Football Helmet Men Cookies ... Royal Icing (SeaHawks Men)

I did some football helmet men cookies a few years back using just dyed icing. They were fun and worked for Cole's football theme mates. Every year our church ask for us to make (or buy) cookies and take to another church. I figured this time I would show off my new royal icing skills and try to make these cookies in the past but in a cleaner version.

Here are the football helmet men cookies made. Since SeaHawk season is upon us I did their colors (you can make these in the color of whatever theme you like):

Before & After's

 

 

What you Need:

Sugar Cookies cut into Lobsters (see my fav sugar cookie recipe below)

Royal Icing in Green, Blue and white (recipe below)

AmeriColor Gel Food Coloring Green and Blue (to dye Icing - Color for your favorite team)
Black Food Marker
Licorice Strips 

I rolled out the cookies dough out and cut out circles. In half of the circles I cut out a rectangle at the bottom to make the face part of the mask.

Tint your Royal Icing to the perfect shade of green and blue, I then left 1/3 of it white. I use the dipping method with my royal icing. I started to do this about 6 months ago to speed up my decorating time. You can pipe each cookie which is a little cleaner but I find the dipping method to be the best. You get your royal icing to the outline consistency and put into a pie dish (I find this is not too deep). Once you dip the top of the cookie you tap off the extra icing and then you let dry! I first did the football helmets in the two colors, before they dried I added the licorice strips as the face mask guard spot. While those dried I dipped the circles in white (this will be the face) before the white dried I added the face mask cookie on top. These are double-decker cookies making them 3d which is so cool (look below a pic to see how we do this).

Once dry you can add the eyes. I like to do my cookies the night before to give plenty of time for the icing to harden. Once dry I took a black food marker and added the eyes.

Cookies being delivered to a neighbor church

 Cookies made for teachers and my dance instructors

Click HERE to see who I link with

 INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened 2 cups white sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3.	Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Julie Usher, she has a GREAT YouTube video on how to make, color and make consistency adjustments. 

Royal Icing what you need:

2 lbs Powdered Sugar

1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

5 Large Egg Whites (or equivalent) 

Flavor to Taste

Gel Icing Color

Mix powder sugar and cream of tartar in your mixer, just to make sure it is incorporated in. Slowly add egg whites, then whip start of slow then go to very high speed. She says around 2 minutes, my friend had an older mixer so it took almost 10 minutes. You want stiff peaks that hold on and won't fall off the spoon. Add in your flavor, I would suggest you use a clear flavoring.  This would be the glue texture great for ginger bread houses etc.

Take 1 cup of royal icing in a smaller bowl then add your coloring, lightly mix so you don't get air into the the icing. I'm like her and like the gel coloring. 

For Top Coating - Add 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 tsp Water (This is if you don't want to outline and flood)

For Outlining - Add 1/2 to 3/4 tsp Water

For Flooding  - Add 2 to 3 tsp Water

WATCH her video on How to Top-Coat, Outline, and Flood Cookies. YES it is around 7 minutes BUT if you have never done this technique it's a MUST she explains it perfectly.

Recap of Football Treats Made

We have been very busy at work and then after work between the tutor for Cole and the YMCA activities I'm running around crazy.  BUT loving it!  I'm getting exercise, so are the boys and the tutor is helping Cole keep on track with his homework. 

So with little time to write up something whitty and clever I'm going to recap the football treats I've made so far :).  I did find out that there is one more game but yet again practices where cancelled this week (pointless).  And the coach that is never at games that has a teen step in and coach never puts Cole in just uses the top 5 kids every game over and over again.  YUP I'm done and I think so is Cole.  So we're going with no last game, just be done with it.  PLUS Saturday I have the boys signed up at the YMCA for swim and a tumbling class.

