But who was this Uncle Joe? A little digging reveals the story of a life as rich as the cookie. Joe Brown, aka “Black Joe,” was born in Massachusetts in 1750 to an African American mother and Native American father—a time when most wealthy Marblehead families still owned several slaves. He must have found employment or stayed under the radar, because his name does not appear as one of the “black drifters” forced out of town in 1788, when local government ordered all former slaves to find work or leave.
He ended up doing quite well for himself, and eventually married a woman more than twenty years his junior, Lucretia, who was nicknamed “Aunt Crese,” or “Aunt Creesy.” He even bought property in the area, a house on the aptly named Gingerbread Hill. It was a legendary spot in its time: the Browns converted it to a rooming house, and it was one of the few places in town where whites and blacks mixed freely. Joe would open up his tavern on a pretty regular basis—he’d play the fiddle, Aunt Crese would cook, and everyone would drink plenty of grog. And people ate, of course; the Browns were known for serving these salad plate–size cookies. According to Marblehead Historian Joseph Robinson, “a more uncouth assemblage of ruffians could not be found anywhere.”
Joe Froggers
THESE COOKIES, LIKE THE STORY BEHIND THEM, will leave a lasting impression. Easy to make and pleasant to eat, these molasses-rich cookies, sparkling with a dusting of sugar, make a wonderfully spicy accompaniment to tea.
Makes 2 to 3 dozen large cookies
3¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1¼ teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark molasses
½ cup water
Coarse sugar, for sprinkling the tops
1. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, salt, ginger, baking soda, cloves, and nutmeg. Set to the side.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed with a rubber spatula. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the molasses and water.
3. In 2 or 3 increments, add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing until completely combined. The dough will be dark and thick.
4. Scrape the dough from the bowl, flatten it into a disk, and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap; chill for at least 2 hours, or up to overnight.
5. When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set the wrapped dough out at room temperature for about 5 minutes to soften slightly so that it’s easier to roll.
6. Sprinkle your work surface and the dough with flour; roll the dough to ¼ inch thick. Cut into approximately 3-inch circles, using a floured cookie cutter or the rim of a drinking glass. Sprinkle with coarse sugar. Place the circles on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch around each one.
7. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies have a dull finish on top. Let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days, or in airtight bags in the freezer for up to 2 months.
WHEN I PONDER THE LONG AND ARDUOUS JOURNEY the pilgrims made from Europe to the New World, one question rises in my mind above all others: what did they eat for dessert? Well, this wasn’t a period known for its excess of dessert options. However, if travelers of that era were to be eating cookies, they’d probably be jumbles. Never heard of a Jumble? I’m not surprised, but you’ve certainly heard of the cookies that are its direct descendants, such as sugar cookies and snickerdoodles.
Jumbles are cookies originally documented in Europe as early as the sixteenth century. Strictly speaking, they weren’t really a remarkable cookie. In the earliest versions, they’re little more than sweetened flour and water. But since they kept basically forever and fared well on long voyages, they were one of the first cookies to travel, period—and therefore, one of the first cookies to find their way over to the New World.
Shaping was a hallmark of the cookie: even early American recipes specify that the dough be shaped into rings, and hostesses would create more elaborate shapes—often figure eights—for company. Incidentally, this also may explain the name Jumble, which is derived from gemel, meaning “twin” in Latin—like the twin loops of a figure eight. Some say that these open shapes made them easier to eat, as they tended to harden up during those long sitting periods. (Perhaps they were rock-like, but still, I’d rather eat a sweet little rock than hardtack any day of the week.) Today’s jumbles are usually baked as drop cookies rather than in the original cut-and-formed style.
Now, I realize that I have perhaps not given the Jumble the hardest sell as a delicious morsel. But here’s the thing: Jumbles have come a long way since those earliest days. True, they’re still a humble cookie at heart; maybe it’s best to consider the basic recipe as a simple but sturdy blank canvas—and to appreciate them for just that.
Jumbles
ONE OF THE BEST THINGS ABOUT THIS RECIPE is that it’s exceedingly easy to make. This Jumble is updated from the earliest versions, but is still satisfyingly old-fashioned, yielding a soft, pillowy cookie that’s spicy and only lightly sweet. Coarsely chopped pecans add a pleasing richness and slight crunch. And while they’re wonderful as is, tailor them to your taste preferences with spices, different nuts, or frosting!
Makes 2 dozen cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
¾ cup half-and-half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional)
1. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl until well combined; set aside.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until very light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the egg and mix until fully incorporated. Add the half-and-half and vanilla and mix to combine.
3. Add the flour mixture in 2 or 3 increments, mixing well with each addition, until fully incorporated. If you’re using nuts, add them now and mix gently, just until incorporated. Cover the dough and refrigerate it for about 1 hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets.
5. Using a teaspoon or a mini ice cream scoop, drop rounds of dough on the baking sheets, leaving at least 2 inches around each dough ball.
6. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. The cookies will not be brown on top, but will have a slight toasty color on the bottom. Allow them to cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then use a metal spatula to transfer them to a wire rack and finish cooling. Store the cookies at room temperature in an airtight container; they’ll keep for up to 5 days.
SWEET CELEBRITIES: BAKED GOODS NAMED AFTER PEOPLE
SARAH BERNHARDT CAKES: Is it a cookie? Is it a cake? Regardless, this tasty, small, nutty, meringue-like pastry covered with chocolate takes its name from French stage (and early film) actress Sarah Bernhardt.
CHARLOTTE RUSSE: This cold dessert of Bavarian cream is set in a mold lined with ladyfingers; it was invented by the French chef Marie-Antoine Carême, who named either it in honor of his Russian employer Czar Alexander I (Russe being French for Russian) or Queen Charlotte of the United Kingdom.
FRANGIPANE: This almond pastry filling and tart was named for Marquis Muzio Frangipani, a sixteenth-century Italian botanist who developed a well-known bitter-almond-scented perfume.
LAMINGTONS: This popular Australian dessert consists of a small square of white cake (sponge, butter, or pound) that is dipped in a sweet chocolate icing and th
en coated in desiccated coconut. I suspect Lord Lamington (Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 190l) might be surprised at how popular these cakes have become.
NESSELRODE PUDDING (AND NESSELRODE PIE): This chestnut-rich confection (sometimes secretly supplemented with pureed cauliflower!) takes its name from Russian diplomat Count Karl Robert von Nesselrode. As a pie, Nesselrode enjoyed a vogue in the New York area in the 1950s, but has all but disappeared.
RIGÓ JANCSI: This Viennese cube-shaped chocolate sponge cake and cream pastry is named after the famous Gypsy violinist, Rigó Jancsi (by Hungarian tradition, Rigó is his last name, Jancsi his first—the name literally means Johnny Blackbird).
SAVARIN: This is a yeast-raised sweet cake soaked in Kirsch or rum that restaurant pastry chefs still revere and put on their menus today. It’s named for the legendary chef Brillat-Savarin, considered by some the first real gastronome, author of The Physiology of Taste, and a documented cheese lover who once said “A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye.”
NO IFS, ANDS, OR BUNDTS: this is one highly influential cake. Before individual molten chocolate cakes became ubiquitous on every fancy restaurant menu, before Bundt cake pans proliferated in cookery stores, there was the Tunnel of Fudge Cake, a crispy-crusted cake with an ooey-gooey, fudge-like interior.
The cake was an overnight sensation, and as a result, so was the Bundt pan; Pillsbury was immediately swamped with more than 200,000 requests for the pan.
But the Tunnel would not have funneled into our everyday parlance without the invention of the Bundt pan, which preceded the recipe by several years. The Bundt pan was developed in the 1950s by H. David Dalquist, who had quite an eclectic career, working as a metallurgical engineer and a radar technician before starting a specialty cookware company that manufactured Nordic Ware. The pan’s unique design was inspired by a traditional ceramic dish with a similar ringed shape. Though Dalquist’s version was lighter and easier to use than the clunky previous version, sales were underwhelming.
Until 1966, that is, when Ella Helfrich came along and entered her recipe for Tunnel of Fudge Cake in the Pillsbury Bake-Off. In case you’re not familiar with the Bake-Off, it’s probably America’s most famous baking contest, in which a hundred finalists are assembled in one spot to bake their finest recipes featuring Pillsbury products. They vie for some seriously sweet prizes: in 1966, the grand prize was $50,000 (today that would equate to a cool $1 million).
Helfrich was no novice to the Bake-Off—she had entered recipes for twelve consecutive years. All her hard work paid off in ’66—her “Tunnel of Fudge” cake took second place, winning her a respectable $5,000 in prize money.
Although the recipe wasn’t the grand prizewinner (that year, the honor went to a yeasted snack bread made with flour, cream cheese, and dry onion soup mix)—Ella’s cake was clearly the darling of the public eye. Assembled in mere minutes by—here’s the really groundbreaking part—mixing packaged frosting into a typical cake batter, the resulting cake was characterized by a chewy, brownie-edge-type exterior that gave way to a softer, chocolaty fudge-and-nut filling not unlike a decadent brownie batter.
The cake was an overnight sensation, and as a result, so was the Bundt pan; Pillsbury was immediately swamped with more than 200,000 requests for the pan, and Dalquist’s company went into overtime production. Today, more than 50 million Bundt pans have been sold around the world. Seriously, just thinking of the day that the orders started pouring in to the Nordic Ware factory seems like the bakeware equivalent of the scene when all those letters are delivered to Santa in Miracle on 34th Street.
