Football whoopie pies are a total touchdown for game day desserts

Football season has officially kicked off, so bring on the food! These football-shaped whoopie pies will score points for being delicious as well as adorable. They’ll be the MVP of your tailgating table.

Note: If you’re making these in the off season, or if you’re shorter on time, you can, of course, make this recipe without forming cookie batter into footballs.

Football Whoopie Pies

Makes about 48 cookies, or 24 gobs

Ingredients

For the cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup hot water (in a large glass)
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp butter flavoring

For the filling

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp butter flavoring
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp milk (if necessary)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350ºF.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, and salt. Set aside.
In the large glass of hot water, add the baking soda and dissolve. Add 2/3 cup milk and milx. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the shortening and sugar together until fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla, and butter flavoring, and beat for another minute. Stir in half of the dry ingredients and mix. Then add half the wet ingredients and mix. Repeat until mixture is completely moistened.
Drop batter by heaping teaspoon onto uncreased cookie sheet. Use a toothpick to shape the ends of the batter to points—like a football. Bake cookies for 8 minutes before removing from oven. Transfer to wire racks to cool.
For the filling: Cream together shortening and flavorings. Add sugar once cup at a time. Beat until mixture is fluffy. Add sugar until sweet enough for your liking. If you like filling a bit creamier, slowly add milk a bit at a time and mix. Separate about 3 tbsp of filling aside to pipe later as football laces.
When cookies are completely cooled, pair them up with another cookie of similar size. Frost one side of each cookie with a generous amount, but don’t place tops on yet. (If there is more filling left, you can always add more to each at the end.)
Place tops of cookie on filling to form a sandwich.
Fill pastry bag or small sandwich bag with remaining icing. Snip off just a tiny piece of the tip of the bag. Pipe frosting onto top of whooping pie in the. Serve immediately.
Wrap each gob in plastic wrap and store in fridge. They also freeze well too! To freeze, place gobs in a single layer in baking sheet and place in freezer for at least 5 hours. To serve, remove from freezer and allow at least an hour to thaw. (Note: Hold off on wrapping whoopie pies if you’ve piped “laces” on top — the plastic wrap will smear it. You can set “laced” whoopie pies in a single layer on a cookie sheet, unwrapped, and freeze them first, before wrapping. Or, place them in a a single layer in an air tight container in the refrigerator.)

Note: If you add milk to filling mix, it will cut down on their shelf life. Gobs will need to be refrigerated.