Foolproof Method of Colouring Cookie Dough – Vibrant Colours & No Risk of Overmixing Dough!

In this post, I’ll share with you a foolproof method of colouring cookie dough!

Colourful and fun, cookies are a treat that everyone loves. Whether you’re making them for a special occasion, a holiday celebration, or just because, cookie dough can be easily transformed into a canvas of vibrant colours.

Foolproof Method of Colouring Cookie Dough - Colourful Cookies

The secret to colouring cookie dough easily is to mix the food colouring with the eggs, just before adding these over the creamed butter and sugar. This way, there is 0% risk of overmixing your dough and you will always get delicious and tender cookies with vibrant colours!

Traditionally, we’re taught that we should colour cookie dough, after the dough is made. With this method, you risk overmixing it or not achieving the right consistency.

A few more tips to colour your cookie dough successfully:

Use gel food colouring as this is usually more concentrated than liquid food colouring, so you may need to use less of it to achieve the desired colour.
When colouring cookie dough, add 2-3 extra tablespoons (30 g – 45 g) of flour (per 400 g of ingredients) to your regular cookie dough recipes to achieve the perfect dough consistency. Basically, the more food colouring you add, the more extra flour you need to add. Getting the right feel for cookie dough can be the difference between cookies that are tough and dry versus cookies that are tender and moist. When you touch cookie dough, it should feel soft, slightly sticky, and pliable.
Don’t overmix your dough! Overmixing can make the dough tough and lead to dry, crumbly cookies. Mix the ingredients until just combined, and don’t worry if there are a few lumps or streaks of flour in the dough.

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Ingredients

115 g (1 butter stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
100 g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
210 g (2 cups minus 2 Tablespoons) all purpose flour, sifted. If you’re adding food colouring to your cookie dough add 30 g – 45 g (2-3 Tbsp) extra of flour. Basically, the more food colouring you add, the more extra flour you need to add. For the colourful cookies you see in this post, I added 3 extra tablespoons of flour
gel food colouring of your choice (optional)

This is enough to make ~15-20 cookies, depending on the size of the cookie cutters you use.

Directions

Using a hand or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5-6 minutes.

Lightly beat the eggs, vanilla extract and the gel food colouring. The resulting colour should be darker than what you want your cookies to look like. Once you mix this with the flour, the dough will become lighter in colour.

Then, add the coloured egg mixture over the butter mixture and mix until incorporated. You can use a spatula for this or your mixer.

Mix the salt with the sifted flour. Add this over the butter mixture and mix the ingredients until just combined. You can mix it using a mixer with a dough hook or just a spatula and then your hand, but make sure you don’t overmix! Don’t worry if there are a few lumps or streaks of flour in the dough.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3-4 hours.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).

On a lightly floured surface roll the dough until it’s about ¼ inches thick. I usually place a piece of plastic wrap over the dough so that the rolling pin doesn’t stick to the dough and I don’t use lots of extra flour on top to prevent it from sticking.

Using the cookie cutters, cut out the dough and place the cookies on a cookie sheet.

You can make different patterns and designs if you make at least two batches of cookie dough in two different colours. I made four batches and coloured mine in purple, yellow, red and orange.