Decorated cookies are already special, but some occasions just beg for them to be kicked up a notch.

Pink for Valentine’s Day,

green for St. Patrick’s’ Day,

and, orange for Halloween.

Tinting the dough is easy.  Simply, add gel paste food coloring after the dough has come together and knead in by hand. Gel coloring gives a beautiful, vibrant color, but doesn’t mix in like liquid food coloring, so kneading it is the way to go.

{For a really cool marble effect, knead only until there are swirls of color throughout your dough.}

Add a little sparkling sugar and your cookies will be beautiful in no time.  Or, go all out and continue decorating with royal icing.

Happy Halloween!