Basketball Cookies

Basketball cookies are perfect for a basketball team celebration, a sports themed birthday party, for cheering on your favorite professional basketball team, or for the time of year called March Madness when college teams in the NCAA play for the championship! Learn how to make these sugar cookies decorated like basketballs!

Basketball Cookies! Brackets! Underdogs! Heartbreaking losses! Let the madness begin!

#MarchMadness basically squeezes more college basketball games into the next few weeks than you will watch during the entire rest of the year.

Teams you cheer for because of their colors, their mascot, or their fun name (yup, Gonzaga, I am talking to you!) all take the utmost importance if you picked them as winners in your NCAA bracket. Some will win, some will lose…you can’t avoid that but you CAN enjoy both outcomes if you have these sweet cookies nearby.

I can’t take credit for the creative idea of how to decorate these, that belongs to Sweet Sugarbelle, but I did want to pass on her idea as one to try at home. She uses an embroidery hoop, a mesh-like fabric, and an airbrush (I used aerosol food spray instead) to bring these cookies to life. So fun!

I made these for my son’s basketball team and, even though I could use more practice with the decorating technique, the results were a success. Next time I will make sure my base color has more contrast with the spray color so that the texture is more noticeable.

Basketball birthday party favors

A great reason to make decorated basketball cookies is to celebrate a birthday. If your family is celebrating a basketball themed birthday party, print these thank you labels for basketball party favors. 

Access my FREE Printables Library. You’ll be able to download a sheet of 12 labels that you can print at home. These labels are perfect for party favors or to make your own thank you notes.

On these cookies you have to look very closely to appreciate the pattern that was sprayed on. When I improve on the process I’ll photograph and share it step by step but in the mean time, please go to Sweet Sugarbelle’s site for her detailed instructions.

(By the way, I used the always reliable recipe from Bridget Edwards at Bake at 350 for the cookies. Find the recipe here. Also worth noting is that I took a shortcut and decorated the black lines of the ball with Wilton’s edible color marker.)

Looking for more sports cookies? Try these Football Cookies or these Bowling Cookies.

Baking Supplies you may need:

• Meringue Powder for the Royal Icing
• Wilton Icing Colors
• Disposable Decorating Bags
• Icing tip collection
• Pastry and Cookie Gift Boxes with Window

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