Include chocolate-dipped strawberries and cupcakes

(20 minutes) before placing cupcakes on the skewers. Repeat the process for the amount of cupcakes you intend to use.

For the Cupcakes:

1. Bake cupcakes in liners according to instructions on the package. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before icing.

2. Using a piping bag and decorative tip, pipe icing onto cupcakes. Use different tips for a more festive look.

3. Carefully pick up a cupcake, leaving the liner intact, and insert the sharp tip of the skewer into the base of the cupcake. Then, remove the skewer and place the dull end into the hole that was just formed.

Place the skewered cupcake, sharp tip down, into a section of Styrofoam; your cupcake is ready for assembly.

* You will have leftover cupcakes. I am sure they will not go to waste.

For assembly of Mother’s Day Edible Flower

Arrangement:

1. Using a sharp knife, cut the Styrofoam and fill the terracotta pot. Try to keep the pieces as large as possible; fill in any gaps with smaller pieces. Leave a 1-inch space from the top of the pot.

2. Place tin foil (centered) over the top of the pot and fold the sides down. This will leave an indentation of the pot’s perimeter on the foil; turn the outer edges of the foil inwards creating a circular disk.

Place the tin foil disk over the Styrofoam, this will keep the Styrofoam from touching anything edible.

3. Remove the filling from the cookies. Using a rolling pin, crush the cookies into a powder. The cookie powder represents dirt.

Place cookie dirt on top of the tin foil disk. Allow an ¼-inch of space between the top of the pot and the cookie dirt. (For a 6-inch pot you will need approximately 2/3 of the cookies).

4. Starting at one end of the pot, arrange flowers, cupcakes, and chocolate-dipped strawberries, working your way to the other side.

Secret Ingredient - Mothers. “There’s no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one.”

– Jill Churchill