Next up for October 21 is a cookie full of fall flavors!
Joe Froggers, or Ginger Rum Molasses Cookies
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp baking soda
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups dark molasses
3 tbsp dark rum
Coarse sugar for decor
Whisk the flour, salt, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and baking soda. Set aside.
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and shortening together until there are no visible lumps. Add both sugars and beat until just incorporated. Scrape down the bowl, add the molasses, and beat until the mixture is uniform in color.
Prepare 1/3 cup very hot water. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the hot water, in three parts, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down the bowl, add rum, and mix for about 15 seconds. Cover the bowl and chill for at least 3 hours or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Dust a work surface with a sprinkling of flour. Roll the dough into a ¼ inch thick round. Cut out the cookies with a 2- to 3- inch round cookie cutter, and transfer them to the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle a tiny bit of the sanding sugar onto each cookie.
Bake the cookies for about 8-12 minutes, until they are set. Place the baking sheet on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Use a spatula to transfer the cookies to the rack to cool completely. Cookies can be stored for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
Makes about 36-48 cookies, depending on the size of the cutter.
Excerpted from Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. Copyright © 2010 by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. Excerpted by permission of Stewart, Tabori & Chang, an imprint of Abrams. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Working on my dough as I type! Excited for these!
Good Idea. I just noticed the directions say to leave the dough to chill for 3 hours or overnight. I think I will try to make the dough tonight and be ready to go tomorrow!
the recipe reminds me of the speculaas we made back at the beginning of the year. curious to see how the cookies will compare!
Has anyone else made the dough yet? I chilled mine overnight and went to bake them off this evening and my dough was super soft, there was no way I was going to be able to roll out the dough. So I ended up scooping them out and baking them off like normal cookies. I don’t know what I did wrong?! :/
My dough was really soft too. I rolled it between two sheets of parchment paper, and chilled the rolled dough before cutting it out…
I thought about doing that but I had ready made kind of a mess…scoops worked good thought, I flattened them a little and they came out great!
Mine was kind of soft too, but it rolled out okay with a bit more flour.
My dough seemed great right out of the fridge, but I had to work fast with it. I just took out a quarter of it to work with at a time. And then put back what i didn’t use to chill again. It seems to be working, but is a little more time consuming.
I chilled mine for a full 24 hours and there was no way the dough was rollable. I just used a #50 scoop and I didn’t even need to flatten the scoops — they flattened nicely all be themselves while baking.
Hey everyone… thanks for warning/posting about the softness of the dough. Mine has been chilling for almost 2 days in the fridge and I haven’t attempted it yet. I had an event to bake for last night and I’ve just been super-busy, so I’m not sure I will get to making the Joe Froggers and posting about them until later tomorrow (Sunday) – just a heads-up!
I just stopped by to see if anyone else was having issues with the dough being super-soft! I had made the dough last night, but then let it sit for a bit, as I assumed it would be very hard right out the refrigerator, but then it was a sticky mess. It’s back chilling again.
Seems like it’s a common problem. My suggestion is to work with a hunk of it at a time (maybe a quarter or a third?), and to work in some more flour as you roll it out. I was pretty liberal with adding flour.
I saw the suggestion above and just scooped – it worked great!