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Dessert

Jam Jams

Jam Jams are butter cookies with a jelly filling, made with brown sugar, black molasses, and magic soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Jam Jams

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).

Make the dough

  1. In a bowl, cream together the butter, egg, brown sugar, and black molasses.

  2. Dissolve the Magic Soda in boiling water and add to the mixture.

  3. Gradually add flour until a soft dough forms.

  4. Roll the dough thin and cut with a cookie cutter.

Bake and assemble

  1. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven until lightly golden.

  2. While hot, spread jelly on one cookie and stick another on top.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the cookies a tender texture.
Egg
Binds the dough and adds structure as the cookies set.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cookies brown.
Black molasses
Adds deep flavour, moisture and colour to the dough.
Magic soda
Reacts with the molasses to lift the dough and help it rise.
Jelly
Adds sweetness and fruity flavour in the filling between the cookies.

The step that matters

Dissolve the Magic Soda in boiling water. The soda must be fully dissolved before it goes into the dough so it is spread evenly. Uneven distribution leaves pockets that rise unevenly or taste bitter.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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