Football Coffee Cookies

February: Super Bowl

We sometimes host a small and simple Super Bowl Sunday social with our neighbors and watch the big football game at our home. Highlander grills the burgers, our neighbors bring fried chicken wings and beer and Islander prepares the snacks, sides and desserts.

Football-shaped cookies are a thematic dessert that can be easily made ahead of time so we can concentrate on getting the main foods ready and then focus on our friends and the game. Although a chocolate cookie recipe is often used to make the football cookies, we baked a fragrant and flavorful coffee cookie instead.

Support your favorite school or professional team and make football coffee cookies as tailgating treats or game day desserts during football season, especially for Super Bowl Sunday.

Recipe

(Adapted from Southern Living: Incredible Cookies)

Ingredients

• ¾ cup butter, softened
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 cups flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons coffee liqueur (Kahlua)
• 2 tablespoons instant coffee granules
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup white chocolate, melted

Directions

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter with the sugar. Set aside. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and blend well. In a cup, mix the coffee liqueur, instant coffee granules and vanilla extract.

Blend coffee flavoring into the dough. Mix well and shape into a smooth ball. Refrigerate the dough for 10 minutes. Place flattened dough between two sheets of waxed paper. Roll no thicker than ¼ inches. Cut with football-shaped cookie cutter, re-rolling dough scraps as necessary.

Place onto lightly greased cookie sheets about an inch apart.  Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until brown on the edges. Remove from the oven and let stand on the baking sheet for five more minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely and harden.

Melt the white chocolate and place in a piping bag with a round tip. Draw the football stitching on the cooled cookies. Allow to dry completely. Yield: Approximately 14-16 football cookies.

Notes

• For an alternative to melted white chocolate, use tube icing, such as Wilton or Betty Crocker brands. Some of the ready-made frostings do not dry completely so avoid stacking the football cookies or the stitching design will stick to each other.
• For crisper wafers, roll the dough into 1/8-inch thickness and bake for 7-10 minutes.
• For a chocolate football cookie, use this recipe here.