Joe Froggers

  Posted on August 8, 2011  by Leslie Blythe  No comments

Old Aadages

I was looking through my mother-in-laws’ cookbook cupboard and found a cookbook from 1956. The first thing I noticed was a heading that says “It’s smart to be careful” and “There’s no substitute for accuracy”. I guess if I had known these two simple things, I could have averted a lot of problems in my life.

There was a recipe for a New England cookie called the Joe Frogger. It’s a dark molasses-type, soft cookie. An old time American cookie attributed to the legendary Uncle Joe who made cookies as big as lily pads.

Joe Froggers

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 cup dark molasses
1/2 cup water
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground allspice

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar together. Mix in water and molasses. Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, allspice; blend into the shortening mixture. Cover, and chill overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease cookie sheets. Roll out cookie dough 1/4 inch thick on floured surface. Cut with 3 inch cookie cutter, and arrange on prepared cookie sheets. Sprinkle cookies with additional sugar (optional).

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. You need to leave cookies on cookie sheet for 2 minutes after baking to keep them from breaking.