Football Brownies
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Adorable bite-size brownies decorated with simple buttercream football stripes. Perfect for celebrating everything from pee wee football all the way up to the Super Bowl. Pair with cake batter puppy chow and sprinkle cookies in your team’s colors for a full celebration spread.
EASY GAME DAY BROWNIES: A SUPER BOWL MUST MAKE
When football season rolls around, I always find myself turning to crowd-pleasers that are as fun as they are delicious. These football brownies are no exception! They’re guaranteed to be a hit at tailgates, watch parties, or any gathering where snacks reign supreme. Whether you make them bite-sized (my personal favorite) or use a football shaped cookie cutter to cut a football shaped brownie from a pan of your go-to brownies, this method works perfectly for all sizes and setups.
For this recipe, I’ve included my trusted brownie base— the one I swear by for its rich, fudgy texture— but the beauty of these football brownies is that you can use any recipe you love. Even a boxed mix will do the trick if you’re short on time! I love the mini bite-sized version for a party spread because they’re easy to grab, perfectly portable, and always leave people ooh-ing and ahh-ing over their festive look.
During football season, these brownies always steal the show, but come Super Bowl time? They get a mega boost in popularity, and for good reason– they’re the MVP of desserts. So whether you’re hosting a party or just need some fun and edible football shapes to contribute to the snack table, these football brownies are a guaranteed crowd favorite.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED: BROWNIES + FROSTING
The base for these creative football desserts is my best homemade brownie recipe. I’ve used it over 20 times on my site (see all brownie recipes), and it never fails to produce a dense, chewy brownie that is sure to make you go “mmmm!”
These mini brownie bites are are quite simply that classic brownie recipe just in mini-brownie form. Feel free to use your own go-to recipe or a boxed brownie mix. Just be sure to see my success tips below if you’re not going to follow the brownie recipe at the bottom of this post.
You’ll also need some vanilla frosting. Again, you can buy premade or make your own! I suggest thickening my easy royal icing or making a small batch of my go-to vanilla buttercream. More on that in the recipe card below. I promise I’ll guide you through everything you need!
USE BUTTERCREAM OR ROYAL ICING FOR THE LACES
Around these parts, it’s pretty normal to have a stash of leftover buttercream in the fridge, because that’s how we roll in our house (#foodbloggerlife). For normal people, that may not be the case, so you can go ahead and make a small batch of my classic vanilla buttercream (about ¼ of a batch– I outlined how to do that in the notes at the bottom of this recipe) OR you can use the easy royal icing that I use to decorate my cut-out sugar cookies.
Either way, you’ll have some leftovers, but that’s not the worst thing. Maybe you whip up some cookies to cover with the rest… Or grab some pretzels or graham crackers and just have vanilla buttercream dip at your Super Bowl party?
No judgment… And also… Can I come to your house?
OVERVIEW: HOW TO MAKE FOOTBALL BROWNIES
Bake the brownies: scratch brownies are simple to make! Be sure you’re liberally greasing the pan.
Allow brownies to cool completely: your brownie bites will need to cool completely before you remove them from the pan and also before you pipe on the laces. The good news is that even if you’re making these football brownies last minute, their tiny nature means they cool quickly!
Pipe the laces: this is quick and painless, but if you’re not used to piping, you may want to practice a few times before going right to a brownie bite. You can practice in the bowl or on a plate.
Allow to set: while you can enjoy your football brownie bites right away, you’ll want to be sure the frosting has set before transporting them anywhere.
SUCCESS TIPS
LIBERALLY GREASE THE PAN: believe me, because I’ve learned this the very hard way. A generous greasing, ok? You don’t want these cuties stuck in the pan. If you’re really concerned, you can use mini cupcake liners.
DO NOT OVERFILL THE WELLS: this is another one I’ve learned the hard way. I like to use this #50 cookie scoop to fill the wells with a scant scoop of batter. You’ll want the wells filled about ⅔ of the way full at maximum.
ALLOW TO COOL COMPLETELY IN THE PAN: not only will letting the bites cool completely help them come out of the pan smoothly, it will also prevent them from deflating.
ALLOW LACES TO SET BEFORE TRANSPORTING: don’t ruin your cute laces by gathering the football brownies together before they’re ready! Frosting should only take about 1-2 hours to harden. You can pop them in the fridge to speed up this process if necessary.
Regardless of who you are or aren’t rooting for in the Super Bowl, or whether or not you make football brownies with brownie mix or from scratch, I think we all can agree that these brownies must make an appearance in your life whenever football is on.
