If you want a really special treat for your family on game night, try this gigantic sugar cookie shaped like a Chinese checkerboard. It looks so real, you might be tempted to play the game on it, but if you’re going to eat it, it’s probably best to just admire it for a while before digging in.
You can use pre-made sugar cookie dough if you want, but I recommend homemade dough if you have the time because it tastes so much better. If you do use the pre-made dough, try the dry packaged mix that requires you to add butter and egg. It’s not much more effort than the kind that comes in refrigerated roll, but tastes much better.
For a good homemade sugar cookie dough recipe, see my blog entry Classic Sugar Cookies.
Make your cookie dough and roll it out in a cirlce about 1/4 inch thick. Roll it out right on the cookie sheet, because it will be too hard to transfer later. Or, roll it out on parchment paper and then you can transfer it to the cookie sheet later right on the paper.
Use a butter knife to outline the shape of a Chinese checkerboard. You can freehand it, but it’s also easy to make a pattern. Just cut out a large triangle from paper or waxed paper and trace around it on the dough. Pick up the pattern and rotate the triangle 45 degrees to form the other three points of the board. Trace around this triangle, too and you have your basic shape.
Cut out the checkerboard along the edges with a knife. Now press a gumball or other round candy deeply into the board to create the indents. (It’s not important to make as many indents as a real board.)
Bake the cookie and let it cool. Sprinkle colored sugar on the triangles or paint with diluted food coloring or colored frosting. Place some gumballs in a few of the indents and serve.