Rainbow Painted Sugar Cookies

Rainbow Painted Sugar Cookies, an easy recipe and idea for kids to decorate and “paint” sugar cookies for a custom dessert or snack.

I wasn’t going to post these Rainbow Painted Sugar Cookies, but my kids had so much fun with these sugar cookies that I just couldn’t resist.  As I mentioned in my earlier post this week for my Mint Chip Cookietini, my first “St. Patrick’s Day” idea this year was a “bust”.   Since my kitchen looked like a rainbow threw up all over it, I got over my disaster, made a drink (Mint Chip Cookietini), and then turned the “rainbow” into these Rainbow Painted Sugar Cookies.  My kids had a great time painting their sugar cookies!  These painted cookies would also be great for Easter to make Painted Easter Egg Cookies or really any holiday or occasion!

No recipe really needed for these cookies.  I made some prepackaged sugar cookies but you can use your own recipe, get some baked sugar cookies from your local bakery or grocery store, or make some refrigerated/frozen sugar cookies from the grocery store.  Actually, any kind of cookie not just sugar cookies will work as long as the cookies are FLAT.

I don’t have the patience usually for “piping” frosting and icing onto cookies, so painting these cookies with a cheap new paintbrush was easy and a lot easier for the kids rather than piping.  These painted cookies would work great for any holiday or occasion, in any shape, and any color combination!  So many possibilities!

Once you have your cookies ready, melt some colored chocolate or candy melts.  I used Wilton candy melts but you can use any colored candy melts or chocolate.  You can also “dye” your own chocolate with food coloring BUT make sure you use food coloring that is specifically labeled for chocolate such as AmeriColor oil based colors.  Don’t use WATER based coloring.  You can also mix some of your colored melts to form new colors.  I mixed some red and yellow to make orange, and some blue and purple to make indigo for my “rainbow”.

I put a handful of melts in each ramekin (you can use small microwave-safe bowls).  Then I put all the ramekins in the microwave at the same time and microwaved on high in 30 second intervals, stirring after each time until melted.

The chocolate will cool and start to harden while you’re decorating so you can either microwave again OR you can heat up about a 1/4-inch of water in a large saucepan and keep the ramekins in the warm water.  Be very careful NOT to get any water into the chocolate.  If you have small kids “decorating” you probably want to remove the ramekins from the pan so that the kids don’t burn themselves.

Next, all you need is some cheap paintbrushes.  Make sure they are new or very clean! :) Here’s my daughter painting her masterpiece…

My son and his masterpiece…

Wipe the brush between color changes (do not rinse in water!  You don’t want to get water into the chocolate!).  I painted my cookies a little more traditionally but have fun and make your own masterpieces!

Hope you enjoy!

Some other rainbow recipes from the internet I thought you may enjoy:

• Rainbow Jelly Shooters – Jelly Shot Test Kitchen
• Rainbow Jello – Glorious Treats