Faery Food Dye

...The person who invented food coloring should really be thankful I am not a time lord. 

Why did it ever seem like a good idea to put chemicals into our food just to change the color? Seriously, isn't the joy of eating in the flavor and texture?

It is for me...I can look at a perfectly plain vanilla cupcake and feel my teeth breaking through the tender crust of the icing and melting into the sweet buttercream. The essence of vanilla beans tickling my olfactory glands, activating the joy receptors in my brain. I can imagine the tender and moist cake, delicately melding with the frosting in my mouth creating a delectable and satisfying experience.

This is the joy of eating

If the frosting were neon pink, it would not taste any better, be creamier, sweeter or buttery-er. It would simply be a chemical mistake that looks pretty. I know, food coloring is mainly marketed for kids eyes and as an adult, it should not matter to me. Only I have a kid that I happen to love quite a bit and food coloring gives her a major headache and who knows what else. It just isn't necessary. So, I have been on a mission for the last 10 years to find the best and easiest way to get some color into the cookies without destroying my girl's brain cells. I have experimented with many natural food colorings out there and they all work just fine. But since they are water based, they need to be kept in the refrigerator and the color does degrade with time...what this means is the really expensive colors you bought for your Yule cookies likely will not still be good for your Ostara cookies...this is a problem.

Enter onto the scene http://eatplaylovemore.com This blogger came up with a decidedly easy and effective method for coloring. Dehydration. It eliminates spoiling and degradation, a little goes a long way and it's all real!! Now, you will not achieve what chemicals can in intensity and color veracity but that, for me, is a small price to pay. Let's see what we can play with...  

Beets!  Both red and golden can provide and intense blast of color.
Blackberries!  Creates a muted lavender/blue-ish.  Blue is really challenging to come by naturally, this is pretty close.
Raspberries!  Not the most intense pink you will find but it worked.  The strawberries in the store had almost no color the day we shopped so we passed on them.
Lacinato Kale & Spinach!  Green is another challenge...not very vibrant but green nonetheless.  Take care not to use too much as it imparts a "green" flavor as well.

You can see how they turned out.  Not too bad!

 

Red Beets

Blackberries

Lacinato Kale and Spinach

Raspberries

Here is a bit about process.
Beets need to be peeled and sliced thinly about 1/8 inch.  Do not slice them too thinly or they will disintegrate in the process.

Blackberries and raspberries should be cut in half to speed the process, they are really juicy and will take much longer if you don't.

The greens need to be cleaned and that's about it for them.

 I placed them on the dehydrator trays and set the temp to 135.  The greens were done in a few hours.  The beets took roughly 6 hours and the berries took overnight.  I ground them in a coffee mill.  Since they are dehydrated, they will last indefinitely.

Since these are actual foods you are adding to your frosting, they will impart some flavor so add them slowly to start.  My girl found no discernible taste with the beets, liked the light raspberry flavor, did not care much for the blackberry or the kale but still ate it on the cookie.

We had some liquid food based yellow and orange dyes in the refrigerator which is why you do not see it here.  For this we would have used carrot and golden beet.

Here is a link to my original article about making cookies for recipes... http://www.themodkitchen.com/2009/12/yule-cut-out-sugar-cookies.html

Feel free to add your ideas in the comments sections and share widely!

You can see the article that I got this information from here http://eatplaylovemore.com/2013/11/10/diy-natural-food-coloring/

Blessed Yule!!
Maria