Duke Basketball Cookies

Generally I aim to please the masses with my baking for the blog -- peanut butter and chocolate, cupcakes galore, and plenty of fudgey brownies to keep you all happy. Granted the Red Hot Cupcakes were going out on a limb a little flavor-wise, but that was for my birthday so I was allowed to be selfish. That being said, I know a lot of you aren't going to like today's post. In fact, I'm sure the majority of you that are remotely interested in college sports will probably hate it. Everyone (and I'm not just talking about UNC fans) loves to hate my alma mater, there are websites and dozens of articles dedicated to the subject, but clearly this doesn't affect our basketball performance too much. Duke's advancing to the Sweet Sixteen this Thursday, and so I made some cookies to celebrate.

Not gonna lie, I got pretty nervous this weekend watching the game against Michigan (we only won by 2!), and it didn't help that I had a batch of Duke D's in my kitchen waiting to be decorated after the game, assuming we would win. But that's what's so fun about March Madness, no game is guaranteed, regardless of your team's rank -- all it takes is one game! Obviously it's a lot more fun when your team does end up winning, and this post probably wouldn't have been written if the opposite had been the case on Sunday. I'm so glad I went to a school with such a competitive basketball program -- it's really fun to still be a part of the action as an alum and show my Duke pride. (Fun, but also extremely nerve racking, has anyone seen any statistics looking at the incidence of heart attacks during the NCAA tournament??) Of course I'll always be a little bitter that the team decided to finally beat UNC at home and then go on to win the national championship just ONE year after I graduated, but it was still fun to celebrate from afar in CT. Speaking of CT, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a Duke-UConn matchup in the Elite 8, my worlds will collide! Oh, and for Duke to win too :)

Now for some details about the cookies for those of you who could care less about basketball. These were from my go-to sugar cookie recipe, baked until they were JUST starting to brown so they were still super chewy -- my favorite! For the Duke D shapes, I just printed out a template from an image online and hand cut them using a sharp paring knife. My friend Shelli came over to help decorate these with me (despite her undergrad allegiance to UConn) and with her amazing artistic skills and a super tiny round tip, was able to pull off the intricate basketballs and nets inside the big D's. Thanks Shelli! I love this combination of Duke blue and bright orange (much prettier than Carolina blue if I do say so myself) and the whole tray of cookies absolutely pops, especially placed in front of my 2010 NCAA Championship tshirt! Regardless of whether or not you can tolerate the Blue Devils, you have to admit these cookies are pretty cute. Mmmm victory is so sweet...

No need to repeat the same recipe, check it out here: Sugar Cookie Recipe and Royal Icing Recipe

Also, I recently bought this set of Americolor food coloring and I was so impressed with how quickly I was able to dye the icing black, I highly recommend them! Plus, I bought them based on reviews that they taste better than other food colorings, and so far so good.

GO DEVILS!!