Messy Delicious: Recipe- Joe Frogger cookies

Oh man! I never said I was a tidy chef.

But hey, that means I'm excellent at cleaning up, right? I decided to make cookies today, a recipe for Joe Froggers that I'd wanted to try for a while. It's from the Feb/March 2007 Cook's Country magazine, a great publication that I've subscribed to for over a year. It's a spice cookie with an interesting history- they were originally developed for sailors on long fishing voyages, who could enjoy the cookies since they had no dairy to spoil. I can't resist a historical link like that, plus the combination of rum, molasses, ginger, and salt intrigued me. It sounds like a kicked-up version of one of my favorite wintertime cookies: ginger. Let's see, this recipe could replace the encumbent one.

This cookie needs a little planning, since the dough needs to be refrigerated for at least 8 hours (read: dough one afternoon, bake the next). The dough is made in three parts: dry ingredients, rum and salt, and molasses with baking soda. And I did try to be as neat as possible, but my electric mixer had a nice mane of brown hair as the dough came together. I spent just as much time mopping up my mess as I did with the dough, but fortunately I have gloves and good sponges.

So the dough is in the fridge. Now I must wait patiently until tomorrow to bake them off. New Husband and I are having a late breakfast at our favorite place, Alana's, tomorrow (someday I'll attempt these swedish oatmeal pancakes myself, they are so GOOD). So I'll be having a Joe Frogger for my lunch. :-) Stay tuned for how they turn out.

Joe Froggers
adapted from Cook's Country Feb/March 2007 issue

1/3 cup Dark Rum
1 tablespoon water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups all-purpose Flour
3/4 teaspoon ground Ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground Allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground Nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground Cloves
1 cup Molasses
1 teaspoon Baking soda
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted Butter, softened but cool
1 cup Sugar

Whisk rum, water, and salt in a small bowl until the salt dissolves. Whisk flour, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves in medium bowl. Stir molasses and baking soda in a large measuring cup and let sit until doubled in volume, about 25 minutes (the mixture will start to bubble).

With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low and gradually beat in rum mixture. Add one-third of flour mixture, beating on medium-low until just incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Follow with half the molasses mixture. Add the next third of the flour mixture, followed by the remaining molasses mixture, and finally the last of the flour. Give the dough a final stir with a rubber spatula, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 3 days.

Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Liberally flour your work surface, and bring out half the cookie dough. Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. Using 3 1/2 inch cookie cutter (substitute a drinking glass), cut out 12 cookies. Transfer 6 cookies to each baking sheet (they will spread alot), spacing 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until cookies are set and beginning to crack, about 8 minutes. Rotate rack position and direction of the baking sheets halfway through. Cool cookies on sheets for 10 minutes, than transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining dough.

The cookies can be stored for a week in an air-tight container. Makes 24 cookies.