Surprisingly, I have yet to have to do any gold/silver cookies until now. lol I probably should have remembered to check this all before, but of course I didn't. So any help to my question would be greatly appreciated.

Luster dust I've seen that it is "Non-Toxic", however not a food product. Does that mean it's not edible? Especially if it's not FDA approved? I'm so confused, I've seen tons of cookies painted with gold or silver. I just don't understand how if it's not edible why even put it on a cookie, you can't take it off. :-/ I have luster, pearl, and disco dust ... all say "Non-Toxic", some say "Not FDA Approved" (but I think I bought those from the same place).

I have some CK Aztec Gold and I need to do a gold chain on two cookies, very little. But then I also have a bird to do on another, not the entire cookie, but a good size of it. At the same time I've got Wilton Pearl Dust that says it is edible/FDA approved.

Also, I know it needs to be mixed with something alcohol based... would orange extract (79% alcohol) work?

To the best of my knowledge, disco dust is not edible, pearl is, and I believe luster is. As far as the orange extract, yeah, that should work. I usually use lemon extract so I would think you would have nearly identical results.