Ho Ho Homemade Candy Dots

A couple months ago, I ran across an image in Martha Stewart magazine and pinned it because it was something I KNEW could be modified, a la Mari-style. It's a grid of dots on a piece of paper. Hmmm... Taking cues from carnival letters and LED grid lights, I knew what I wanted to do: Take the plain ol' grid of dots and spell something!

You can obviously spell whatever it is you want, you just need enough dots down and across to do it. I chose HO HO HO! because it's the holidays but you can spell someone's name, a word like LOVE or make smiley faces. The templates I created were designed to be printed on an 8 x 11 sheet of paper. Click the following links for the two downloadable files - the first one is for the outline dots, the second one spells HO HO HO!. I found that after doing the outline dots, I didn't need the HO HO HO! dots but for those of you that want the extra security blanket: Snuggle up.

HO HO HO! CANDY DOTS
makes 9 sheets with red and green dots

Cut craft paper into 4 x 18 inch sheets. I used this paper, which was perfect since it came in a 12-inch width. Set aside, upside down with something heavy on them to unfurl.

Print out the templates and cut in half along the dotted line. The two hollow dots should be used to align the two halves of the sheet together. Tape together and set aside. 

Royal Icing
2 pounds confectioners sugar
1/2-cup plus 2 tablespoons egg white powder
2/3-cup water plus additional
1/4-teaspoon flavor of choice (See Note below)
red and green gel coloring

In a large bowl, whisk together the confectioners sugar and egg white powder. Add the 2/3-cup water, the flavoring and stir until there are no lumps. Check the consistency using a fork tine or toothpick; dip the tine into the icing and make a drop on a piece of scrap paper. If it makes a point, it's too thick. Continue adding water (by the half teaspoon) until you get the right consistency.

Put a little less than a quarter of the icing in a smaller bowl. Add enough green gel food coloring to get the shade you like. You may have to add more confectioners sugar but be careful not to make it too thick. Do the tine test again, to be sure. Add red gel food coloring to the remaining icing; do tine test. Put icing in two separate pastry bags with a round tip that's 1/8-inch wide. If you don't have enough bags, make your own here!

Lay your outline dot template under your cut piece, making sure it's centered-ish. You may have to weigh down the edges to see the dots properly. Pipe the dots around the first HO and if you find the icing is leaving peaks, lift the paper up and slap it on the table surface or gently bounce the paper in your hand. This will help spread the icing and eliminate the peaks. Realign your template and continue on until you finish the outline dots. Place your letter template underneath and using the green icing, fill in the dots. Continue with the remaining sheets and set aside overnight to allow enough time for the icing to harden. Done and super cute! 

Note: You need to add some sort of clear, oil-free flavoring to help mask the food coloring flavor. Clear, so it doesn't screw with your colors - so no vanilla extract and oil-free so it can harden. If you use oil, it may not ever get hard. I used cherry but peppermint seems like a great option.