucrative modeling gigs or Hollywood commercials.)

to make flower puzzle cookies

you will need:*

cookie dough

royal icing

circle cookie cutter

leaf cookie or fondant cutter

knife or dough scraper

heart cookie cutter

food coloring

disposable decorating bags

couplers

size “3″ and/or “4″ decorating tips

rubber bands

sprinkles (optional)

*Find the cookie cutters at specialty shops or in the craft store, perhaps as part of cookie or fondant cutter sets. You’ll also find the decorating bags, couplers, decorating tips and sprinkles in the craft store. I used a 1 1/4-inch circle, 2-inch and 3-inch leaves, and a 2-inch heart (the heart is for the petals). For the decorating tips, use any size you prefer. I chose a mix of “3″s and “4″s. For food coloring, I suggest Americolor Soft Gel Pastes, available in specialty stores or online. Leaf Green, Electric Green, Electric Pink, Orange, Turquoise, and Egg Yellow used here.

step one: Prepare the cookie dough according to the recipe. Chill and roll out on a floured surface and cut out your pieces: Circles for the flower centers and leaves for the, um, leaves. To make the stems, I used a dough scraper to cut out 1/2-inch by 4-inch rectangles. To make the petals, I cut a heart shape in half vertically, smoothing the sides with my fingers a bit. Bake and let cool completely.

step two: Prepare the royal icing according to the recipe. Divide and tint your preferred colors. I made yellow for the centers, pink, orange, and turquoise for the petals, and two shades of green for the stems and leaves. Prepare a decorating bag with coupler and tip for each color, fill and close the bags tightly with rubber bands.

step three: Decorate your cookies. Decorate however you like best. I outlined each cookie first and let set about 15 minutes. I then piped to fill each cookie. I used one consistency of icing, in between an outline consistency and a flooding consistency, so I could both outline and fill with the same decorating bag. For more tips on basic cookie decorating, click HERE. To make the flower centers, I piped and filled a circle with yellow icing then immediately coated with yellow sprinkles.  TIP: For easy decorating (where you don’t have to worry about the icing consistency, or seeing the “lines” of icing), just outline and fill the cookie and immediately coat in the same color of sprinkles.

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Those sneaky Victorians sure knew how to circumvent uptight social mores with style. By attributing meaning to flowers (as in, the Language of Flowers, as in, floriography), they could send covert messages to their secret loves via bouquets. How very clever and romantic. I’m taking their cue, but without the secret lover part.

These flower cookies serve as wishes of health for a friend of mine who underwent surgery. The Eglantine Rose, according to the Language of Flowers, signifies a “wound to heal.” (Scroll to the end to see the flower in real life.) I’m sure we can all interpret “wounds” as we wish, beyond the cut of a surgeon. I know all too well how fragile the body is and how easily we are wounded, but we’re designed to heal. For my friend, I’m hoping that happens quickly!

to make Eglantine Rose cookies

you will need:*

cookie dough

royal icing

circle cookie cutter (2-inch used here)

food coloring (white, yellow, pink and brown)

3 disposable decorating bags

2 couplers

2 decorating tips, size “3″

rubber bands

flat paintbrush

liner paintbrush

*Find the cookie cutter (maybe part of a set), decorating bags, couplers, tips and paintbrushes in the craft store. For food coloring, I suggest Americolor Soft Gel Pastes, found online or in specialty stores. Bright White, Egg Yellow, Electric Pink and Chocolate Brown used here. For tips on finding supplies, click HERE.

step one: make your cookies. Prepare cookie dough according to the recipe. Chill, roll out, cut out circles, bake and let cool completely.

step two: make your icing. Prepare royal icing according to the recipe. Divide and tint white and yellow (you’ll need a lot of white, just a little yellow). Prepare two decorating bags with coupler and tips. Fill one with half of the white icing and one with the yellow. Close tightly with rubber bands. Cover remaining white icing.

step three: decorate your cookies. Pipe the flower centers with yellow. Pipe the outline of the petals with white icing and let set 15 minutes. Thin remaining white icing with drops of water, stirring well, until the consistency of thick glue. Fill an empty decorating bag with the thinned icing, close with a rubber band, and snip off about 1/4-inch from the tip. Loosely pipe icing to fill the flower petals, encouraging the icing as needed with a toothpick. Let the cookies dry very well, preferably overnight.  For general cookie decorating tips, click HERE.

step four: paint your cookies. Pour a few drops of white food coloring on a palette (plastic plate, wax paper, whatever) and add a drop of pink. Mix with the paintbrush. Dip the flat paint brush in the paint and, starting from the edges of the petal, lightly pull the brush towards the center of the flower to paint the petals. You can add a drop of water if the paint mixture is too thick. Next, pour a drop of pink on the palette and go over the light pink at the edges a bit. Mix some drops of white coloring with some brown drops to desired shade on the palette, and use the liner brush to add dots on the yellow. Let dry. For more tips on painting on cookies, click HERE.

By the way, this is what the real thing looks like:

This is not my photo! Click the pic to go to the original source,

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2. Use the tip of a spoon to drag the dots toward the center.

3. Repeat.

4. Place white nonpariels in the center.

Katrina is a wife and mom in a house full of boys who like to eat. Join her at In Katrina’s Kitchen where dessert is always served first. ♥ You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+, and Pinterest.

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!