Colour Your Own Sprinkles!

   Colour your own sprinkles!
   I was very sceptical about this because I wasn't so sure it would work. I thought that gel colouring would probably not mix that well and would probably do something funny to the sprinkles themselves, but I gave it a go.
   One thing that's important to keep in mind is that, when it comes to gel colouring, a little goes a long way. If you start off with white sprinkles, then adding a tiny bit of gel colouring with a tooth pick will give a pastel shade. By adding more gel, the colour will become darker and more intense. However, the more colouring added, the wetter the sprinkles become and the longer they take to dry.
   Don't use liquid food colouring as it can upset the sprinkles. Seriously. It'll make them cry. Gel colouring holds less moisture and more pigment, and is more effective in this case.

You will need:

Your chosen sprinkles, in white

Gel food colouring in your chosen colours (colours can be mixed in the bag to create new colours)

Ziplock bags

Toothpicks

(consider doing a test run first to be sure that you can judge the colour intensity versus the amount of gel used when you make a larger batch of coloured sprinkles.)

1) Separate the sprinkles so that you have enough for each colour you want, and put them into separate ziplock bags.

2) Take a toothpick and dip it into one of the gel colourings. Add a tiny bit (less is more in this case) to the inside of one of the bags, do the bag up, massage the colour into the sprinkles for a moment and then shake them up. The colour will start to mix throughout the sprinkles, and the longer you shake, the more thoroughly the colour will be mixed. If the colour is darker than you want, add less next time. Unfortunately you can't remove the colour from the sprinkles.

3) Once you're happy with the colour intensity, empty the newly coloured sprinkles into a bowl and let them dry. This can take 30 minutes to an hour depending on the amount of colouring used, maybe more, but they will dry. I made some purple ones and used a lot of colouring to get the desired shade and it seemed like they'd never dry, so I left them along for a day or two, and when I came back to them they were dry. Once they're dry they can be added to cakes or cookies or whatever you wanted them for - perhaps a turkey, I won't judge.