Fudgy chocolate cookie bars with nuts and topped with a creamy chocolate frosting! Shape as footballs for game day, or slice and serve any day of the week!
Love football desserts? Whip up a batch of our cocoa krispie treats (you’ll see how festive I made them for game day). Or give our Cookies and Cream cheese ball a try, it’s a huge fan favorite!
Why these Cookie Bars are Best
Let me first preface this with, if you hate nuts in your brownies and cookies, please keep reading. My family is normally very against me putting any kind of nut in our cookies and brownies, and yet, I LOVE them. The nuts and my family!
But these bars? Truly delicious.
I took my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, changed it up a little and added some cocoa.
- These cookie bars resulted in a chewy brownie-ish treat.
- Chock full of chocolate chips, walnuts and almonds.
- Decadent chocolate buttercream frosting on top!
How to make Frosted Chocolate Cookie Bars
These cookie bars make a big pan. Grab your 15x10x1-inch baking sheet for today’s cookies! Don’t worry, if you have leftovers they freeze very nicely!
- Make Cookie Dough.
- Press into cookie pan. Dough will be sticky, so dip your fingers in flour to help!
- Bake. Do not overbake! These bars will continue to cook after removing from oven.
- Cool and Frost. If cutting into squares, spread frosting over entire pan of cookies and frost!
Football Dessert
You can hike up the fun factor and make footballs! I used a 2 1/2 inch oval cutter for these football shaped cookie bars. So easy.
With your leftover cookie bar scraps you can make this insanely delicious Chocolate Cake Shake. OMG, it’s great with brownies, cakes, you name it. Don’t knock it till you try it!
Still want footballs, but you don’t have a cookie cutter? (or you don’t want a plateful of cookie scraps?) Cut your bars into squares. When you pipe on your frosting, it will still have the cute football appearance.
More Easy Dessert Recipes
- Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Cookie Dough Dip
- Dark Chocolate Brownies
- Molten Lava Cake
- Chocolate Ganache Frosting
- Oreo Dip
Frosted Chocolate Nut Cookie Bars
Ingredients
For the cookie bars:
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 ¾ cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup dark chocolate usweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 cups milk chocolate chips
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- ½ cup sliced almonds
For the frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- ¼ cup dark chocolate unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 3 Tablespoons milk
- 4 ounce white chocolate bar melted, optional
Instructions
- For the cookie bars, preheat oven to 375 degree F. Line a 15x10x1-inch baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with brown sugar for 2-3 minutes until fully combined.
- Beat in vanilla and eggs. Add flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Blend completely. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts.
- Drop cookie dough onto parchment paper lined baking sheet. Using finger tips (dipped in flour) press cookie dough into pan evenly (dough will be sticky, so keep dipping those fingers in flour).
- Bake for 22-25 minutes. Do not overbake. Allow to cool completely in pan.
- Once cooled, cut cookie bars into desired shape, either squares or using a cookie cutter.
- For the frosting, beat butter for two minutes until soft and creamy. Add almond extract, cocoa, powdered sugar and 2 Tbsp milk. Beat for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy, adding more milk if needed.
- Pipe frosting onto cookies. If desired, sprinkle with extra sliced almonds. Or, if making footballs, place melted white chocolate into a ziploc bag. Snip off the corner and pipe "laces" onto the cookies. ENJOY
Notes
- Store cookies in airtight container at room temperature.
- Freeze cookies in airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw on counter overnight. ENJOY.
If I were eating Football shaped brownies on Superbowl Sunday, I would not be bummed.
I used to hate nuts in any baked goods and ice cream. But now I love ’em in baked goods! The cookies look great, Aimee! Those chocolate chunks, the nuts. Mmmm.
How cute are these?? Perfect for game day!
These are so fun! I am excited to see such a great game day dessert recipe, because I always have so many salty and savory snacks on the menu. This is just what I needed!
These are so fun! Perfect addition to the game day spread!
I’m not a huge football fan, but I’d take some of these brownies!
These are absolutely adorable and so perfect for my Super Bowl Sunday menu!
I love that you cut the cookie bars into shapes! I’ve got to give that a try!
Holy deliciousness! Let’s see how many I can stuff in my mouth at once! The football shapes are adorable. Pinning!
Get out of town with these. They are toooooo cute! I love nuts in EVERYTHING, so I’m totally sold on these!
So darn cute! The kids and adults will gobble these up at my superbowl party. Thanks for a great recipe!
I remember dying over these on Instagram! The chocolate, the nuts, the ALMOND CHOCOLATE FROSTING. These are the most perfect brownies that my taste buds ever did see.
Pinned!
You were a smart thinker, doing a regular bar and a football shaped one!! I’ll have to remember that concept!
I’m with you on the almond extract, Aimee! I just love it, and when people disagree I take it quite personally. 🙂
These are adorable! I love the football shapes especially. And that frosting. You are my frosting queen!
Great cookie bars. Look scrumptious. I can’t wait to try them. thanks for sharing.
LOVE! Anything chocolate with nuts is up my alley…and the footballs. So cute!
Looks SO good! I love the little football shaped brownies. perfect for the Super Bowl.
These are the cutest football bars, Aimee! I love your creativity! My husband and I take our game day snacks pretty seriously, so these sound like a perfect addition for next Sunday. Pinned!
Haha, I love that you take snacking seriously! That’s awesome 🙂 Thanks for pinning Gayle!
These are adorable for Super Bowl 🙂 Also I love nuts in almost everything. So I definitely didnt need convincing with this recipe!
So glad to hear there are more nut lovers out there 🙂
That frosting! I will join you in drinking the gallon of almond extract. Then we can chow down on these together. 🙂
Sounds like a good plan to me 🙂