Rainbow Pot of Gold Cookie Party Favors

Written by Mike Tamplin • Feb 28, 2014

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Take your cookie decorating to the next level!

Trace cookie designs with ease with the Akaso mini projector.

I always look forward to St. Patrick's Day. Some people might consider it a non-holiday, a day not worth celebrating. However, I find a day of green beer, Irish whiskey, and dreams of finding pots of gold quite festive. Plus, this year it's a great excuse to consume more adult beverages than you should on weekday. (Note: Drink responsibly, kids!)

Adult-themed shenanigans aside, this holiday can be very fun for kids, as well. For instance, here's an easy treat idea on how to make rainbow pot of gold cookie party favors.

To make these party favors, you will need to find treat-sized, black plastic pots, or cauldrons. I was able to find them in a set of twelve at Party City for $2.99. I have also seen these same pots at Target during Halloween, marketed as candy cauldrons. So, if you can't find them now, you'll have another chance at the end of the year.

Preparing the Dough

These rainbow pot of gold cookie toppers begin by separating the dough into two batches.

Take one half of the dough and set it aside. With the other half, I dyed black to match the cauldron color. I didn't want to have to use a lot of black food gel, so I tinted the dough darker with cocoa powder to help achieve the deep black color. I would wear rubber gloves to protect your hands from being dyed while kneading the coloring into the dough.

Once the color is evenly incorporated in the dough, cut out two small circles. The size of the circles should be just slightly smaller than the outer and inner rims of the plastic pot.

With the un-dyed dough, I used a sundae cutter from this Wilton ice cream cookie cutter set. I trimmed off the top and bottom to get a seashell-like shape. A seashell cutter would have worked perfectly, but I don't own one.

Decorating Process

Step 1

After the cookies are baked and cooled, mark the center line and evenly spaced end points with food coloring marker. Then draw the midlines by connecting the end points.

Step 2

Next, with 20-second icing, fill every other color of the rainbow as shown below. Wait about 15 minutes for the icing to crust over, then add the remaining colors. This will prevent the colors from bleeding into each other while creating some nice dimension. Leave this to dry completely for a few hours.

Step 3

Once the rainbow cookie pieces are completely dry, it's time to attach them to the black bases. First, ensure the bottom of the rainbow cookies are flat and level by gently trimming off any uneven bottoms of the cookie using a knife. Then, with medium consistency gold icing, pipe a thick bead on the bottom and attach it to the middle of the larger black circle cookie. The rainbow pieces should be able to remain standing on their own. Leave these to set for a few hours.

Step 4

After the rainbow cookie pieces are firmly set on the cookie base, add a few dots around the base using medium consistency gold icing. Wait 15 minutes for those dots to set, then add more dots.

Repeat this step until the desired amount of coverage is achieved. I kept going until I got a small mound shape of "coins" around the rainbow.

Step 5

The last step is to add the small circle to the bottom of the base. Attach this circle using some royal icing to the center of the larger circle base. This smaller circle will sit in the hole of the cauldron and stabilize the cookie topper on top of the party favor.

Now, to fill the pots of gold with treats, I thought it would be kind of neat to find candy that looked like small pieces of gold. Did you know M&Ms can be purchased in custom colors? M&Ms' My Color line allows you to buy bags of a solid color of their famous milk chocolate candy. The gold My Color option worked out perfectly for the "gold coins" look I was going for.

For a local option for gold candy, try Party City. They have their own store brand version of milk chocolate candy in a variety of solid colors. I think they may be even cheaper than the bag of M&Ms.