Everyone is piling on poor old Tom Brady, and we’re not just talking about outside linebackers. (Before you feel too badly for him just remember he’s a multi-millionaire with Ralph Lauren good looks and a supermodel wife.)
Brady is at the center of “Deflategate” – the latest “gate” to capture the very short attention span of the collective American public. Perhaps because it involves one of the most successful sports franchises in American history or maybe because hearing people talk about “deflated balls” on national television turns all of us into 12 year olds.
If you’ve been living under a rock for a week, here’s what the fuss is about: The NFL has ruled that the New England Patriots, led by Brady, used illegally under-inflated footballs in their AFC championship victory against the Indianapolis Colts. Coach Bill Belichick has denied knowing anything about it, as has Brady.
Because of the Patriots past run-ins with cheating not everyone is buying it. Many of the hundreds of thousands of #deflategate tweets about it have been critical of the Pats; others say it’s not a big deal, and private industry sees a way to make a buck.
Charmin tweeted, “You know you don’t have to deflate us to be more squeezable.”
Krispy Kreme tweeted pictures of their football-shaped donuts with “Ours are fully filled” accompanying it.
We figured, why not get in on the fun?
I found a recipe for lovely brownie cookie footballs at the website,
www.the
miniaturemoose.com. I altered the recipe slightly by using vanilla icing instead of white chocolate because it’s what I had in the house. And of course, they chose to make their cookies look like nicely shaped, properly inflated footballs. How very pre-Divisional Championships of them.
Just a couple of notes: You can probably use a packaged brownie mix to make these cookies instead of making them from scratch like I did. But you will need to add ¼ to ½ cup of flour to the mix so it won’t be runny.
These might be deflated cookies, but they’re made from firm dough. Consider making 1 out of 12 cookies look like normal footballs. (Remember the NFL said one ball out of the 12 tested was properly inflated). It might be a good contrast and will tip off your guests that you meant to make mangled cookies.
Like all good “gates” this too shall pass. Next year, we’ll give you back the chicken wings, chips and guacamole. But for now these cookies are something to get pumped up for. Get it? I think I need to get off Twitter now.
Deflategate Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
½ teaspoon salt
2 ounces white chocolate or vanilla icing
Directions:
Beat the butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
In another bowl, stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until combined.
Lay out a piece of parchment paper and scoop cookie dough onto it in a log shape. The dough should be about 3 inches wide and 3 inches high. Leave about 4 inches empty on each end.
Roll the dough up into a log. Then shape the log into a rectangle so that there are four sides. Smooth out one of the sides using your hand or by rolling that angle on the countertop. Flip the log over and do the same on the opposite side. Put the logs onto a cookie sheet and put in refrigerator overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap the parchment paper and cut dough into ¾-inch pieces. Arrange dough rounds on a cookie sheet 2 inches apart.
Bake for 11-13 minutes. Immediately after you take them out of the oven, use a spoon and make a dent in one side of the cookie. That’s the deflation. Let cool slightly.
Pipe icing on cookie to make the laces of the football. Don’t make them perfect. It will look better if the laces look a little mangled.
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