Using Colored Sugar:
We have found that when decorating stamped cookies, the color should “shape” the design. We recommend using a finely granulated colored sugar because it falls into the smaller areas more completely and sets off the shape of the design. The sugar creates a shadow around the design. The finer granules also melt in the oven while baking instead of the larger granulated sugars that tend to stay in the large granulated state even after baking with the granules sometimes falling off the design after cooling.
The deeper the color, the easier it is to see the design. We make most of our colored sugars and will post a blog soon about our procedure.
We like to freeze the cookies for about 15 minutes or so, sometimes longer, to apply the colored sugar to the design, and then to lightly brush off the surface of the design with a pastry brush without the granules lodging into the surface of the shape. By freezing the cookies, the cookie designs won’t spread as much.
We will post a video soon – hopefully in the next month – to demonstrate our primary method of decorating, along with some other ideas for decorating your stamped cookies!
Tinting Dough
Dough that is tinted with food coloring is another option. The coloring can often make the design easier to see and also give a clue to what flavor the cookie is. Green can be flavored with mint; orange can be orange, yellow can be lemon, etc.
Combining Tinted Dough
If you divide up your dough into two or three sections, you can “marble” the different colored doughs together to make a unique designed cookie, or braid or shape the dough together into shapes – the possibilities are endless here…
Painting Cookies
1. Egg whites beaten up can be colored with liquid food coloring or gel food coloring and painted on the cookies directly after taking them out of the oven. We would advise to go lightly with the coating to avoid making the cookie “soggy” and expect this to be a “tint”, and not a fully colored glaze look.
2. Powdered Sugar mixed with food colorings and a small amount of water can be painted on the cookies once cooled. You can use a paintbrush for details, or try a pastry brush for total cookie coverage.
Chocolate Coating
You can melt chocolate (or white chocolate for darker cookies), and use a brush or drizzle spoon to apply the chocolate to the cooled cookies. You can also paint a layer of chocolate or dip the bottom of the cookie in chocolate for an extra treat.
