How to create Edible Roses Centerpiece

                                                         "This is simply genius!!!"
     That's how one of my friends reacted to a picture of my edible arrangement on Facebook.  Well... that's what I thought myself. Ha-ha.
     This creative passion of mine has started just a few years ago from jewelry. One day I decided to fix my mother's old bracelet ...but instead turned it into a necklace.  I would compare that innocent bracelet transformation with a spark in a stack of hay. Ever since I am on FIRE!  The more I do...the more I want. It's like my motto now.
                              How do I get inspired? Where do I learn how to do this or that?
    I have my little secret ... It helps to speak different languages. In my case it's Ukrainian and Russian ....well a bit of Polish. Moreover, I did spent quite some time watching all sorts of 'how to videos', reading blogs, looking through pictures on Google. Also in my childhood I was blessed to have those charming quality time moments with my mother and my aunt working on arts and crafts. 
   I find it very useful to apply my acquired pieces of knowledge from different fields I've put my hands or eyes on. There are sooooo many of them I don't even want to try list them all. But I promise to create as many as possible instruction blogs in the future on various topics.  If YOU get inspired by my works, please share. I would appreciate it very much!!!

                             
                                                             LETS GET STARTED   
   

This isn't an original idea at all. But I haven't seen any pics online with roses like these arranged in a centerpiece. Plus, you can always play with shapes, colors and ingredients.This way it'll be a unique arrangement every time.
DOUGH : I make my dough, but it's different every time because I don't use any particular recipe, just eyeball it. You can use any cookie dough or pastry dough.

FILLING: apples or any other fruit. 2 big apples will be enough for about 10-12 roses.

SUGAR SYRUP:  2 cups of water, 1 cup of sugar. You can also add alcohol, food coloring, zest to the syrup. The amount of any of the  ingredients doesn't have to be precise at all. We need just to soften our slices of fruit. 

You may watch it here 

STEPS:      
Note. I took pictures only when making my second arrangement that looked like this:

Baking: 350F on a non stick cookware for about 20 min or until golden-brown.
Make the syrup. I added a Fruit Punch drink dry mix for the color. Boil apples until soft. Apples should be sliced thing.

Dough should not be very thing or thick.  Stripes shouldn't be perfectly cut or of the same size. You'll actually need different shapes and sizes for the better look. But still try to make roses only slightly smaller or bigger for even baking.

Place apples almost covering the dough but have some space on one edge.

 

Pinch edges together at the bottom and try to make it flat.

 

These are already baked

 Since my dough wasn't very sweet I decided to randomly  brush on some melted chocolate chips on the sides of the flowers.

ASSEMBLE:

I used plastic floral foams from a dollar store to build my arrangement. Since we want to serve food it's important to cover that with something. I used salad leaves. It can also be cabbage. As an alternative instead of the foam use firm fruits or vegetables.

To protect chocolate from touching lettuce and create additional visual volume I cut out some sort of flowers from parchment paper. Placed them under each rose. Paper flowers are optional.

 

Use toothpicks or wooden skewers to secure edible roses. You may want to cut skewers in half. It depends on the design and depth of course.   

 Didn't we have a left over syrup???
Keep cooking it until it gets thicker. Add sugar if needed. Mine is so dark because of the red food coloring

When it cools off a bit cut it slightly and when still warm and flexible I made roses using the same method as with dough roses. This is more for decoration. Though if to pour hot syrup in a shape of circles and put toothpicks in the middle you'll get awesome suckers. ( like in my very top picture)

  THE END