Football Mexican Chocolate Butter Cookies

Here’s a recipe you’ll be making the whole season. These cookies are so delicious they literally disappear right before your eyes. The butter cookie recipe is one of my mother's. I have modified it to include some Mexican chocolate and boy are they good.

This recipe is so adaptable you can make it for any occasion and decorate it accordingly. Great tasting, easy to make, and unique. What more could you ask for? Enjoy the game. Oh, and if you missed the main part of my Game Day menu, go to my
Mexican-American Border Cooking blog to get the details and recipes. Go team! Yay!!!!!

Mexican Chocolate Butter Cookies
(makes 24 cookies)

1 cup of butter (2 sticks), softened to room temperature
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
¼ cup Mexican chocolate ground to a powder
Royal Frosting for decorating*

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and mix until blended. Sift flour, cocoa and Mexican chocolate into a large bowl. Combine with the butter mixture until dough holds together in a ball. Wrap in plastic and chill dough for 30 minutes. Portion out chilled dough and roll until it is ¼ inch thick. Dip football shaped cookie cutter in powdered sugar and start cutting out football shapes. As you cutout the cookie from the dough, place on cookie sheet. When cookie sheet is full, place in freezer for 10 minutes. This helps the cookie hold its’ shape when baking.

After you have chilled the cutout cookies, bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Allow to cool on cooling rack to 10 minutes. Once cookies are cool enough to handle and they feel firm to the touch place on cooling rack and decorate with royal icing. You can see by the picture how I decorated mine.

Royal Frosting
(makes about 2 1/2 cups)

1 pound powdered sugar
5 tablespoons meringue powder
1/2 cup water

Whisk on low speed until incorporated and then on medium speed for 7 to 8 minutes until fluffy and thick. Use a pastry bag fitted with a small round writing tip to decorate your cookies.