Instructions

For the Cookies:

1. Beat butter and sugar on medium high speed until sugar is dissolved and creamy.
2. In a small glass, dissolve ½ teaspoon baking soda in 2 tablespoons of milk.
3. Add baking soda/milk, vanilla, eggs and salt to the butter and sugar mixture. Beat until all ingredients are well incorporated.
4. Slowly add flour ½ C at a time and mix until a stiff dough forms.
5. Chill in the freezer for at least 15 minutes or in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
6. Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
7. Grab a handful of dough and roll dough out on a well-floured surface about ¼” thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut the shapes and transfer to a lined baking sheet. Use parchment paper or a baking mat to help prefer browning on the bottom of the cookie.
8. Keep dough in the refrigerator to keep the cold.
9. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes. All to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

For the Frosting:

1. Cut butter into pieces. Using the paddle attachment, whip butter for 3-4 minutes, scraping down the bowl occasionally. Beat until butter look light in color.
2. Add 2 C powdered sugar and mix on low speed until incorporated into butter.
3. Add 2 tsp vanilla extract and mix to combine.
4. Add additional powdered sugar and beat on low speed until sugar is incorporated. Increase speed to medium-high and beat for 3 minutes until desired consistency.
5. More powdered sugar will make a thicker frosting. Use milk to make the frosting thinner.
6. Divide the frosting into as many colors as you think you will need. You should not dye more than 1 cup of frosting for each color. You will use much less frosting than you think. Always keep a little bit of white frosting left over incase you want to dye another color, or lighten the ones you have. To use the gels, start with a tooth pick and slowly add the color to the white frosting. You can always make it darker, but it much harder to lighten the color that you want.
7. Colors used: Wilton Icing Pouch- Pink, Brown icing gel, Leaf Green icing gel, Violet icing gel

To Decorate the Cookies:

1. Always practice the piping technique on a paper towel before applying to the cookie. It’s best to use a piping bag with a coupler attached so that you can change out the tips used for each element of the cookie.
2. Step 1: Use a Tip #47 with the flat side facing up. Pull from the top down to create the vertical lines. Allow to dry as you pipe the rest of the cookies.
3. Step 2: Use a Tip #3 to pipe the boarder around the bottom of the flower pot. Hold the piping bag at a vertical angle. Allow to dry as you pipe the rest of the cookies.
4. Step 3: Use a Tip #233 with a green frosting to make the grass. Turn the cookie upside down, pulling the piping bag from the top of the pot towards you. Gently lift up as you go.
5. Step 4: Create the Drop flowers using a 2D tip. Pipe onto a piece of parchment paper on top of a plate so they can easily be transferred to the refrigerator to harden. Pipe way more flowers than you need because they can break apart. Fill the center with a contrast color using a #2 or #3 tip. Once hardened, transfer to your cookies with an angled spatula.
6. To pipe other types of flowers, use a #2 tip and draw on the cookies like you would draw on a piece of paper. Use a color for the flowers and fill the middle with a sugar pearl or contrast color. Use your green frosting to pipe the stems.
7. Keep cookies refrigerated to prevent from melting in heat. Gently stack only if needed.