So about a week ago, Mario Batali made a post about “Froggers” on facebook. I did a bit of looking and it seems to be an old school recipe. Kind of like a rumball thats combined with a gingerbread cookie. I have to admit that I am a lazy baker. I like things that can be quickly put together and whipped up in a flash. And 90% of the recipes required rolling, cookie cutters, adding copious amounts of more flour. Then I found one that refrigerated the dough (from 8 hours to 3 days) and scooped onto a cookie sheet. Discovering that I could do it that way cinched the deal.
My first batch, turned into what seemed to be 3 giant cookies. They spread. I have a silpad that has 20 circles on it and the scoops had spread out that I barely salvaged enough cookies for a dozen. And the batter, for a lack of a better word, was gooey. I can see why you had to add the copious amounts of flour when rolling it. But I persevered, glopping the scoops of dough into rough ball shapes. Spacing out every 2 circles, alternating the rows, to give me 10 per baking batch.
In the end, they made a really nice chewy ginger rum cookie and permeated the house in rum scent. Though, since I’ve already made ginger cookies and gingerbread rumballs, they seemed rather redundant. Now that I know the tricks when baking them, I may make them next year and omit my other ginger cookies. If you want to do the roll out method and add flour so it doesn’t become sticky, I think you will lose the nice chewy cookie texture.
Froggers
Ingredients
- 1 cup dark rum such as Myers's brand
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tablespoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice1 cup dark molasses
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together the rum, water and salt until the salt dissolves.
- In another bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves.
- In a large measuring cup (use at least a 3 c size!), stir together the molasses and baking soda, and let sit approximately 15 minutes. The reason you want a large measuring cup is because the mix will foam and double in size!
- With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat together the butter and sugar approximately 2 minutes until fluffy.
- Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually beat in (alternating half of each mix) the rum mixture, flour mix, and the molasses mix,
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until stiff, at least 8 hours or up to 3 days. (I refrigerated for 24.)
- Scoop the gooey dough onto a cookie sheet and spread them out!
- Bake cookies at 375°F for 11 to 12 minutes, you don't want them quite browned on the edges.
- Gently scoop off the cookie sheet onto a rack and let cool completely.