My March Madness bracket just got busted, as did most this weekend, so taking a step back from basketball to do a bit of a throwback post! Pun intended. 😛But instead of sports, I’m talking cookies.

I was not super excited about the Super Bowl this year but it felt wrong not to watch the game. So, when I decided to host a last minute watch party, I baked some Chocolate Football Cookies to get into the spirit. Sharing this easy recipe, a take on sugar cookies but not overly sweet. Perfect for cookie cutters and however much icing you want!

No Chilling, Easy Bake Cookies

I adapted this recipe ever so slightly from Easybaked, a lovely blog owned by Ruthanne who is a passionate baker who has fun with creative yet easy bakes. Which is exactly what I love about this recipe – it’s very simple and straight forward and a great base for your own creativity.

Step 1: Cream butter & sugar

Beating together butter and sugar aerates the dough, which helps the overall structure of the cookie. In most recipes, it tells you to use room temperature butter. I find that is sort of, right.

It’s best if the butter hasn’t been sitting out on your counter for too long. If the butter is too warm, it won’t cream as well and the cookies actually become too dense. Take out your butter, cut it in pieces, and by the time you’ve prep everything else, the butter should be just softened enough! I actually think my first batch of these cookies were on the denser side as I waited too long to get my butter into the mixing bowl.

Step 2: Add the flavor

Once you cream the butter and sugar, mix in the cocoa, vanilla, and eggs until smooth. I like to use the same rule about the temperature of my eggs as butter – not straight from the fridge but not completely room temp either.

This recipe uses unsweetened cocoa powder. I haven’t tried it with sweetened cocoa and worry that it will take away from the overall flavor too much. But, perhaps half-and-half would be a nice mix if you are looking for something to better satisify your sweet tooth.

Step 3: Make the dry mix

In a separate bowl, mix in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Fairly simple. Got no baking wisdom to share with you on this one. ☺️

Step 4: Mix ’em and roll ’em cookies

Slowly add in the dry ingredients, mixing until smooth. As the dough starts to form, you may need to get your hands dirty!

Once the dough is kneaded, it’s ready to be rolled out and cut out into any shape you like! I of course, made these into footballs but you can cut them into any shape for any occasion. The thicker the dough, the softer it will be. Also be careful not to overwork the dough as I find it gets tougher.

“Women of New York, Frost Yourself!”

I like that these cookies aren’t too sweet because that means you can decorate them with icing however you’d like! I used simple royal icing which sets nicely but you can use frosting, chocolate, etc. The chocolate flavor of the cookie isn’t too strong, more of a spiced, almost molasses like taste, making it very adaptable to flavored icings!

Get creative!