Edible Footballs

These little chocolate covered almond footballs are so simple to make, and look how cute they are!  I’ll be honest, I didn’t actually come up with this idea on my own.  I stumbled across it online somewhere.  However, the recipe I saw used store bought decorating icing.  Why would you do that when you can so easily make your own, and it will be so much better? 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Chocolate covered almonds
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 Tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon brown rice syrup (or corn syrup)

Sift the powdered sugar into a bowl.  Now, I know I’ve said this a dozen times, but be sure to use organic powdered sugar.  I know it’s expensive, but trust me, you’ll be blown away by how much better it tastes. 

There.  Nice and fluffy. 

Add the milk. (I used skim because that’s what I keep in the house, but whatever you have on hand will be fine.)

Add the syrup.  I always use brown rice syrup, but I know most people are more likely to have corn syrup on hand. 

Stir until the icing is nice and smooth.  It should run slowly, and if you drizzle it on top of itself, it will hold its shape momentarily before melding back in with the rest.  If it’s too thick add more milk, ¼ teaspoon at a time, and if it’s too thin, sift in some more sugar. 

Transfer the icing to a piping bag.  If you don’t have piping bags, you could just use a ziplock. 

Using scissors, cut off just the very tip. 

You just want a tiny hole. 

Pour your almonds onto a sheet pan.  This is another place you don’t want to cheap out.  Even though these are super simple, they’re quite time consuming.  If you’re going to go to the effort, you want them to be high quality.  Trader Joe’s is your friend for things like this.  I got that whole tub of chocolate covered almonds for less than $8.  I’d guess there to be something like 250 almonds in there. 

Now just pipe on some laces. 

You won’t get as many as are on a real football.  Most of mine had 3, some of them 4.  When you first start, it’ll be slow going, and they’ll be a bit wonky.  But you’ll get better and faster as you go.  Plus, even the wonky ones are cute. 

Pile o’ footballs!  Give them an hour or so (or overnight if you can) for the icing to harden before dumping them all into a bowl.

What’s your favorite thing to snack on while watching a game? 

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Bites

Forgive me for my belated post.  I’ve been dealing with computer issues (don’t put a quarter in me about Best Buy at the moment).  To make up for my absence, I bring you bacon wrapped chicken bites.  Not only are they amazingly delicious, but they’re perfect for everything from dinner to game day finger food for the guys. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• Diced chicken breasts
• Bacon
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons lime juice
• ½ - 1 teaspoon salt (depending on how salty your bacon is)
• ½ teaspoon pepper 

The first thing you need to do is par-cook the bacon.  If you skip this step you’ll either have dry chicken or soggy bacon, neither of which is allowed in my house.  The easiest way to cook bacon, is in the oven.  Just line a sheet pan with foil and lay the strips bacon on it. 

Slide the pan into a cold oven and turn it to 325°.  I think it took about 15 minutes for my bacon to get to this stage.  You want it to be basically cooked, but still quite limp.

Remove the slices to a plate lined with paper towels and set them aside. 

Up next is the chicken.  I find the easiest way to dice chicken is with a pair of kitchen shears.  KitchenAid makes some pretty decent ones that are affordable.  For me, affordable is a good thing in the shears department, because I’m pretty tough on them.  I throw them in the dishwasher frequently, cut open packages and all kinds of food stuff, and I’d rather just replace them once every year or so than have to worry about sharpening them. 

Cut your chicken into something resembling one inch cubes. 

Now for the seasoning.  In a small dish, combine the brown sugar (I used coconut sugar, but regular brown sugar will work just fine.) salt, and pepper. 

Stir them together and add the lime juice. 

Stir that all together.  Now it’s time to make a little assembly line.  Cut your bacon strips in half and line a sheet pan with parchment.  Now is also a good time to preheat your oven to 375°.  Wrap each piece of chicken with a half slice of bacon. 

Dip it into the brown sugar mixture, coating the whole thing.  Allow the excess to drip off. 

Place it, seam side down, on your pan. 

Repeat until you run out of chicken.  I was able to get 17 pieces from 2 chicken breasts and 1 package of bacon, and still had some leftover sugar mixture. 

Bake at 375° for about 20 minutes.  While mine was in the oven, I got distracted by a little squirrel out the back window. 

I know exactly what you’re thinking right now.  And yes, I am a bit like this. 

So, after 20 minutes, you should have bacon wrapped chicken perfection. 

We had ours for dinner, with macaroni and cheese (Trader Joes has some in their freezer section that’s surprisingly awesome) and zucchini.  You could also serve them with toothpicks as part of your football snackies. 

What’s your favorite thing to do with bacon?