To help celebrate, to distract from the game, or to reign in the children. AND, of course, because THEY ARE TOO CUTE NOT TO.
My favorite Super Bowl/football eats: football cupcakes, jalapeño cream cheese dip, skillet pizza dip, and creamy southwest corn dip.
Game Day Football Brownie Bites
Ingredients
BROWNIE BITES
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter cut into 6-8 slices
- 8 ounces (225g) semi-sweet chocolate coarsely chopped
- ¾ cup (150g) firmly packed light brown sugar
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature preferred1
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (90g) all-purpose flour be sure to measure properly
- ¼ teaspoon salt
VANILLA BUTTERCREAM
- ¼ cup (57g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (120g) powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 to 2 Tablespoons (15-30mL) milk or cream
- pinch of salt
Instructions
BROWNIE BITES
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC). Spray the wells of a 24 or 12 count mini-cupcake pan liberally with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and chopped chocolate, stirring frequently until completely smooth. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes.½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, 8 ounces (225g) semi-sweet chocolate
- Whisk the sugar into the cooled chocolate mixture until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition until smooth. Whisk in the vanilla. Add the flour and salt and stir gently until completely combined.¾ cup (150g) firmly packed light brown sugar, ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar, 3 large eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ¾ cup (90g) all-purpose flour, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Spoon the batter into the wells of the mini-cupcake pan. I prefer to use this #50 cookie scoop to fill the wells2 with a scant scoop. Bake the brownie bites for 12-13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. Allow brownies to cool completely in the pan before removing and decorating.
VANILLA BUTTERCREAM
- In a large bowl with a handheld mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the the butter on medium-high until smooth, about 2 minutes.¼ cup (57g) unsalted butter
- Reduce the mixer to low, then slowly add the powdered sugar and mix until everything is combined. Add the vanilla extract and mix again.1 cup (120g) powdered sugar, ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Slowly add the milk or cream, watching for and stopping at desired consistency. Add the salt, then increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until completely smooth.1 to 2 Tablespoons (15-30mL) milk or cream, pinch of salt
- Use a small zip top bag with the corner snipped off or an icing bag fitted with a Wilton #3 tip. Allow icing to set before serving. Store brownies covered at room temperature up to 1 week or in the freezer up to 2 months.
Notes
- Room temperature eggs: these incorporate into batter much more easily than cold eggs, although this is not absolutely necessary.
- Scant scoop: over-filling the wells will guarantee a sunken brownie bite. You want the wells to be about ⅔ of the way full at maximum.
- Laces: I used leftover vanilla buttercream for my football stripes, but this quick royal icing will also do the trick. You will have leftover.
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
Living in South Philadelphia my neighborhood is ON FIRE OVER THIS GAME. ha!! It sounds like you can relate being in the area! These brownies look awesome.
I bet it is! Should be a crazy time in your neck of the woods regardless of the outcome of the game!
I love this. I would never have thought to do that to brownie bites. It is perfect though. Although I do have to say we are rivals in this game. I am Patriots ALL the way. I think we can agree to disagree with these brownie bites in the middle. 🙂
Thanks, Courtney! I couldn’t resist turning little brownies into little footballs 🙂
Hey the cowboys are a great team and have had there run in the spotlight! pretty cool to see all that atmosphere near where you live….football aside, the brownies are awesome and truly a creative idea, thanks for the recipe 🙂
You have a great point! We’ve had our time(s) 🙂
Ok ok-lol Your recipe for the hard boiled eggs is excellent, but I am from a small town on the water about 40 minutes to Boston on a good day, and I’m a Patriots fan. I know everyone else hates us, but we are good! I so enjoy your site. …as my Dad used to say, “May the better team win!”
Haha, I’ll cheers to that, Cheryl!
These look adorable…and I love that they can be made with a normal pan as well!
Totally adorable. Perfect for any game day get together.
These are incredibly cute and perfect for the game this weekend.
These are so cute! Love the perfect decoration! These brownie bites are perfect dessert bites and will be gone in a flash!YUM!
I’ve got friends in PA that are die hard Pats fans. You can’t help who you love 🙂 These are so fun, my guys will love them and so will I!
It’s true, Jolene!
These are so cute and perfect for game day! I’m definitely making these next weekend and I know they will be a hit!
Thanks so much, Kathryn!
Such a fun and easy to make Game Day dessert!
I made these for tony’s work the Friday before the NFC championship five years ago SO I GOTTA DO IT AGAIN. GO BIRDS
Yesssss! It’s a must for sure!