Football Jersey Cookies, Royal Icing & Division Champs

I've mentioned recently that two of my boys play football. One of them (Dominic, 10 years) is done for the season, so the coaches hosted an end of season party for the team. I decided to make football jersey shaped cookies, and to go a bit further, thought I would finally try my hand at decorating with Royal Icing.

My other football son (T.J., 12 years) is still playing. In fact, as I type this (which won't be when this posts by the way) he is at practice. See T.J.'s team won their playoff game over the weekend, giving them the title of Division Champs! Go Bulldogs! WOOT! The "Super Bowl" game will be played this weekend and we can't wait! Totally psyched!

Since I was making cookies for Dominic's team, I doubled up the batch and made them for T.J.'s team too. It worked out great, I handed them out right after they won the Division Champ title, so they were very pumped and these were a nice treat to go home with.

I decorated Dominic's with a few different colors, while T.J. wanted his to be white to match their actual jerseys. I also made some footballs and helmets for the coaches and flags for the team moms.

I found the cookie dough recipe on Leslie's uber awesome Hungry Housewife blog. Very simple dough, refrigerate for a while and cut with cookie cutters.

Bake 'em up, mine were done in 9 1/2 minutes. They were a bit puffy, but I think that was because I used parchment paper, even though Leslie said not to... I somehow missed that. :-p

All was well though, the cooled off and "relaxed" a bit, taking away that puffiness.

I mixed up Leslie's icing too and followed her instructions, though I didn't have the right tip (#3), it still worked out really well. I tinted the icing with paste food coloring. Then they had to dry for a few hours.

Then it was time to pipe on the numbers etc. This was my first time, so I was pretty happy with the results, even if they weren't perfect.

I can see a LOT of cookies in my future. This is a dangerous mix of cooking (this blog) and crafting (my craft blog), so I am certain these will not be the last decorated cookie to cross these pages. :) I'm already totally excited about making some Thanksgiving cookies!

Get Leslie's cookie and icing recipe here

To end this post, I want to celebrate my two youngest boys. Dominic and T. J., I'm so proud of you boys. You are dedicated sport nuts and great team mates. Good sports and all around rockin' kids. I love you both. :)

TJ on the sidelines while defense is on the field.

TJ After winning the division championship.

What a rockin' number!

TJ talking to his big brother, Tony (Tony is my oldest, he's 17, no pics of my daughter in here, she's 15)

Coach holds up the trophy!

TJ on the field.

Big brother. Tough to get a picture of him.

Love their shirts "If you want to run with the big dogs, you can't play like a puppy". he he

Dominic at the end of season party

Dominic at his last practice of the season

At the end of season party, playing catch with team mates

Dominic was awarded Best Defensive Player

And last but not least, our adorable mascot Spike. Here he's dancing at half time to "Who Let The Dogs Out"

Spike hanging with the cheerleaders!

Thanks for listening :)

GO BULLDOGS!!