Fun BBQ Grill Cookies make the perfect Father’s Day Cookies!
Show Dad how much you care by recreating his favorite cooking vessel in soft chocolatey sugar cookies topped with tiny kabobs made from gummy candy and grill grates that are easy to create with melted chocolate chips.
There aren’t too many cookie recipes that are specifically created for Father’s Day, but you have found one, and I think that these BBQ Grill Cookies are the best Father’s Day Cookies ever!
Dads everywhere will get a big kick out of the creativity that you put into these cookies to make them look like kabobs grilling over burning charcoal.
Dad will also love my sweet and salty Bacon Cookies and delicious S’Mores Cookie Bars.
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
- It’s Perfect for Summer! Aside from Father’s Day, these grilling cookies are perfect for any summer holiday. Make them for the 4th of July, Labor Day, or a weekend backyard party.
- An Easy Cookie Recipe. Because the decorations for these grill cookies are a bit time-consuming, I’m pairing them with an easy-to-make chocolate sugar cookie. Make the cookies first. While they are cooling you can get the frosting and toppings ready.
- Kids Can Help! Get everyone involved in making these cookies for Father’s Day. Kids will love helping to make mini kabobs from toothpicks and gummy candy.
Key Ingredients
Complete list of ingredients with quantities and instructions is located in the recipe card below
- For the Cookies: Flour, cocoa powder, softened butter, sugar, an egg, vanilla extract, and melted chocolate.
- For the Frosting: Softened unsalted butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, salt, and gel food coloring in yellow and orange.
- To Decorate: Milk chocolate chips, DOTS candies, gummy bears, and toothpicks.
How To Make BBQ Grill Cookies
- Make the Cookies. The full list of instructions for making these simple chocolate cookies is in the recipe card below. This is a basic drop sugar cookie recipe with cocoa powder and melted chocolate stirred in for rich flavor.
- Allow the cookies to cool fully before moving on to the decorations.
- Make the Firey Frosting. In a large bowl, beat the butter with a hand mixer at medium speed (or use your stand mixer) for about 1 minute, or until creamy. Decrease the speed to low, and gradually add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy. Add milk if needed to get the perfect piping consistency.
- Tint the Frosting: Divide the frosting in half into two separate bowls. Use gel food coloring to tint one bowl yellow and the other orange.
- To Blend the Colors: Lay out two pieces of plastic wrap. Add each color of frosting to one piece, and roll the wrap into a tube shape, twisting the ends to seal. Snip off one end of each tube, and place them both into a large piping bag fitted with a star tip.
- Swirl the frosting onto each cookie.
- Make the Grill Grates: Carefully melt chocolate chips in the microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring in between. Add the melted chocolate to a piping bag and snip off the tip. Pipe circles on parchment paper that are just smaller than the size of your cookies, then pipe lines over the circles to make grates. Allow the chocolate to harden.
- Make Kabobs: Use gummy bears or cut-up dots candy to create skewers on toothpicks. You can use a black edible marker to create char marks on the candies for a bit of realism if you’d like!
- Finish Decorating: Add a chocolate grate and a candy kabab skewer to the top of each frosted cookie.
Top Tips
- Instead of melted chocolate in the cookie dough, use Nutella instead for a bit of hazelnut flavor.
- Let people know about the toothpicks. The only inedible part of these cookies is the wooden toothpicks. They should be removed before taking a big bite! If you’d rather not use the toothpicks, these cookies are still super cute with the “food” just sitting on the grill instead.
- If the melted chocolate is too thick, stir in a small amount of coconut oil so that it pipes more easily.
- Draw a pattern for the grid on paper with a marker, then place that paper underneath your parchment. Use it as a guide!
- Use the refrigerator to quickly harden the chocolate grill grates.
- Gel food coloring will give you the brightest and most vibrant colors. I love this set from Wilton that includes all of the colors you need to make cookies for any occasion.
- These BBQ grill cookie decorations can be used with any type of cookie. If you’d rather not make these easy chocolate cookies, try this with my Ultimate Sugar Cookie Recipe, cut into circles.
