Tailgate Desserts

Let’s talk about tailgate desserts because, well, I love sweets.  When it comes to tailgating the focus can often be on the meats…burgers, dogs, wings…ok I’m getting hungry.  But you do not want to forget the treats.  I’ve curated some of my favorite tailgate desserts.

Tailgate Desserts

I also want to point out that in these favorite of mine, I have different difficulty levels.  So if you’re all about some boxed brownies or you’re a scratch kind of gal, I’ve got options for you.  First up are Football Brownies.

Football Brownies

These are for my gal with less time or less desire to be in the kitchen for hours.  They’re easy but so cute and deslish! Here’s what you need to make these cuties.

• 1 box of brownie mix (with the ingredients listed on the box)
• White frosting

Yes, That’s it!  All you have to do is follow the directions on the box.  Once they’ve cooled use a football cookie cutter to get the right shape and then simply pipe on the icing.  I love these because you can be finishing up getting ready and have the brownies cooking at the same time and only need 10 minutes to let them cool and pipe.  The easiest of the tailgate desserts!

Next up, I have another easy one for you.  Little football chocolate-dipped strawberries.  Because you who doesn’t love a chocolate dipped strawberry?

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Footballs

These are another one you can throw together with less time.  But you’ll want to be careful about taking these to an outdoor tailgate because the chocolate will melt if it’s too hot.   All you need is a carton of strawberries, and both white and regular melting chocolates.

In order to create these you melt the chocolate and dip the strawberries.  I place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper to dry.  Once they’ve dried, I fill a sandwich bag with the white melting chocolate and cut an itty bitty hole on the corner of the bag to pipe on the fine football laces.  Let them dry or stick em in the fridge til you’re ready to serve.  That’s one easy tailgate dessert!

Oreo Helmets

Full disclosure, I need to work on my helmet molding.  It’s no joke!

But how cute are these?! I had to ask B for some help with the whole molding thing but they’re so cute.  Here’s what you need:

• 1 package of oreos
• 1 package of cream cheese
• Pretzels
• Dark and White melting chocolates

Now this recipe requires a tad more work but not too much.

1. Crush the Oreos in a bowl and add the cream cheese and mix together until combined.
2. Shape little balls into helmets and dip into the melted chocolate and place them on a cookie sheet, lined with wax paper and put them in the freezer for 30 minutes.
3. Dip half in white and half in dark and place the little pretzel face masks.
4. Freeze or refrigerate until you’re ready to serve.

These are super cute.  You could use food coloring to change the chocolate colors to your team colors too! And you can pipe letters or numbers on the sides of the helmets as well.  These will be a fan favorite tailgate dessert for sure.

Pumpkin Football Cakes

Did someone say pumpkin?  Who’s ready for some pumpkin, fall and football?! I am.  Now these require some more work but trust me, theyr’e worth it and you’ll be the hit of the tailgate.  Here’s what you’ll need:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 4 eggs
• 1 15 oz can pumpkin
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup butter
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp. milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• silicone football mold

Once you have your extensive shopping list you’re good to go.  True story, I was making these and waiting on my football molds to arrive from amazon and I kept thinking…how can I cut these to make them look like footballs if it doesn’t show up.  I was making the other goodies too so I set it aside and maybe 5 minutes later B came home from running to get me more eggs (thanks Bud!) and he had 2 amazon packages with him and one was the molds! THANK YOU!  They’re a game changer so get on those.   Anyways here’s how you make this tailgate dessert:

1. Preheat the over to 350 and then in a medium bowl mix the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cloves.  In a larger bowl combine eggs, pumpkin, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vegetable oil.  Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture in batches.  Combine until smooth.
2. Spoon into the molds a little over half way full and put them into the oven for about 20 minutes.  While they bake make the frosting by beating the butter in a mixer until smooth and gradually adding the powdered sugar.  Beat in the milk and vanilla until you reach the desired consistency.
3. Once the cakes have cooled, cut them in half and ice the bottom half, then plan the top half on top to create a little sandwich.  Once they’ve all been filled, pipe the laces on.

Trust me when I say these are SO good.  I’m not a PSL (pumpkin spice latte) kind of a gal but I do like pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie so if you’re like me you’ll love these.

Excuse me while I now stuff my face…and for some of the items I’ve talked about you can snag them here:

[show_shopthepost_widget id=”3237046″]

Also huge shoutout to Better Homes and Garden and Just a Pinch for the recipes! Have a great week everyone! And let’s all just say a quick thanks that FOOTBALL IS HERE!