How To Make Painted Cookies

When my kids were little, one of the things they liked best to do was help in the kitchen. Their special favorite to help with was baking cookies, because of course, there was the bonus prize of eating them afterward. Around Christmas time, we had a tradition of making painted cookies. The recipe of the cookies wasn't what was important, so we used a traditional butter cookie, one that could be rolled and cut out. It was the painting them that we all looked forward to, because it was so much fun. We used all the different Christmas cutters we could find, Santa, holly leaves, reindeer, bells, etc. These cookies can also be painted for other occasions at any time of the year, such as Easter, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, etc. if the coloring tint is adjusted to suit the occasion.

First,  we put out six little bowls, and red, blue, and yellow food coloring. Using 6 eggs, we carefully broke and separated the yolk from the white, putting one yolk into each little bowl. The whites were refrigerated and reserved for another recipe. We then added 1/4 teaspoon of water to each bowl, and stirred into the yolk until smooth. Next, a couple of drops of red food coloring was added to the first bowl and stirred. We added more, a little at a time, until we had a good bright color. Then we proceeded to the next bowl with the blue and did the same. Then we used the yellow food coloring in the next bowl. Now we have three bowls of red, blue and yellow. For the remaining two bowls, we mixed blue and yellow for green in one bowl, and red and blue for purple in another bowl.

Taking small, clean, artist brushes that we reserved only for this task, we proceeded to paint the cookies BEFORE baking. We baked them at whatever temperature the original cookie recipe said to do. If the egg paint became too thick, we added a few drops of water. When they were baked, they turned out with a bright and shiny finish no butter frosting can do. My kids delighted in painting Santa a different color than the traditional red. And  the mischievious little things adored leaving those particular ones on the plate for Santa on Christmas Eve. And whenever we get together and talk about old times, they say it's one of their favorite childhood memories. I must confess, it's one of mine too.