Football Cookies (Funny Faces)

Football Whoopie Pies

Almond Football Cupcakes

Football Brownies

Football Helmet Men

Football Cream Puffs


Hope you enjoyed our fun Football Treats!
And maybe try one or two :)

Ready for a Touch Down .... Football Helmet Men (or to be PC I should say People right?? LOL)

Next on our list is some super cute Football Helmet men/people (LOL I'm so not a good PC person).  These Cute little Helmet Men I found on Spoonful (one of my favorite places to go for ideas).  For their men they used pre-made cookies, Most of you know me and know I rather just make my own.  So I found a yummy recipe for Knockoff Swig Sugar Cookies (aka literally the best cookie known to man) on Vintage Revivals site.   Those where their words but I did take a taste and they are pretty darn good.  Since I'm at a standstill with my diet I've decided I'm going to eat right with some little pleasures and keep on exercising and see what happens (1 1/2 years on this diet and I need a break ... ok enough about me). 

Here are the men I made 

(I ran out of red Wilton Icing Color used Maroon so it was a little on pink side):

For Cookies:

Ingredients:

1 C Butter (room temperature)
3/4 C Vegetable Oil
1 1/4 C Sugar
3/4 C Powdered Sugar
2 T Water
2 Eggs
1/2 t Baking Soda
1/2 t Cream of Tarter
1 t Salt
5 1/2 C Flour

Cream together Butter, Vegetable Oil, Sugars, Water, and Eggs. Combine dry ingredients and slowly add to butter mixture. Mix until everything is combined.  Your dough should be a little crumbly and not sticky at all.  Roll a golf ball sized ball of dough and place it on your cookie sheet.  Put 1/4 c of sugar and a pinch of salt in a dish (this is in addition to the sugar and salt listed above.)  Stick the bottom of a glass in it.  This is going to be your cookie press. Firmly press it into the center of your dough ball.  You want your dough to spill out over the sides of the glass.  If there is a lip its even better.  Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.  They should just barely be browning on the bottom.    Move cookies to a cooling rack.  Once they are cool put them in the fridge.

Alexis Notes: Instead of rolling into balls.  I rolled my dough out and then used my circle cutter to make sure all the men where the same size and shape.  For the top part the helmet I took a knife and cut out a square where the face would show through (see picture below to see shape, this was the only part that wasn't uniformed in shape, since I free handed each one). 

 For Men:

What you'll need

• Large, soft cookies (we used Archway oatmeal cookies)
• Frosting
• Food coloring
• M&M's Minis
• Black decorator gel
• Black licorice

How to make it

To make each one, first spread a thin layer of frosting on a large, soft cookie. Cut a square from a second cookie to create a helmet shape and set it atop the first.

Coat the helmet with frosting tinted the color of your family's favorite team, then add eyes (M&M's Minis with black decorators' gel dots), a black string licorice face mask, and 2 more M&M's Minis for the helmet's ear holes.

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Alexis Notes: As mentioned above I made the cookies instead of pre-made ones. I used Wilton Icing Color tried my red didn't have enough so I used my maroon and got pink oh well! I used black icing gel for eyes and cut strips of Wilton licorice for the face mask.  I skipped the helmet ear holes.

Another simple one to make!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Touch Down!!! Football Cupcakes (Almond Footballs)

For Cole's 3rd Flag Football game I decided cupcakes would be fun to do.  WELL fun was what I thought and felt when I made the cupcakes.  THE overcast day turned into an 80 degree day leaving my cupcakes looking like pools of blue frosting.  GRRRR ... Well at least they were cute when we first got there, and a few of the kids even said thank you.  One of the mom's even came over "To SEE what Super Mom made".  Have you ever had a person say something about you and you could just feel the sarcasm?  YUP that comment and little smile was so touching ... NOT.

Now onto the cupcakes!  I wanted to do something new with a cupcake!  His team is the NY Giants (yes no clue we live in Washington but hey go with it).  The colors are blue and red.  So I made cupcakes in a red cupcake liner and then I made a pop of color with blue frosting!

I used my favorite white cake mix for the cupcakes and my sturdy buttercream frosting.  Click the names for the recipes.  I've posted the recipes so many times for the sake of my regular readers I've stopped posted the same recipes over and over again :).

I took wilton blue icing color to tint the frosting to the right color.  I pipped it on and then went on to making the little footballs to top the cupcakes.  

