Dogwood Blossom Cookies

I love flowers but unfortunately I have a black thumb. I have planted so many flowers over the years and I can't seem to keep them alive. The only flowers that seem to grow year after year without me tending to them are day lilies. I decided the best way for me to enjoy flowers will be through cookies.

Today I'm going to show you how to make dogwood blossoms. These cookies are very simple to make. If you need a dogwood blossom cutter you can find one here. I made these cookies in three different ways to give you options.

You will need:

• white piping and flood icing
• green piping icing
• yellow non-pareils
• pink Wilton Color Mist spray {optional}
• pink AmeriMist airbrush color {optional--I purchased mine in a set} & an airbrush {optional}

Begin by outlining and flooding the cookie white. I used a #2 tip to outline. Allow to dry completely.

Next, using green piping icing with a #2 tip, pipe a center on the cookie. Use a boo-boo stick to help smooth the center if necessary.

Then, immediately cover with a few yellow non-pareils. I use a coffee filter to catch my non-pareils. This makes it easier to get them back in the container.

This was the look I was going for.

Image source: http://www.herrinhs.org/Teachers/EricJohns/CHA07/Noah%20Quinton/Flowering%20Dogwood/Flowering%20dogwood%20site.htm

When I saw this picture on the internet I knew I wanted to make dogwood blossoms with pink accents on the petals. This is where the other two options come in for making these cookies.

Image source: http://www.zazzle.com/pink_dogwood_flower_postcard-239256397159773680

This was the perfect opportunity to try out my new airbrush and compare it to color mist spray. My sister went to art school and was great at airbrushing. I'm not the artist of the family but somehow I have managed to be an artist through cookies. The only experience I had using an airbrush was in a cupcake class I took so I could never justify buying one. Michaels craft store recently had a sale on Duff's airbrush machine & I jumped at the chance to get it. The price was a bit more than I wanted to pay but it was nearly half of what you can find a similar machine for.

Anyway, first I tried the color mist spray. I've used it in the past and knew that it can get everywhere. A light bulb went off. I have a box sitting in my closet that would be perfect to prevent spray from going everywhere. This was my attempt at a light box for photography that came out wonky. I was right. It worked great! I put some sheets of wax paper on the bottom to collect most of the spray. Then I used a piece of card stock to cover the cookie that I did not want sprayed.

This is how the cookies came out using the color mist spray. While the cookies don't look bad it was hard to control the spray coming out of the can. They just don't look polished. Perhaps I should have tried it without the card stock. Who knows? I say I definitely need to practice more with the spray.

Next up I gave my airbrush a try. I'm sorry that I didn't photograph the process but I was too busy trying to get accustomed to it. I used it on the low setting and this was the result. Definitely a huge difference. These cookies look more polished.

Airbrushes can be expensive but if you think it's something that you will use then I recommend getting one. This was my first time using one on a cookie and I'm very pleased with the results. I've kind of gotten the airbrush bug and I'm dreaming up what I will do next.