Description
These delightful Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies with Chocolate Footballs combine buttery, tender cookies coated in colorful nonpareil sprinkles with charming chocolate football decorations. Perfect for holidays or game days, these easy-to-make cookies feature a tender crumb and rich chocolate detail, adding a festive and fun touch to any celebration.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup nonpareil sprinkles
Chocolate Footballs
- 1 ½ cups dark or milk melting chocolate
- ½ cup white melting chocolate
Instructions
- Prepare chocolate footballs: Melt the dark or milk melting chocolate in a double boiler or microwave at 50% power until smooth. Transfer to a disposable piping bag and pipe chocolate into each cavity of the football candy mold. Tap the mold gently on the counter to release air bubbles. Refrigerate for 5-10 minutes until firm, then unmold the chocolate footballs by turning over and tapping the mold.
- Pipe white chocolate laces: Melt white melting chocolate similarly. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a #2 small round tip (or snip a tiny corner of a plastic bag). Pipe the characteristic football laces onto the molded chocolate footballs. Refrigerate again for about 5 minutes until the white chocolate sets.
- Preheat oven and prepare baking sheet: Set oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour nonpareil sprinkles into a shallow bowl for coating the cookie dough balls.
- Cream cookie dough: Using an electric mixer, beat together unsalted butter, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract until creamy and well combined. Add the all-purpose flour and mix just until incorporated to form a soft dough.
- Form and coat dough balls: Scoop approximately 1 tablespoon of dough and roll into balls. Roll each ball thoroughly in the nonpareil sprinkles until evenly coated. Place coated dough balls about two inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Chill dough balls: Refrigerate the tray of dough balls for about 10 minutes to help cookies maintain their shape during baking.
- Bake cookies: Remove dough from the refrigerator and bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes, or until the bottoms start to turn a light golden color and the tops remain pale.
- Freeze chocolate footballs: While cookies bake, place the prepared chocolate footballs in the freezer to prevent melting when placed on warm cookies.
- Attach chocolate footballs: Remove cookies from oven and allow to cool for about 2 minutes. Press one frozen chocolate football gently onto the center of each cookie.
- Set completed cookies: Transfer cookies to a cutting board or platter and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes to allow the chocolate to firm up completely and prevent melting.
- Storage: Once cooled and chocolate is firm, store cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
Notes
- Chilling the dough balls before baking prevents excessive spreading, ensuring perfectly rounded cookies ideal for thumbprints.
- Freezing the chocolate footballs while the cookies bake minimizes melting upon contact with warm cookies.
- Refrigerating the assembled cookies helps the chocolate firm up faster; leaving at room temperature will slow solidification.
- Special tip: If no football mold or short on time, you can skip molding and use chocolate Easter eggs instead for the decoration.
- Consider ethically sourced alternatives to common chocolates like Kisses, such as fair-trade chocolate bars or peanut butter cups.
- For shipping, layer cookies with wax paper between layers and crinkled tissue or wax paper between the top layer and lid to avoid movement.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 108 kcal
- Sugar: 7 g
- Sodium: 30 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 11 g
- Fiber: 0.5 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 20 mg