Football Toppers

What you need:

Chocolate Covered Almonds

White Decorating Icing

Take a chocolate covered almond using your white decorating icing make a line across the long way then add 3 lines across that line to resemble laces on a football.  I started with a fun sparkle Wilton decorating icing but it wouldn't set up and started to run.  I switched to the normal Wilton White Icing that was sturdy and stayed put.

After all the cupcakes were frosted and the almonds were decorated and added to the top of the cupcakes I did my normal trick and put them in a clear cup, added a clear bag and tied it with a red ribbon to stay with the color theme.  Mind you I buy all this at the Dollar Tree.  10 plastic cups $1 (used 2 1/2 packages), 25 plastic bags $1 and roll of ribbon $1.

Another simple one to make!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE. 

Touch Down!!!! Whoopie Pie Football Cookies

For Cole's second game I wanted to do another fun football themed cookie.  I found this really cool idea for Whoopie Pie Football Cookies on Alice in the Kitchen.  The cookies came out super cute, the marshmallow fluff inside I must say wasn't my favorite it was too gooey.  I know it's technically correct but I like when I have used buttercream frosting.  Patty at Broken Teepee gave me the suggestion of a 7 minute frosting, which I will try next time.

So they weren't gorgeous but they still looked yummy and the kids loved them!

I started with a Whoopie Pie Recipe found on Epicurious. 

For cakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg

For filling

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
• 2 cups marshmallow cream such as Marshmallow Fluff
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Make cakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl until combined. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a small bowl.

Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a handheld, then add egg, beating until combined well. Reduce speed to low and alternately mix in flour mixture and buttermilk in batches, beginning and ending with flour, scraping down side of bowl occasionally, and mixing until smooth.

Spoon 1/4-cup mounds of batter about 2 inches apart onto 2 buttered large baking sheets. Bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until tops are puffed and cakes spring back when touched, 11 to 13 minutes. Transfer with a metal spatula to a rack to cool completely.

Make filling:
Beat together butter, confectioners sugar, marshmallow, and vanilla in a bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Assemble pies:
Spread a rounded tablespoon filling on flat sides of half of cakes and top with remaining cakes.

Once I made the whoopie pie dough I took my football cookie cutter and traced it onto wax paper and the pipped the dough into the football shape (yes it looks a little like dog doo, but I promise not at all like it ... hehe). 

The cookies came together a little gooey but super yummy I was told!  I will work on perfecting these but I must say I think pretty darn cute if I must say so myself!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE. 

Touch Down!!! Bring on the Football Cookies (Funny Faces)

Cole has started flag football and for his games we didn't have a real plan for treats, so of course I decide I would just take that over and do that!  I wanted my treats not to be something boring I wanted something fun!!!  I went to Pinterest and did some searching!  I found a cute picture (of course not linked to anything) of Football cookies made with funny faces.  I started with a ginger cookie for my footballs and went to town decorating.  They turned out GREAT I must say my favorite one in this theme so far!

For the ginger cookies I used a recipe found on food.com.  This was an easy recipe and I happened to have a football cookie cutter that I used when I rolled the dough out.

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well blended.  In a large bowl (KitchenAid's great for this) beat butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until well blended.  Add molasses, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to mix until well blended.  Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth.

Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.  Preheat oven to 375°.  Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Place 1 portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface.  Sprinkle flour over dough and rolling pin.  Roll dough to a scant 1/4-inch thick.  Use additional flour to avoid sticking. Cut out cookies with football cutter. Space cookies 1 1/2-inches apart.  Bake 1 sheet at a time for 7-10 minutes (the lower time will give you softer cookies).  Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to stand until the cookies are firm enough to move to a wire rack.

After the cookies cooled I went to town decorating.  I made a few different faces.  The boys loved it.

What you need:

White Gel (I recommend Wilton)

Black Gel (I recommend Wilton)

Wilton Candy Eyes

Baked cookies

Bottom shows a few different faces.

I found a football dish at the Dollar Tree Store

These were pretty darn simple the hardest part was making the dough a cutting out the cookies.  WELL of course also not eating them all, this is my favorite type of cookie.

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.