Call them a Canadian culinary ‘lost masterpiece’. Or an East-Coast classic sweet treat. I call them a blast from the past! My Dad’s sister Dorothea married a tree farmer named Roy from New Brunswick. And learned how to make Jam Jams from her sister-in-law…
A cherished treat from my childhood… Jam Jams were always on the holiday
menu on my Dad’s side of the family, thanks to Aunt Dor’s taste in men…
An institution
“A staple of every cookie tin (and childhood) in Newfoundland and other East Coast provinces in Canada, Jam Jams are sandwich cookies made by slicking molasses cookies together with a lick of jam,” explains Yahoo! Style contributor Morgan Mullin. “They’re a homemade treat with vintage origins, but […] a packaged version is available: Purity — an N.L. food brand created more than 100 years ago.” And they’re still going strong…
My Jam Jams story…
The first occasion on which I remember seeing Jam Jams was a family Christmas get-together at Aunt Dor and Uncle Roy’s. I must have been about 4 years old. And I was entranced by the sweet, soft, chewy cookies with the strawberry jam hidden in the middle…
My sweet tooth at that age was insatiable. And I demanded Mom get the recipe so she could make them for me back home. She did. But she only made them for the same special occasions Aunt Dor did. That’s when I learned that, “If you have them too often, they won’t be special anymore!”
I’ve always loved them. I think there’s something at least a little magical about the pairing of Straw-berry Jam and that touch of molasses that’s instantly addicting.
A truly authentic recipe…
Our recipe comes from Newfoundland chef and master baker Bonita Hussey, whose family has been making them for generations. I couldn’t find the recipe Mom got from Aunt Dor all those years ago. It’s somewhere in a mountain of clippings and handwritten notes she never got around to sorting and filing. But Bonita’s look just like the Jamjams Dor and Mom used to make…
A child of necessity
Mullin relates, the Jam Jam was a child of necessity. The Canadian Maritimes have always been home to fishing and farming cultures. Many generations of some families have lived hand-to mouth at cer-tain times of the year, between harvests, or when their ocean catches were out of season. So the cheapest and most-available sweetener – molasses – and everybody’s breakfast staple – jam – were always at hand, ideal ingredients on which to base classic regional treats.
My take
It just isn’t the same at Christmas and New Year’s, with Mom and Aunt Dot both gone to their reward. But I’ll be making Bonita’s version this year! It’s my turn, now…
~ Maggie J.
Loved the Jam Jams story!
Penny