With more and more Bundt pans in the world, making the cake was easier than ever—but there was yet another twist in the road. At a certain point Pillsbury stopped production of a key ingredient in the cake: the Double Dutch Cocoa frosting mix. This was big bad news to avid home bakers who had fallen deeply in love with the Tunnel of Fudge Cake. Thankfully, in response to public demand, the Pillsbury test kitchens developed a from-scratch version of the recipe, which I’ve adapted here.
It seems no coincidence that not that long after the cake’s initial popularity, a slurry of similar concoctions began working their way onto restaurant dessert menus. So next time you’re out enjoying a molten or lava cake, you can thank Ella Helfrich for paving the way.
Tunnel of Fudge Cake
I CAN’T THINK OF A SINGLE REASON why you wouldn’t want to taste the legend itself by making your very own Tunnel of Fudge Cake to enjoy at home! You’ll be so glad you did. Pillsbury was so kind as to share this recipe with me. For the best results, use a Bundt-type or fluted cake pan, and don’t cut corners on the nuts—if you don’t use the amount specified, it doesn’t quite work.
Makes one 10-inch Bundt cake (12 servings)
1¾ cups granulated sugar
1¾ cups unsalted butter, softened
6 large eggs
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2¼ cups Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose or Unbleached Flour
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups toasted chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts all work nicely)
½ cup Thick Chocolate Glaze (recipe follows)
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan, making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies of the pan.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar and butter; beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and pausing to scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
4. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar; blend well. Remove the bowl from the mixer.
5. Sift the flour with the cocoa powder; add this mixture, about 1 cup at a time, to the batter. Stir it by hand, using a wooden spoon, until the dry ingredients are just combined. Add the nuts and stir until well blended.
6. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan; spread evenly, leveling the top with an offset or rubber spatula.
7. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until top is set and edges are beginning to pull away from sides of pan (a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake will still be gooey).
8. Cool upright in the pan on a wire rack until just slightly warm, about 1½ hours. Invert onto a serving plate; cool for at least 2 hours more (this will allow the filling to set).
9. Spoon the glaze over the top of cake, allowing some to run down the sides. Store in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for up to 3 days. Let come to room temperature before serving.
THICK CHOCOLATE GLAZE
Makes about ½ cup glaze
¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ to 2 tablespoons whole or 2% milk
1. Sift together the sugar and cocoa.
1. Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl, adding just enough milk for your desired drizzling consistency.
A DEEPLY INDULGENT CHOCOLATE CAKE topped with a slab of thick fudge frosting, the likes of which will stick to your front teeth in the most pleasing way—seems an unlikely sweet to associate with the prim-and-proper ladies of renowned Wellesley College, founded in 1870 outside of Boston. But it seems that those young ladies had as voracious an appetite for the sweet stuff as they did for knowledge.
“Nearly every night at college,” said one student, “some girl may be found somewhere who is making ‘fudges’ or giving a fudge party.” By 1908 the term was commonly used in association with women’s colleges.
Let’s rewind a little bit, to the invention of fudge itself. Fudge, that smooth, semisoft candy made of butter, sugar, and various flavorings, is an Americanized version of French bonbons and creams, and it became popular in the United States in the early 1900s. But why the association with women’s colleges?
Well, the young ladies at Wellseley (despite being expressly bound by an official college ru
le “neither to buy nor receive in any manner whatsoever any confectionery or eatables of any kind not provided for them by the College”) would use the sweet stuff as their excuse to stay up late; making the candy themselves was something of a loophole. “Nearly every night at college,” said one student, “some girl may be found somewhere who is making ‘fudges’ or giving a fudge party.” By 1908 the term was commonly used in association with women’s colleges. A 1909 cookbook produced by Walter Baker & Co. (producer of Baker’s Chocolate) includes three different recipes for fudge, all named after the three most prestigious women’s schools: Vassar, Smith, and Wellesley.
In fact, there’s a letter in the Vassar archives that I present as proof of how widespread fudge-making was in ladies’ colleges. It reads: “Fudge, as I first knew it, was first made in Baltimore by a cousin of a schoolmate of mine. It was sold in 1886 in a grocery store.… I secured a recipe and in my first year at Vassar, I made it there—and in 1888 I made 30 pounds for the Senior auction, its real introduction to the college, I think.” By 1913, fudge and fudge cakes were common on the tearoom menus surrounding the college.
Wellesley Fudge Cake
SOME OLDER RECIPES ARE UNFROSTED; others, like this one, feature a double dose of chocolate, the base of which is like a cakey brownie, coated with a thick, fudge-like frosting. And while the cake does require a bit of candy-making prowess, it is astoundingly easy to eat. Don’t have buttermilk? Don’t worry; this is easily attained by adding one tablespoon of lemon juice to one cup of milk. It will curdle rapidly but will taste great when mixed and baked, that’s a promise.
Makes one 8- or 9-inch layer cake (10 to 12 servings)
The Secret Lives of Baked Goods Page 9