Belle Amour: Wedding Ideas Less of the traditional. More of the original.

As I want to show more craft and art in weddings I thought it only right to start sharing a few DIY tutorials here on the blog. Some of these I’ll come up with myself, others I’ll be using tutorials and recipes from around the internet to see just how easy they are and sharing my tips once I’ve made the items. I’m no pro and I imagine many future brides and grooms won’t be either! So it’ll be interesting to see what a non-pro can achieve :)

The first thing I wanted to create… iced cookie lollipops! I love the look of cookies on sticks and wanted to see just how achievable they are…

You will need:

• 260g flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 225g butter
• 60g icing sugar
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• Lolly sticks
• Cookie cutters
• Baking parchment
• Royal icing (I just guessed the amount for the icing which I know isn’t very helpful! All I can say is to make more than you think you’ll need as it can be time consuming getting the right consistency!)
• Food colouring
• Icing bags & nozzles
• White chocolate & sprinkles
• Ribbons & buttons etc. for decoration

Servings: the cookie recipe above would make about 10 heart-shaped cookie pops about 8cm in width, you can always buy shorter sticks and use smaller cutters to make more – small ones would look cute :)

The cookie-pop recipe

I used the shortbread recipe here which was extremely easy to make, although I imagine there are countless recipes you can use for your cookie. It’s important to remember that the dough needs to sit in the fridge for an hour before you roll it out so you can’t rush this recipe!

Making of the cookie-pops

To make the pops I used the tutorial found on the fab Cake Journal site. The only difference being I didn’t have spacers to use when rolling out the dough. This isn’t a problem just as long as you don’t roll your dough too thin! 8 inch lolly sticks were purchased here and inserted into the dough easily, even if you insert it too low and rip a hole in the back of the cookie (which I did to one of mine) this is easily sorted by the piece you add to the back that you can smooth into the cookie.



Baking the cookie-pops

The recipe calls for baking of 8 – 10 minutes but for me it was more like 20. I like to do the lower end of the allotted baking time and then check at 3 or 4 minute intervals after that; don’t want to burn them! Just keep looking for a lovely golden colour. And don’t accidentally pull the baking sheet rather than the tray when checking as a couple of mine cracked due to me doing that! They’re the ones that got the white chocolate treatment to stick the cracks together… you see… I’m no pro :)

Icing the cookie-pops

Although there are many recipes for making royal icing on the internet I decided to go with the easy method of buying it and just adding water! In the Cake Journal icing tutorial Louise mixes two quantities of icing, one thicker for outlining the cookie and one thinner for flooding the cookie. I decided to just make up a quantity that was the right consistency to do both: not too runny that it bled over the edge but not too thick that it wouldn’t smooth out. Mixing the icing can take some time to get right, just keep adding water or icing until it’s the right consistency. The trick is to drag an implement (knife, spoon…) through the icing and if the line disappears between 5-10 seconds it should work!



I made two lots of icing; one I left white the other I coloured claret. I filled 2 piping bags fitted with a small round nozzle. And then I piped!

I tried a few different designs, one (in the background of the photo above) didn’t work as the first icing had dried too much so the second icing didn’t flow into it as it should. I’d say the trick is to address each lolly individually with both colours and then move on to the next. Also ice the side that laid against the baking sheet when in the oven as this side will be flat. The marbled pattern was done using a cocktail stick and this tutorial at Sweetopia. This was definitely more difficult than the others. I think, if unsure, stick with simpler designs; polka dots look adorable and are very easy!

Once iced your cookies can take over 8 hours to fully set so just leave them overnight to be sure.



Showered with sprinkles

For an alternative effect I melted some white chocolate and coated two of the lollies in it. One I doused in sprinkles. The other I popped a smaller heart cookie cutter on top and filled the inside of it with sprinkles, shaking off the excess with the cutter still on top. You may want to wrap the finished (and set!) lollies in cellophane. I tried one out below using a square of cellophane and securing with twine just to show you want it looked like…



Decorative details

And you can add pretty bits and bobs like ribbons, lace and buttons or a gift tag if you want it to double up as a place card…



These are definitely a do-able project that I think would make super-cute wedding favours! I would have to recommend a practice run to try out icing techniques and experiment with colours and designs though. Good news is these cookies will keep in a airtight box layered with parchment paper for up to 1 month! So if some don’t go to plan you have plenty of time to try again before the big day :)

Debs