Use food coloring to paint watercolor cookies on fondant or royal icing.
how to paint watercolor cookies
I love the look of these “watercolor” cookies. Or, painted cookies that look like they have been painted with watercolors, when really, it’s just food coloring on fondant or royal icing.
I tried my hand at a watercolor painting style on cookies. To make these painted cookies, I topped circle cut-out cookies (and a cupcake) with homemade fondant that I allowed to stiffen for a couple hours, but you can also paint on flooded royal icing that has dried very well, preferably overnight.
tips on cookie painting
Watercolor isn’t much different than just painting on cookies with food coloring, except that you add, um, more water. I added a few drops of food coloring–Americolor Soft Gel Pastes of course–to my palette (by which I mean, a plastic egg carton), then added a few more drops of water. I used small brushes dipped in water first so the application would be wet and achieve the right effect.
You don’t want lots of drips and drops of water flying all over the place, because fondant and royal icing don’t like drips and drops of water. But you can mix the water generously with food coloring and paint in a controlled way without destroying your cookies. Have a paper towel handy in case you can’t control the drips and drops.
Experiment with a mix of small brushes, round, flat, liners… Mix a drop of color into white food coloring and water for a more pastel look. And try dipping each side of the brush in more than one color for a blended look. Or just use the tip of the brush for dots. I often add highlights in a darker or complementary color on top. And most effects can be created with a single brushstroke. You may also paint a bit on paper to practice before attacking the sweets.
Look, you can even paint cupcakes.
You could also do different shades of the same color, just play around with more or less drops of food coloring mix with water, to make these cookie bites below ombre instead of rainbow-ish.
Have you ever painted on cookies or cupcakes??
The Partiologist says
Meaghan – these are all so pretty. My mom is an artis and with her help, I have painted on cookies. Well, what I should say is, I TRIED to paint on cookies. π
Rowaida Flayhan says
Gorgeous work of art Meaghan Love it
bridget {bake at 350} says
Those are just gorgeous, Meaghan! Wouldn’t it be fun to do a cookie decorating party with these?!?
Jeannine DiBart says
These are absolutely gorgeous!!! LIttle decorating tip…if you mix your food coloring with clear extract or vodka, you won’t have the water/sticky issue with the fondant and painted areas and they would become perfectly dry.
Michelle | Creative Food says
These are gorgeous! I don’t think I could ever eat them!
sandy says
awesome!!! wish I could paint ;((
ThisBakerGirlBlogs says
They look beautiful! A real work of art! Art you can eat is my favourite kind π
shelly (cookies and cups) says
I love this! My kids would be all over wanting to help me with these π
Nikki @ Tikkido says
Pinned, liked on facebook, and I have to comment here. That’s how much I love these!
Linda M says
so creative and pretty!
Joy says
That is so so pretty.
Aya B. says
just like a canvas
absolutely incredible
Aya B. says
Oh My God these looks like a piece of ART π
Sas says
Wow, I haven’t seen this technique before. The cookies look really lovely. Well done!
s says
just loved the idea…
sharon volkommer says
love the cookies, my friend and i have been doing these for years. we paint christmas card types and sometimes we paint the background and pipe on snow men or cabins, some times a dark blue background with white snowflakes,then we put them in CD sleaves and give out for treats. love pinterest Sharon
Renee Michaelson says
Could use use vodka as your “medium” vs water? I was just thinking the America’s Test Kitchen method for making pie crust may work here too?
meaghanmountford says
Yes, Renee, definitely! It’s actually preferred, as when dealing with fondant, water can be not so kind and vodka evaporates. However, using just a drop or two of water, as I do here, won’t hurt the fondant.
Nat says
This information saved my time and money hunting for β dab onβ edible paints for fondants! Thank you so so much for sharing your cool and clever ideas.
Lolita says
Hola buenas noches. Solo una vez he realizado galletas con pincel y creo que no realice bien cuando lo aplique porque se comia un poco el dulce de las galletas. Quisiera saber si tiene algun curso para prender la tecnica y no le pase lo mismo. Me encantaron las galletas que realiza.
Gracias por leerme.