football cupcakes

How To Make football cupcakes

• Step 1
  Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tin with 24 paper liners.
• Step 2
  Mix everything together in a large bowl on medium-high speed until you get a thin batter.
• Step 3
  Pour the batter into each liner, filling it 3/4 full.
• Step 4
  These cupcakes don’t rise much, so its better to put more batter in, rather than less.
• Step 5
  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cupcake comes out clean.
• Step 6
  Cool cupcakes completely on a wire rack before frosting.
• Step 7
  Chocolate Frosting: Mix softened butter and cocoa powder together until it has becomes a thick brown paste.
• Step 8
  Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and heavy cream to the butter mixture and beat until all ingredients are incorporated and smooth.
• Step 9
  Add more cream if the frosting is too thick.
• Step 10
  The frosting should be creamy enough so that it can be piped out easily onto the cupcakes.
• Step 11
  Pipe about 3 Tablespoons worth of frosting onto each cupcake. Set aside.
• Step 12
  Gingerbread Football Cookies: In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar until smooth. Stir in molasses and egg yolk.
• Step 13
  Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg; blend into the molasses mixture until smooth.
• Step 14
  Cover and chill for at least one hour.
• Step 15
  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Step 16
  On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a 1/4″ thickness.
• Step 17
  Cut into 1-2 inch football shapes. (All you need is 24 football shaped cookies, you can use the rest of the dough for whatever you’d like- or freeze the dough and reuse for a later date, like I did).
• Step 18
  Place the cookies 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
• Step 19
  Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350, until firm.
• Step 20
  Remove from cookie sheets and cool on wire racks.
• Step 21
  Use your favorite royal icing recipe and pipe laces across your gingerbread football cookies.
• Step 22
  Optional: Color some shredded coconut with green food coloring for “grass”.
• Step 23
  To Make Grass: Put coconut in a small bowl add 2 to 3 drops of green food coloring and mix until all the coconut is colored. Add more food color as necessary.
• Step 24
  Top each Football Themed Cupcake with some “grass” and a Gingerbread Football Cookie.
• Last Step: Don't forget to share! Post a picture of your finished recipe here and on your favorite social network. Don't forget to tag Just A Pinch and include #justapinchrecipes!