Thanksgiving Cookie Bouquet

Our amazing cookie bouquet will be the star of your Thanksgiving gathering — It also doubles as a sweet hostess gift.

Ingredients

• 1 tube (16.5 oz.) refrigerated sugar cookie dough
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. grated orange zest
• 1 tsp. French vanilla extract
• 18 (12″ long) wooden skewers
• 1 pkg. (2 lb.) confectioners’ sugar
• 6 Tbs. meringue powder
• 10 Tbs. warm water
• Orange, burgundy, brown, yellow and moss green concentrated food colorings
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• ¼ cup chocolate jimmies or sprinkles
• Floral foam, clean, new flowerpot and ribbon, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. On low speed, beat cookie dough, flour, zest and extract until combined. On lightly floured surface, roll out dough to ¼” thickness. Using 4½”x 3 ½” turkey-shaped, 4½”x3 ¼” oak-leaf-shaped, 3″ maple-leaf-shaped, 3″ pumpkin-shaped and 2″x1 ⅛” acorn-shaped cookie cutters, cut out cookies, re-rolling scraps as necessary.
2. Arrange cookies 1″ apart on baking sheets. Insert 1 skewer into bottom edge of each cookie, gently pushing in halfway. Bake 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on pans on racks.
3. On low speed, mix sugar and meringue powder. Beat in warm water, 1 Tbs. at a time, until smooth. Divide among four bowls. Tint icing: one bowl deep orange with orange and tiny amount of brown food coloring; one bowl dark red with burgundy and brown coloring; one bowl yellow and remaining bowl green.
4. Transfer icings to separate plastic pastry or food storage bags; snip ⅛” hole off tip or one corner of each bag. Pipe, then spread icings over cookies. Chill until set, 30 minutes.
5. Melt chocolate chips; cool slightly, then transfer to plastic pastry bag; snip end. For turkey and acorn cookies, pipe on chocolate; sprinkle with jimmies. Decorate all cookies with chocolate. Chill until set, 30 minutes. If desired, place floral foam in flowerpot; tie ribbon around pot. Insert cookies.