Chess or Checkers Cookies

This yummy checkers board is made from the Roll Out Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing and a colored candy like Skittles or M&M's.

For this cookie I cut the dough into squares and baked them.  Dye some of the royal icing with black coloring.  I find that the easiest way to do this is to use Wilton's Black Ready-To-Use Icing.  I then used some edible markers and a ruler to make a grid pattern on each cookie.  Now, I didn't do this, but I should have made a black outline around the edges of the cookies BEFORE filling the grid.  That would have made the cookie look nicer.  

Next I filled in each square alternating between black and white icings.  I did this as quickly as possible because the icing will start to crust and the finished product will have ridges.  Now that wouldn't be bad, but I wanted a seamless look like a real chess board.  When this is all done, I let them dry for about 24 hours.

When everything was dry, I placed the colored candies on the spaces.  All done!  This is a fun way to play and eat with your treats!

*I know that I made a chess board but used checkered pieces, if you want to have red squares instead of white either dye the royal icing red before decorating or use a red edible marker to color the dried white squares.

Yummy Royal Icing

This recipe is also from The Decorated Cookie (she is AMAZING!).  The original recipe is Here

Ingredients

4 tablespoons of meringue powder

1/2 cup of water

2 Tablespoons of Crisco

2 tablespoons of light corn syrup

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

7-8 cups of powdered sugar (sifted)

Directions

First whip the meringue powder with the water for a several minutes until it is fluffy and forms peaks.  One way to know it is done is if the bowl is turned upside down, nothing falls out. I use a stand mixture with the whisk attachment, but it can be done with a hand mixture as well, it will just take a bit longer.  When that is done add the next 3 ingredients and mix.  Finally add the sifted powdered sugar.

*The normal consistency is thick.  If you want a stiffer consistency, add more powdered sugar, for a thinner one add more corn syrup.  DO NOT add any more water, that causes a kind of cracked, discolored look when dry.  Also this icing does harden enough to stack the cookies on each other but it is not a hard as normal royal icing.  I have found that this icing is not great for pipping 3D decorations like roses.  This royal icing is more appropriate for that.

Normal Royal Icing

The original recipe is here.

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons of Meringue Powder

4 Cups of sifted Confectioners (Powdered) Sugar

5 Tablespoons (substitute some of the water with flavoring if you prefer)

Directions

Mix sugar and meringue powder together. Add water and whip.

Stand Mixer: 7-10 minutes at low speed

Hand Mixer: 10-12 minutes at high speed

* For thicker icing, use less liquid. It is best to start thicker and slowly add water, than to add too much water and have to put more sugar in it.  Use clear flavorings to keep the white color.  This icing is good for 3D decorations.