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After many emails and requests on how to do this I am going to do a quick post.  I have used coloured sug­ars on many cook­ies and cup­cakes and it’s really sim­ple to make your own.  I’ve even made it with a pearl­ized sheen.  It all depends on the food colour­ing you choose.  The main thing to keep in mind is that you must use a POWDERED form of food colour­ing.  Any liq­uids or gels will just melt the sugar and you’ll have a colour­ful but sticky mess.

I try to buy a coarsely ground sugar for my dec­o­rat­ing sug­ars just so it gives a lit­tle more impact, or you can always use reg­u­lar white sugar if that’s all you can buy or have on hand.

To be on the safe side you should prob­a­bly start off with just a lit­tle of the food col­or­ing and see what shade you get after you shake it (with the lid on tightly of course!).  You can then adjust it and make it darker by adding a lit­tle more col­or­ing until you get the desired shade you are after.

Store your sug­ars in a dry space so they don’t clump up from moisture.