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.

Abokado at Condensada

(Avocado with Condensed Milk)

February: National Avocado Month

Islander’s family had a big, shady avocado tree in the back yard of their Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, home. Sometimes there would be an abundance of avocados that her parents would give them away to friends and neighbors or make a super simple delicious dessert or drink with condensed milk to cool off during a hot Hawaiian day. While most people might use avocados in guacamole, salads and other savory dishes, her family (and the Filipinos, Vietnamese and Indonesians) treats avocado as a sweet ingredient (after all, it is a fruit). Although this recipe can be blended into a smoothie or shake, Islander prefers her abokado at condensada a little chunky. Try this rich and creamy tasty treat during National Avocado Month.

Recipe

(From Mommy)

Ingredients

• 1 ripe avocado
• ¼ cup sweetened condensed milk (may use low fat or fat free)

Directions

Peel, slice and cut up the avocado into chunks. Put in a glass bowl. Gently mix with the condensed milk. Place in a dessert dish. Refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the flavors to blend. Serve chilled.

Another option is to put the avocado chunks, 1/3 – ½ cup of the condensed milk, ¾ cup of milk and a cup of ice cubes in a blender to make a smoothie. Consume abokado at condensada before the fruit turns brown.

Notes

• Islander remembers the avocado green bowls and cups that her parents had when that color was fashionable in the 1970s!
• Adore avocados? Then refer to our recipe posts for Guacamole and Chicken St. John.
• Some Asian mothers would feed their underweight babies with a similar sweetened avocado dish to help fatten them up. Avocados are nutritious and rich with vitamins and minerals. 
• Mahalo (thanks) to Pat and Phyllis S. for the avocado for this recipe.