By Kevin Williams
Oh what the heck, Ill share this recipe. I said the other day I wouldn't, but why not? Â The name of the recipe is dreadful, but it might actually make a decent cookie. Â The beef tongue has absolutely nothing to do with the ingredients, it instead refers to the shape. Read the recipe and you'll see. Â Thank Heavens there is no beef tongue in this. Why ruin perfectly good ginger? Â I am printing this exactly as it appears in the book Amish Dutch cooking. Â In instructions make ZERO sense to me, but maybe someone with more experience than I can figure it out? Â It just doesn't make sense, make one giant dough long , make a forked tongue at the end and bake? Â Something has to be missing....and, holy cow, FOUR POUNDS of flour...if anyone is brave enough to try this recipe, let us know how it turns out!
1 pound light brown sugar
1 pound lard, melted
1 quart New Orleans molasses
2 ounces baking soda
1 /2 pint cold water
4 pounds of flour
2 ounces of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ginger
1 1 /2 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon salt
Work together the first three ingredients and then add baking soda and cold water.  Then add the rest.  When it is an elastic dough form into a long roll about 2 inches in thickness and then cut a little slanting or till it till it looks  like a tongue when baked.  Sprinkle granulated sugar on top before baking.  Bake at 350 about 15 minutes.
Kate Sparks
I'm not convinced parents [old people] give hideous names to stuff to discourage kids from wanting what old people don't want to share....
Kevin
I agree with you there, Kate...Maybe I should rename chocolate chip cookies to Green Pea Cookies and then my daughter won't want any!
Jennie
I think they mean to slice the log at an angle - that would make an oblong cookie that, in a strange way, would resemble a beef tongue.
Kevin
I guess....I'm just having a tough time envisioning it...but all of you that are saying to slice at an angle...I guess you probably are right!
Andrea
Hi Kevin! I'm going to make a guess that the instructions mean to roll the dough into a long tube, like you buy at the store. You'd probably refrigerate it to make it a little firmer, then slice it at an angle to give the cookies more of an oval shape (like a tongue). At least, that's how I would read it if I were going to try the recipe.
Denise
I think it is like refrigerator cookies rolled into a long roll of dough, and sliced. By cutting on the diagonal, a more oval shape would result.