I finished the holiday gingerbread baking, but did not get the chance to write about the red color on gingerbread cookies. With this technique there is no flood icing/base icing before the decoration gets on the gingerbread cookie.
A nice red or other color can be reached with a simple technique used in a couple of different ways.
The color is brushed on the gingerbread cookie itself without royal icing.
Egg Wash / Red color on Gingerbread
I have tried several variations, and give you most of the so you can find the best you like.
1, Mix half of eggwhite lightly with gel food coloring ( for dark red I use red and little bit of burgundy color) and brush the hot cookie out of the oven with it and let it cool.
It is great technique because it dries fast, but I found it difficult to do it while I am still rolling out new dough, cutting, and baking the cookies. But is can be done also on cold cookies, which I prefer much more. In this case I preheat the oven to 220-250F and place the bushed cookie in there for drying.
2, Mix little milk with gel color and brush it onto the cookies while hot. You can even wash the first coat before it baked and add the second after baking.
3, Dissolve unflavored gelatin in a couple of tbs of hot water and add gel color of your liking. This can be applied on cold cookies and place them back into 220F oven also to dry for a couple of min. it can give a nice shiny surface but also can be too gelatin like by bite.
My favorite gingerbread recipe here, also my royal icing recipes
