Name: Stamped Matzo Place Cards
Ingredients: 3 cups royal icing (I use this recipe—one batch yields 3 cups!—but if you can’t find meringue powder, this is a great alternative, and here’s a dairy-free option); 6 sheets matzo, broken into small pieces (one piece for each eventual “place card,” but note that you’ll absolutely want to make EXTRA—double your intended Seder guest count, if you can swing it!—because they may break as you get the swing of stamping, and/or you may not be satisfied with your stamping results at first and want to start over on a “blank” card); 4.5 ounces black gel food coloring (you’ll need enough to fully saturate an ink pad); Clean rubber alphabet stamps; An empty stamping pad; A stand mixer or electric hand mixer; Large baking sheet; Parchment paper; Latex gloves (optional); Patience! Two days of it, to be exact (see notes below about the multi-day nature of this project!)

Description

A fun, out-of-the-box idea for your Seder table. I highly recommend reading through the whole tutorial before starting this project, and don’t miss the notes at the bottom, either (particularly the part about this being a multi-day adventure!).

Ingredients

Units Scale

3 cups royal icing (I use this recipe—one batch yields 3 cups!—but if you can’t find meringue powder, this is a great alternative, and here’s a dairy-free option)
6 sheets matzo, broken into small pieces (one piece for each eventual “place card,” but note that you’ll absolutely want to make EXTRA—double your intended Seder guest count, if you can swing it!—because they may break as you get the swing of stamping, and/or you may not be satisfied with your stamping results at first and want to start over on a “blank” card)
4.5 ounces black gel food coloring (you’ll need enough to fully saturate an ink pad)

Supplies

Clean rubber alphabet stamps
An empty stamping pad
A stand mixer or electric hand mixer
Large baking sheet
Parchment paper
Latex gloves (optional)
Patience! Two days of it, to be exact (see notes below about the multi-day nature of this project!)

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Instructions

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. One by one, dip each piece of matzo into the prepared royal icing, leaving a small portion “blank”/un-iced (just so that your guests will know there is, in fact, matzo under all that icing!). Use a spoon, dinner knife, or icing spatula to wipe off any dripping excess. You’ll want a thick enough layer of icing that it’s somewhat “flat” (an ideal stamping surface!), but you don’t want it so thick that it takes too long to harden. As mentioned in the Supplies section, you’ll also want to make more than your guest count in order to give yourself some room for mistakes/breakage/absentminded typos (it happens!). Let the iced matzo pieces dry on the parchment paper at room temperature for *at least* 24 hours (that’s more than just “overnight,” mind you) or up to two days.
Prep for stamping! Once the icing has hardened fully, you’re ready to get stamping. Prepare your equipment by emptying at least 1/2 of the gel food coloring into the empty stamping pad (depending on the size of the pad, you may need more or less to fully saturate it; I also like to leave some available to use in case the ink in the pad becomes dry or otherwise unusable—best not to put all your supplies in one basket, so to speak!). Use the back of a spoon, a dinner knife, or an offset spatula to push the coloring around and help it “sink in” to the stamping pad. You may want to throw on a pair of latex gloves at this point to avoid staining your fingers.
Once the ink has been mostly absorbed, you’re ready to stamp! Select your letters and get to work. See the Notes section of this recipe below for some helpful tips on making this process easier. Once you’re done, set the finished place cards aside to dry for at least 20 minutes (you don’t want to smudge your hard work!), and you’re ready to use them.

Notes

I noted this above, but to reiterate: You’ll absolutely want to break off EXTRA matzo shards—double your intended Seder guest count, if you can swing it!—because they may break as you get the swing of stamping, and/or you may not be satisfied with your stamping results at first and want to start over on a “blank” card. I’ve done this several times now and I’d personally still make extra for myself—sometimes the letters can look wonky and you’re best off just starting over.
After dipping into the icing, I suggest leaving the matzo pieces to dry for 1.5 to 2 days, but 24 hours is enough—just be mindful of the fact that there may be thicker areas of the icing that haven’t dried as “fully” and they’ll have the potential act like quicksand when you place a stamp on top of them.
This royal icing recipe has some great information on how to know when your icing is truly the right consistency—I’d recommend reading it all the way through, especially if you’ve never used royal icing before. Too watery and you may end up with a less-than-firm surface for your stamping; too thick and it’ll be hard to dip the matzo pieces. (It’s really not as complicated as it sounds; I’m just making sure you’re equipped with all of the troubleshooting info before you begin!)
Once you’re ready to stamp, set aside one piece of matzo (or more!) to use as a “tester”—you may need to try stamping a few times to really understand what sort of pressure to apply, the angle at which to hold the stamps, and so on.
Try not to push too hard into the icing, while still applying firm-enough pressure to actually create a stamp! You’ll notice that if you do, the icing may “give way,” especially if it hasn’t hardened fully.
I was asked on TikTok whether choc chips can be substituted for the icing here. My guess is that they wouldn’t work super well. You really need a flat, super firm surface in order for the stamps to work properly. Stick to icing if you can!