If you’re familiar with Newfoundland then you’re probably familiar with Purity products. I’m a huge fan of their Cream Crackers, Kisses, and Jam Jams. When I found a recipe for Jam Jams on the internet, I thought, ‘That looks easy enough.’

I’ve made these for other Newfoundlanders and while they aren’t exactly like the original, they’ve gotten many stamps of approval.

As with any sandwich cookie, it can feel time-consuming because you have to make twice as many, but there’s something so satisfying about having a tin filled with fresh-baked cookies. Especially when those cookies remind you of home.

Homemade Jam Jams

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, soft
• 3/8 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking soda, dissolved in 2 Tbsp hot water
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• raspberry jam, seedless

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 and line a baking sheet (or two, or three) with parchment paper.
2. Cream the butter. Add sugar and then cream them together.
3. Mix in molasses and vanilla extract.
4. Add dissolved baking soda and mix well.
5. Mix in flour, salt, and cinnamon. Work dough into a smooth, cohesive lump.
6. Lightly flour the counter and roll out the dough to approx 1/4 inch thick. Cut out circles (around 2.5 inches in diameter). Cut out the centre of half of them.
7. Put on parchment paper and bake for 5 mins (be careful you don’t overbake). Let cool a little, but while still warm, put jam on bottom piece and sandwich with top piece.
8. Store in air-tight container overnight before eating, to give the cookies time to get chewy.

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My Random Notes:

I used one baking sheet with parchment paper and ended up doing three batches. I’d take the sheet out, let it cool a little, move the cookies to a wire rack, let the sheet cool a little more, and then put the next batch on. I used the same parchment for all three batches.

When mixing in the flour, salt, and cinnamon, I was a bit worried about overworking my dough in order to get it well-combined and smooth (it took more effort than I thought). Turns out I didn’t. In fact, if you don’t get it all mixed together, it’s much harder to roll and cut. Also, I think the jam helps keep it soft.

You might have noticed that there are some ‘unrefined’ edges on my cookies, and that’s because my baking sheet is small and I tried to fit 12 cookies on it at a time (they spread a little while baking). I am not a patient baker. The good news is that the cookies still taste the same – clean edges or not.

I left my cookies in the oven for about 1.5 minutes longer than recommended and the edges started to burn. 5 minutes seems short, but it’s all these cookies need.

The amount of jam is something I can’t quite measure – it’s more of an eyeball. I use enough to cover the bottom cookie well, but not so much that the top slides off.