The Twelve Days of Christmas Cookie Project, Two Turtle Doves

December 2, 2012 | 25 Comments »

On the second day of christmas my true love gave to me, the Cookie Artisan and her turtle dove centerpiece!

Okay, cut me  a little slack I know it doesn’t rhyme, but once you see Maryann’s cookie creation, you won’t mind.

Seriously though, it was Maryann’s creativity and over the top cookie platters that first caught my attention on Flickr all those years ago and still captivate me to this day.  She is truly my cookie idol and one of my best cookie friends.

So, here she is doing what she does best!

If you’re like me, the Christmas rush is already upon you.  So when Callye asked me to participate in  her twelve days of Christmas I said, “OF COURSE” (the Christmas decorations can wait another day or two) and tried to kill two birds with one stone (oooh – poor choice of words since I’m doing two turtle doves – sorry!) and make a cookie that doubles as decor.

Cookie centerpieces take decorated cookies to the next level.   Placed on a cake stand or pedestal, it’s the perfect way to add that WOW factor to your holiday table.

I used these cutters for my two turtle dove centerpiece:

Here’s how I put it together….

1. Begin by sketching the design.

2. Since I don’t own a large circle cookie cutter, I turned clean cool whip container into a cookie cutter.  If you need help with that, click HERE.

3. When cutting the wreath, be sure to roll the dough thicker since it has to support the weight of the doves. As for the doves, be sure to flip one over after cutting so that they face each other.

4. I selected my favorite scalloped oval cutter for the base cookie because it complimented the width of the wreath, but you can use any size base that you like.  You will also need to cut a square cookie in half diagonally to act as supports for the centerpiece.  Bake the cookies and let cool.

5. In the meantime, pipe mini-holly leaves on wax paper to make royal icing transfers. I used several shades of green for my leaves, but just one is fine.  Royal icing transfers can take up to 24 hours to dry, so keep that in mind while planning.

6. Now you’re ready to decorate!  Use an edible marker to mark where doves will lay on the wreath.  Cover quarter sized areas of the wreath with green icing and attach holly leaf transfers.  Repeat until the wreath is covered

7. Next, come back and flood the dove outline of the wreath and let dry.

8. Meanwhile, decorate the dove cookies and let dry.  Once dry, “glue” the doves to the wreath with royal icing.  Now you are ready to go vertical!

9. Once the cookie pieces are COMPLETELY DRY set up an assembly area.  Place cookie sheets on bowls of the same height.  Place a book or something heavy on each cookie sheet to act as a weight.

 

10. Do a test run by assembling the cookies without gluing them to make sure everything fits together nicely.  If necessary use a lemon zester to flatten the edges of each cookie so that it’s perfectly flush with the base (the more cookie that touches the base, the stronger your centerpiece will be). Set the triangle support cookies behind the wreath cookie to make sure that they touch both back of the cookie and the base. If they don’t, don’t panic, use the zester to straighten them up.

11. Now you are ready to assemble. You will have to work quickly!  Flood the base cookie and immediately set the wreath cookie on the wet icing. Push the entire assembly to one of the cookie sheets so that the front of the wreath touches the edge of the cookie sheet to keep the wreath standing upright.

12. Pipe royal icing on the two sides of the triangles that will touch the wreath and immediately put them in place.  Pipe additional icing along the seams of the triangle and along the back of the base of the wreath for extra support.  Slide the other cookie sheet on a bowl over until it touches the back side of the wreath.  Double check that the wreath is standing straight and let it dry overnight.

13. Once completely dry, decorate the base with additional holly leaves.  Add a real ribbon to the wreath and run some of the ribbon behind the doves beaks to look like they are tying the bow.

14. Proudly display on your holiday dessert table and listen to the compliments!

Thanks Callye for inviting me to be part of your Twelve Days of Christmas extravaganza!  What an honor for me!  And YOU are MY cookie idol!  Merry Christmas to you and your beautiful family!

Be sure to check out the other eleven days of Christmas by following these links:

3-D Cookies, Animal Cookies, Christmas Cookies, Cookies, Guest Tutorials, Holiday Cookies, Sweet Sugar Belle, Tutorials
25 Comments »