Nana’s Jim Jams

Nana’s Jim Jams are perfectly soft and chewy crinkled spiced molasses cookies with raspberry jam in the center. They are outrageously good!

What are Jim Jams?

They’re an old-fashioned molasses sandwich cookie filled with jam or jelly in the center. One of my old roommates, Sarah, used to bake Jim Jams every year at Christmastime – and the recipe came from her Nana.

These cookies have been on my mind for a while now, so I dug out the recipe card that Sarah was nice enough to share with me a long time ago, and I baked up a batch!

Jim Jams are as delicious as I remember! You’ll start by baking up some perfectly-sweet (but not too sweet) molasses cookies with a nice punch of cinnamon, cloves, and ginger flavor. They puff up slightly as they bake then cool to a crisp, crinkly texture.

Once the cookies have fully cooled, you’ll spread a spoonful of jam on the back of one cookie, then top it with another to create a crinkly molasses sandwich cookie with just a hint of jam peeking out the sides. Sarah always used raspberry jam in her Jim Jams but we swapped in a mixed berry jam with raspberry and other fruits.

Here’s the hard part: You must let the Jim Jams sit for twenty four hours! This allows the molasses and spice flavors of the cookies to really develop. Plus the jam slightly softens the cookies to a perfect chewy texture.

After his first bite of a Jim Jams cookie, Jack asked me, “So – what other recipes have you hiding from me?” 😊 He loved them – and I think you will too!

• The spiced molasses flavor and the sweet-tart jam are the perfect flavor combination. (Nana really knew what she was doing!)
• The texture of the cookie is also perfect – soft and chewy with sweet fruity jam in every bite.
• Jim Jams stay fresh for a long time – so they are a great option when you need to do some holiday baking ahead of time.

• Vegetable Shortening
• Molasses (Grandma’s Original)
• Granulated Sugar
• Egg
• All-Purpose Flour
• Table Salt
• Baking Soda
• Ground Cinnamon
• Ground Cloves
• Ground Ginger
• Jam or Jelly – Raspberry jam is the traditional jam of choice because the sweet-tart jam balances the molasses cookie flavor. For our photos, we used Bonne Maman Mixed Berries Preserves (because we had a jar on hand) – which is a combination of raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries. You could also use some of our Christmas Jam – another sweet-tart jam flavor.

1. Beat together shortening, sugar, egg, and molasses in a mixing bowl.
2. Whisk together sifted flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.
3. Add the flour mixture to the shortening mixture, mixing again to combine.
4. Chill the cookie dough while the oven preheats.
5. Portion out the cookie dough into 26 balls with scoop. Roll with your hands to make smooth balls.
6. Place 8 balls on prepared cookie sheets. Flatten the balls with the bottom of a glass.
7. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, being careful not to over bake.
8. Cool the cookies for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
9. Once the cookies are fully cool, spoon some jam in the center of the bottom side of one cookie. Take another cookie and press the bottom of that against the jelly to make a sandwich cookie. The jelly should spread just to the edges of the cookie.
10. Place the sandwich cookies in an air-tight container for 24 hours before eating.

• Can I make Jim Jams ahead of time?  Yes – in fact, you should make them 24 hours ahead of time at least.
• How do I store leftovers?  We stored ours in an airtight container unrefrigerated. (If they last that long, these cookies will last up to 5+ days.)
• Can I freeze these cookies?  We’ve never tried. You could probably freeze the molasses cookies without the jam and see good results. (If you try it, please let us know how it works out for you!)

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