Game Day Football Brownie Bites

Adorable bite-size brownies adorned with buttercream football stripes. Perfect for any football game day you’re looking to celebrate!

I’m going to be perfectly honest here and say… This is not my favorite Super Bowl. Not even in the slightest. I have no one to root for, and quite frankly, the last 2 teams on earth that I would root for are in the running for the title, so I REALLY have no one to root for.

You see, though I reside in a suburb of Philadelphia and really do love the city, its culture, and its food (helloooo, cheesesteaks!), I have been a dedicated Cowboys fan since I was in the 2nd grade.

Why? Because I liked their helmets and when you’re 7, that’s a good enough reason to favor a team over another. Isn’t it?

Truth be told, I grew up in a central Pennsylvania city where fans of Steelers, Eagles, Giants, Redskins, and Ravens lived in (mostly) harmony. And then, of course, we were all sideline Saints fans for several years when a fellow high school grad played for them. I mean– how could you not love Colston anyway?

Geographically, I think we just lived in a place where there was no diehard allegiance to any one team. And that was cool.

And then I met my now husband. Who grew up in a town where allegiance was to the Eagles and Eagles alone. And he still married me. We just don’t talk football much… Or we just trash talk and tease each other and laugh because neither of our teams have done much lately.

Of course, until this year.

And I haven’t stopped hearing about it since.

We live about 20 miles from center city Philadelphia, so Eagles fans are e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. I will not wear a single Cowboys thing out in public for actual fear of danger. I just wear my Flyers gear instead (love me some ice hockey, ohhhh yes), and then the public is none the wiser to my non-Philly football allegiance.

Phew! It’s much better that way.

But I have to say– seeing Philly be all proud is pretty cool. I still don’t hope they win, but I’m not sure I really want Tom Brady to win another ring, so this is where my adorable football brownies come in because I need some distractions from the atrocity that will be my living room come Sunday evening, regardless of the outcome of the game.

So let’s talk brownie bites, K?!?!

This is my tried and true brownie recipe. I’ve used it in my chocolate cherry chunk brownies, in my chocolate chip cheesecake swirl brownies, in my peppermint pattie brownies, and in my cookies and cream brownies. 

This is my classic brownie recipe just in mini-brownie form. If you’re interested in a regular pan of brownies, that one is y0ur ticket.

Adapting my classic brownie recipe to mini form was simple. I just winged (wung?!) it on the baking time and it worked out perfectly in my favor. I was met with slightly-crunchy-outside, soft-on-the-inside bites of brownies.

WIN.

That means I had the ideal canvas for football stitches. Because, remember, these are game day brownie bites, meant to be eaten during the Super Bowl. Of course, you could use these brownies at the beginning of the season, a playoff game, a pee-wee football game…

Whatever! Any reason to make adorable little football brownies, right?!

So about these football stitches, you can go about them a few different ways. 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.

For regular people, that may not be the case, so you can go ahead and make a small batch of my classic vanilla buttercream (about 1/4 of a batch– I outlined how to do that in the notes at the bottom of this recipe) OR you can use the quick 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. Can I come to your house?

Regardless of who you are or aren’t rooting for this Super Bowl, I think we all can agree that these brownies must make an appearance in your life. To help celebrate, to distract from the game, and of course, because THEY ARE TOO CUTE NOT TO.

Root root root for the home team? Maybe. But I will be eating all 2 and 1/2 dozen of these myself if I must…

Print Recipe

Game Day Football Brownie Bites

Adorable bite-size brownies adorned with buttercream football stripes. Perfect for any football game day you're looking to celebrate!

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time13 mins

Total Time33 mins

Servings: 2 dozen mini brownies

Ingredients

• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter cut into 6-8 slices
• 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate coarsely chopped
• ¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs room temperature preferred¹
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray the wells of a 24 or 12 count mini-cupcake pan 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.
• Whisk sugar into 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.
• Spoon the batter into the wells of the mini-cupcake pan. Bake brownies 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. I used leftover vanilla buttercream² for my football stripes, but this quick royal icing will also do the trick. 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

1. Room temperature eggs incorporate into batter much more easily than cold eggs, although this is not absolutely necessary.
2. You'll want to decrease the original recipe significantly. Use 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons) butter, 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract, and about 1 to 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons milk or cream. Salt to taste if needed. You'll have the best luck whisking everything together in a small bowl or using a handheld mixer. You will have some leftover.

Adapted from homemade fudgy brownies

Did you make this recipe?Mention @freshaprilflours on Instagram or tag #freshaprilflours!