Marblehead Joe Frogger Cookies
Submitted by ersilve
Joe Frogger cookies from Marblehead, Massachusetts with molasses, rum, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. Oversized, crackle-topped New England cookies with maritime history.
YIELD
12 servingsPREP
10 minCOOK
20 minREADY
30 minJoe Froggers are one of America’s oldest cookie recipes, born in the fishing town of Marblehead, Massachusetts. Sailors took these oversized, spiced molasses cookies to sea because the rum and molasses kept them moist for weeks on the water.
The dough is dark, fragrant, and loaded with warm spices: a full tablespoon of ginger, plus cloves, allspice, and nutmeg. Two cups of molasses and a cup of rum make these deeply flavored, chewy, and almost sticky at the center. The baking soda reacts with the acidic molasses to give the cookies their characteristic rise and crackled tops.
Yes, a full tablespoon of salt. It sounds like a lot, but it’s traditional and intentional. The salt cuts the sweetness of all that molasses and sugar and brings the spice flavors into sharper focus. Don’t reduce it. These cookies are meant to be boldly seasoned.
Roll them thick (half an inch) and cut them big. Traditionally, they were as wide as a saucer. The cracks that form across the tops as they cool are part of the charm, not a mistake.
Chef Tips
- Chill the dough overnight. This is a very wet dough from all the molasses and rum, and it’s unrollable at room temperature.
- Roll on a well-floured board and work quickly. The dough softens fast once out of the fridge.
- Don’t overbake. Pull them when they still look slightly soft in the center. They firm up as they cool.
- The rum flavor mellows significantly during baking. What’s left is a warm, deep background note.
Variations
- Swap rum for bourbon for a slightly sweeter, oakier flavor.
- Add crystallized ginger pieces to the dough for extra ginger punch and chewy bits.
- Roll thinner and bake longer for a crispier, snappier cookie.
Ingredients
Directions
Cream together shortening and sugar together until light.
In anohter bowl, combine baking soda and moasses and add rum and blend together.
In another bowl, sift together flour with ginger, allspice, nutmeg, cloves and salt.
To the creamed mixture alternately add rum mixture and flour mixture.
stir well between additions. Chill overnight in refrigerator.
Roll out on floured board ½ inch thick. cut out with large cutter or wide glass.
Traditionally these cookies were are big as saucers and sailors from Mablehead, Massachusetts took them out to snack on as they fished in the old days.
Joe doesn’t make them that big but a good wide mouth glass gives a lovely size.
They will also crack on tops as they cool which is also traditional.
The large amount of salt seems odd but is correct.
Bake at 375℉ (190℃) for 10 to 12 minutes.
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