Football Sugar Cookies

Make Cookies

1. In a kitchenaid stand mixer, combine room temperature butter and sugar for 5-8 minutes until totally combined (scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed).
2. Add the eggs, almond and vanilla extract into the batter and continue to mix with the electric mixer.
3. Then sift the all purpose flour, baking powder and salt into the batter (sifting is KEY). Mix again but don't over mix. Once combined, cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour (often I’m making these in the winter so I will put them in the garage or out on my deck and it chills much faster).
4. Lightly flour a clean work surface and place your chilled dough on top. Use a rolling pin to flatten the sugar cookie dough, rolling until its about ⅛”-¼” thick. It needs to be even for an even bake! Continue to sprinkle flour if the rolling pin is sticking to the dough.
5. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Use a 2-3” diameter circle cookie cutter to cut out the cookies from the rolled-out dough.
6. Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheets (can also use parchment paper) and bake for 10-12 minutes. These cookies don’t spread much so you can keep them close. I fit 12 per baking sheet. Note: baking times may vary on oven & cookie sheets. Keep a close eye on the cookies so they don’t burn.
7. Remove the cookies from the baking sheet, transfer to a wire rack. Allow them to cool completely prior to frosting (you can pop them back outside – covered of course!)

Make Icing

1. While the cookies cool, make the icing. A stand mixer with a whisk attachment is necessary to get the desired consistency here. Add powdered sugar, warm water, meringue powder, and almond and lemon extract to the bowl of your standing mixer. Mix for 7-10 minutes until super fluffy!!! Tip to add the water in SMALL increments until the frosting has enough structure (kind of like Elmers glue) Remove ⅓ of the icing once finished and put into another mixing bowl. Stir in green food coloring until it's a football field looking-green. Note: It will dry darker than it looks in the bowl.
2. Transfer both the green icing and white icing you set aside into separate piping bags.

Decorate

1. Ice the cookies. We want the cookie half white and half green. Start with a white line down the middle of the cookie, then drag it along the outer edge of the cookie (giving you a closed half moon shape). Then fill in the outline with white frosting, using a toothpick to spread & fill it as necessary (we don’t want it too thick!). See the tips in the 'icing' section above for more details & Q/A if needed.
2. While the frosting is still wet, place the cookie into a bowl and pour sprinkles onto the wet icing so it sticks.
3. Complete the white on all of the cookies before moving to the green. Note: Keep your white frosting in a warm-ish place so it doesn’t harden - you’ll be using it again for the yard lines.
4. Once the white frosting is completely dry, move onto the turf. On the half opposite the ‘stands’ outline the same white half moon that you did with the white, starting with a white line down the center then looping around the outer edge of the cookie. Fill this in with green frosting and let harden.
5. Once the green is set, add the white yard lines. With your white piping bag, draw a horizontal line between the white and green halves of your cookie. This distinguishes the turf from the stands more prominently. Then, add a vertical line across the green frosting from the horizontal line you just drew to the outer edge of the cookie.
6. Then add field lines on either side of this, somewhat on an angel starting from the horizontal line out to the outer edge of the cookie (see photos). I fit two additional white lines on each side of the center.
7. Add a 5 and a 0 on either side of the center line to represent the 50 yard line, add hashes between each of the larger lines you drew and let set.
8. Arrange the decorated cookies on your serving plate and enjoy!