My husband is to thank for the idea of making these football cookies. Since the beginning of January, I’ve been brainstorming cute Valentine’s cookie creations. So much so that the biggest football game of the year completely escaped my mind! I’m glad my husband said something! With the abundance of popcorn, chips & dip and salty snacks devoured this Sunday, these festive sugar cookies are the perfect addition to your Super Bowl smorgasbord. The best part is, you can make these cookies a couple of days in advance and they will be ready for game day. I’ll show you how.
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Okay, lets get to it!
I like working with my cookie dough slightly chilled. I find that it is easier to work with, and your cookies are less likely to spread in the oven. Chill in refrigerator for a few hours. Begin by dusting your work surface with a generous amount of flour and start rolling out your cookie dough to between 3/8 inch – ½ inch thick. Marble and granite counter tops are great surfaces for rolling out dough. The cold stone keeps your dough chilled for a longer amount of time.
Use CookieCutterKingdom’s
football cutter to make nice clean cut football shapes and place them an inch apart on your cookie sheet. Bake until the tops of the cookies look dry and the edges barely begin to turn golden brown. Make sure to account for carry over cooking. The cookies will continue to cook once they are removed from the oven, so be careful not to overcook them!
While the cookies are baking in the oven, begin coloring your royal icing and filling your pastry bags. I use disposable bags for a no-fuss clean up! You will need chocolate brown, black and white icing.
I can not even begin to express how grateful I am for Bright White food coloring! Dying white royal icing white seems unnecessary, but when piping light colors on dark colors, this little bottle of Bright White food coloring is a life saver! It helps your white detail stay white and reduces the likelihood of your dark colored cookie bleeding into the white detail.
Start by outlining your football cookie with brown royal icing. Wait 2-3 minutes for the border to slightly crust over and then flood the surface of the cookie. When flooding, I start in the middle of the cookie and let the royal icing naturally find its way to the edges.
Use your needle tool to nudge the icing where you want it to go. Needle tools are great for creating nice defined points. In this case, I used the needle tool to clean up the end points of the football. There! You have the beginnings of an adorable football decorated cookie!
Easy! Okay, let's keep going.
After your cookie has dried a bit, pipe four white lines. Mimic the natural curve of the football cookie.
Fill in the lines and use your handy-dandy needle tool to touch up any bumps.
Next, pipe on the white stitching and looky there!! You have a beautiful looking football. You could stop there, but we’re going to add a little more detail. Go big, or go home!
Next, take another pastry bag filled with chocolate brown royal icing and cut a tiny hole in the bottom. Start piping small dots on the top left and bottom right of the football. Kind of makes the cookie look like it is leather right? Perfect.
Finally, we are going to add some definition by using black royal icing. A lot of decorators are afraid of using black because it looks too harsh. If you use it correctly, it can really add definition!
Using a pastry bag with a tiny hole at the bottom, pipe a black line connecting the white stitching to both edges of the football. Follow the curvature of the football.
And there you have it!! Look at you, you’re a pro! CookieCutterKingdom has lots of unique Game Day cutters. Search “football” and start baking! Or click here for more football cookie cutters.
Enjoy,
Mona Flood | Pastry Chef
Founder of Merci Bakery
Winter Park, Florida
