Description
Delight in these festive Football Cookies, packed with rich cocoa and topped with sweet sugar cookie icing to resemble classic football laces. Perfect for football game parties or celebrations, these cookies combine a tender, chocolatey base with charming decoration for a fun and crowd-pleasing treat.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Decoration
- Sugar Cookie Icing
- Green sprinkles (optional)
Instructions
- Prepare dry ingredients: In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt to ensure no lumps and set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar: Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the unsalted butter and sugar together on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes.
- Add eggs and vanilla: Incorporate the eggs one at a time into the creamed butter mixture, beating well after each addition to fully combine. Add vanilla extract and continue mixing, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Combine with dry ingredients: Gradually add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet mixture and beat until a smooth, consistent dough forms.
- Chill the dough: Divide the dough into two equal parts. Roll each half out between two sheets of parchment paper or wax paper to about 1/4-inch thickness. Transfer the dough on parchment-lined sheets to the refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours or up to overnight to firm the dough and prevent spreading during baking.
- Preheat oven and prepare sheets: When ready, preheat your oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Cut out football shapes: Remove chilled dough sheets from refrigerator. Using a football-shaped cookie cutter, cut out shapes, re-rolling scraps as needed to use all dough. Place the cutouts about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
- Bake the cookies: Bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes, until cookies are firm around the edges but still slightly soft in the center.
- Cool cookies: Let cookies cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Decorate: Prepare sugar cookie icing and fill a piping bag fitted with a #2 tip. Pipe laces and stitching details onto each football cookie. Let the icing dry semi-firm for about 10 minutes or fully harden over 24 hours for best results.
- Store: Once icing is set, stack cookies separated by parchment paper and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
Notes
- These chocolate football cookies add a festive touch and perfect sweet bite for game day celebrations like Super Bowl or tailgates.
- Chilling the dough is a crucial step to prevent the cookies from spreading too much during baking and to maintain the defined football shape.
- Using parchment paper for rolling and baking helps avoid sticking and makes handling easier.
- Allow the icing to fully harden if stacking cookies to prevent smearing or sticking.
- Optional: Green sprinkles can add a fun decorative touch reminiscent of a football field.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 151 kcal
- Sugar: 12 g
- Sodium: 59 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2.3 g
- Trans Fat: 0.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 22 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 27 mg
