Sugar Cookies Are The Perfect Canvas For Edible Egg Yolk Paint

From birthday parties to holidays, sugar cookies are a fun way to showcase your artistic skills and celebrate the people you love. That being said, royal icing can take forever to create and dry (and it can be tough to create the perfect, no-mess design). Standard buttercream icing can be difficult to work with. Whether you're baking for a crowd that doesn't love icing or you'd simply like to decorate your sugar cookies without an (extra) load of sugar, we've got you covered. Egg yolk paint is a simple, safe, no-fuss way to create designs on your sugar cookies without spending hours at your kitchen table trying to get icing to follow your lead when it comes to creating designs. 

Making egg yolk paint for sugar cookies is super simple. All you'll need to do is mix a little bit of food coloring with an egg yolk. Grab a paintbrush, and go to town on your unbaked cookies. As they bake, the paint will harden into a shiny, colorful design — all without the extra sugar added by royal or buttercream icing. You can make simple designs (like names or initials), or you can use a variety of colors to make your cookies look tie-dyed, like sunsets, or whatever else strikes your creative fancy. You can also add buttercream or royal icing on parts of the cookies after they're baked, using your egg yolk paint as a colorful backdrop for writing or designs.

Making egg yolk paint isn't the only way you can use egg yolks to take your cookies to the next level. Adding an extra egg yolk to your dough can go a long way in creating the chewiest cookies and helping to boost the depth of flavor and richness in them. Just one per batch will do the trick — if you add too many, you run the risk of altering the texture of your dough. Before you add the yolk, be sure to safely bring the egg to room temperature to optimize your cookies.

You can also use an egg yolk to boost the shine factor of your cookies. Simply whisk an egg yolk in a bowl to get started. Grab a pastry brush and spread a bit of yolk on each cookie before they go into the oven. As your cookies bake, your egg yolk will create a smooth, shiny surface. An important tip: Skip this step if you're also using egg yolk paint that doesn't cover the entire surface of your cookies, as applying additional egg yolk may cause your designs to run.