How to Store
Store these cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. I suggest waiting to add the decorations until just before serving though, so that the gummy candies stay fresh and soft.
This chocolate cookie recipe can be baked and then the cookies can be frozen, undecorated, for up to 3 months.
Other Summer Cookies You Should Try
- Shark Cookies
- Watermelon Cookies
- Cake Mix Strawberry Lemonade Cookies
- Red White and Blue M&M Cookies
- Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies
FAQs
I like the way DOTS and gummy bears look on the grill, but you can cut up any colorful candies to make the kabobs for these cookies. Red Mike&Ike’s can be made to look like hot dogs too!
Look in the cake decorating section of Walmart or Target, or your favorite craft store for edible markers, or pick some up on Amazon. You only need a black marker for this recipe, but a set with multiple colors will come in handy for writing on royal icing cookies another time.
You can use any type of large star or flower tip to make a swirl on top of your cookies, but I really like the Wilton no
Make these fun BBQ Grill Cookies for Father’s Day, or any summer occasion! Don’t forget to Pin the recipe for next time too.
BBQ Grill Cookies (Father’s Day Cookies)
Equipment
Ingredients
For the cookies
- 1 cup flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup milk chocolate chips melted
For the Buttercream Frosting:
- 1 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Yellow gel food coloring
- Orange gel food coloring
To decorate:
- ¼ cup milk chocolate chips
- DOTS candies
- Gummy bears
- Black edible marker
- Toothpicks
Instructions
To make the cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C (160°C for a fan oven), and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat silicone baking mat. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour with cocoa powder. Set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla extract, and beat again.
- Add melted chocolate, and beat again until just combined, then add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed until just combined.
- Use a medium cookie scoop to drop the dough onto the lined baking sheet, leaving two inches between each cookie. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cookies are set and the tops are no longer shiny/glossy.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Frosting
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer, or in the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the butter at medium speed for 1 minute, or until creamy.
- Decrease the speed to low, and gradually add in the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Continue beating for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
- If needed, add a small amount of milk to the frosting to get it to the perfect piping consistency.
- Divide the frosting in half into two separate bowls. Use food coloring to tint one bowl yellow, and the other with orange color.
- To combine the frostings, lay out two pieces of plastic wrap. Add the frosting to the wrap, and then roll it up into a tube shape, twisting the ends to seal. Snip off one of the twisted ends from each tube.
- Add a star tip to a large piping bag, then add both colors of frosting, with the open end of the rolls pointing down toward the tip.
- Add a swirl of buttercream to each cookie.
To Decorate:
- Carefully melt the chocolate chips in the microwave at 15-second increments mixing in between. Add coconut oil if needed to thin out the consistency.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the melted chocolate to a piping bag, snip off a small piece of the corner to pipe a line that is not too thin or too thick to create the grill grids.Then create grill shapes/grids with the melted chocolate about 2 inches wide (or the size of your cookies). Allow to set and harden in the fridge completely before peeling off the parchment.
- To make the gummy kabobs, use toothpicks as skewers and add 3-4 gummy bears and dots (that are cut in half) on each. You can use a black edible marker to create charred kabobs.
- To assemble, add one chocolate grill to each frosted cookie, then top with one gummy kabob.
Notes
- Instead of melted chocolate in the cookie dough, use Nutella instead for a bit of hazelnut flavor.
- Let people know about the toothpicks. The only inedible part of these cookies is the wooden toothpicks. They should be removed before taking a big bite! If you’d rather not use the toothpicks, these cookies are still super cute with the “food” just sitting on the grill instead.
- If the melted chocolate is too thick, stir in a small amount of coconut oil so that it pipes more easily.
- Draw a pattern for the grid on paper with a marker, then place that paper underneath your parchment. Use it as a guide!
- Use the refrigerator to quickly harden the chocolate grill grates.
- Gel food coloring will give you the brightest and most vibrant colors.
- These BBQ grill cookie decorations can be used with any type of cookie. If you’d rather not make these easy chocolate cookies, try this with my Ultimate Sugar Cookie Recipe, cut into circles.
- Store decorated cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. I suggest adding the gummy kabobs just before serving to keep them soft.
- Undecorated cookies can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
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