ingredients for 12:

• 1 bag M&M minis
• 1 18-oz. refrigerated cookie dough
• 1/2 cup flour
• Yellow, orange and red food coloring
• 12 6-inch lollipop sticks
• 1 can (16-oz.) vanilla or cream cheese frosting
• 1 box (18.25-oz.) chocolate cake mix
• 1 can (16-oz.) chocolate frosting
• 12 jumbo paper cupcake liners
• 12 3 1/2-inch decorated terra cotta flower pots

tools:

• Cookie sheet
• 1 resealable plastic bag
• Flat spatula
• Flower cookie cutter, large
• Jumbo cupcake pan
• Parchment paper

steps for cookie flowers:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line cookie sheet pans with parchment paper.
3. Sprinkle the flour onto a piece of parchment paper and roll your dough out to a 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out 14 cookies (a few extra in case of breakage). Transfer cookies to cookie sheet and slip lollipop stick into/underneath each one. (Tip #1: You need the dough to adhere to the lollipop so that it doesn’t slip off when you stand them up.) (TIP #2: Flour your spatula before transferring your dough to minimize scrunching your dough.)
4. Bake for approximately 7-9 minutes, or until slightly golden. Remove from the oven, transfer to wire rack immediately and let cool completely.
5. Spoon 1/2 cup of the white frosting in a resealable plastic bag with a small corner snipped. Set aside. Divide the remaining frosting into 3 cups and tint one yellow, one orange and one red.
6. Ice your cookies carefully using a small butter knife. (Tip #3: For those of you who flood cookies, this would be a great technique here so that you get that smooth finish. And for those of you who haven’t, it’s easy. Read my post from July 11, 2008.)
7. Once your base icing has dried completely, pipe a small circle of white frosting in the center of each cookie and decorate with the M&M’S minis.

steps for cupcakes:

• 1. Prepare the cake mix according to package instructions and divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake pans.
• 2. Bake for approximately 23-27 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• 3. Remove from the oven, transfer to a wire rack immediately and allow to cool completely.
• 4. Spread the top of the cupcake with the chocolate frosting and set a cupcake into each flowerpot.
• 5. Carefully insert the flower cookie stick in the center and decorate the cupcake with green M&M minis as leaves.