How to Make Decorated Football Cookies

Let me show you how to decorate football cookies for game day or football-themed parties. At the bottom of the post, I include a fun birthday variation, and you can use the same technique to include team colors and logos to customize them for your event and make them a hit with football fans of all ages.

updated from 2011

AMERICAN FOOTBALL SPORT BALL COOKIES FOR THE GAME DAY

• Cookie Decorating Guide
• Beginner’s Guide To Cookie Decorating
• Ultimate Guide to Cut-Out Cookies (tips, tricks, troubleshooting)
• Royal Icing Recipe
• Small Batch Royal Icing Recipe
• Cookie Icing Recipes (includes vegan royal icing, glaze, fondant)
• Guide To Royal Icing Consistencies with Visual Help(what is stiff, flood icing, etc.)
• How To Freeze Royal Icing
• How To Make Royal Icing Transfers
• Royal Icing FAQ ( for example: how to make black icing, color bleeding, storage, and more)
• How To Make a Cookie Cutter Template
• Ultimate Guide To Cookie Decorating Tools

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THINGS YOU NEED

• Football Cookie Cutter
• Template (optional)
• Airbrush and Airbrush Color (brown)
• Stencil (pop art polka dot)
• Scribe Tool
• Edible Marker – fine tip Rainbow Dust Marker
• Edible Marker with a standard tip (FooDoodlers Edible Markers)
• Tipless Piping Bags
• Gel Food Colors – brown

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CUT-OUT COOKIES AND ROYAL ICING

Prepare the cookie dough for cut-out cookies; use a cutter or hand-cut them and bake them. Allow cookies to cool completely before decorating.

ROYAL ICING COLORS AND CONSISTENCIES

• Brown Icing: 15-20 second consistency (football)
• White Icing: thick consistency (broad stripes and stitching)

DECORATED FOOTBALL COOKIES STEP BY STEP

Use a template (shop the football templates) and trace the piping guide onto cookies with an edible marker.

Outline and flood the top or bottom section, and allow icing to crust for 30-40 minutes before flooding the adjacent section.

• Once you flood the cookie with the first layer of icing, allow the icing to crust well or dry if you have time – airbrush cookies with brown airbrush color and a pop art polka dot stencil. (see the video below)
• If you don’t have a stencil and an airbrush, you can skip the airbrushing altogether, OR you can use brown edible dust to shade the seam between the top and bottom sections. Watch the video below to see how it’s done.
• Lastly, let’s add white stripes. You’ll need thick icing and a ribbon or basket weave piping tip. It’s best to view the video to see the step-by-step instructions.

VIDEO TUTORIAL

MORE SPORT COOKIES

• Soccer Ball Cookies
• Basketball Cookies
• Tennis Ball Cookies
• Pickleball Cookies
• Baseball Cookies

COOKIE FROM THE PAST – BIRTHDAY FOOTBALL COOKIES

I got asked to make cookies for a football fan celebrating his 50th birthday. I embellished the classic NFL football with the number 50.

I baked cut-out letter cookies to form the recipient’s name, and I decorated the cookies with American football and baseball themes.

This cookie decorating tutorial was initially published on November 10th, 2011. On August 29th, 2024 I updated this instructional tutorial with new photos, written texts and a video.