Jam Cookies

This time of year can be hard in these climes, when it comes to local, seasonal baking. Storage fruits like apples and pears are reaching the end of their viability and the warm weather berries and stone fruits are still a ways off, as much as we want them to appear. Even southern citrus is at the tail-end of its reign. 

In these in-between moments, especially in spring when we’re craving the taste of fresh fruit, I like to opt for desserts made with jam. This genre of cookies, tarts, and pies offer a great opportunity to use up the stock of preserves you may have put up or accumulated over the winter, they work well with frozen berries, and if you are lucky enough to get your hands on some fresh spring fruit, you can make them into a quick jam.

The featured dessert of Purim— hamentaschen— also features the pairing of pastry and preserves, and baked goods with jam are also perfect for the weather-breaking tea party occasions early-spring offers.



I made these Jam Cookies, the dough recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspan, with some fig and apricot preserves I had in my fridge, as well as a quick frozen strawberry jam I whipped up while the cookies were in the oven. They would also be great with marmalade, apple butter or jelly, or any other preserves you have in your fridge or pantry.



Jam Cookies
Sugar cookie recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 stick + 2 Tablespoons (10 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Confectioner's Sugar
Various jams

Directions
1. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, nutmeg, and orange zest.

2. With a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for 1 minute, until smooth. Beat in the sugar and continue to beat for 2 more minutes, until light and pale in color. Add the egg and yolk and beat for 2 minutes more, then add vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add dry mixture, just until incorporated.

3. Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Once chilled, roll out on a floured surface and cut circular cookies. Cut holes in the center of half of the cookies and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

5. Bake for 9-11 minutes, rotating the baking sheet half-way through. The cookies will feel firm, puffed, and just slightly golden when done. Remove pan from oven and let sit for at least 1 minute before moving to a cooling rack.

6. Once cookies are cool, spread jam on the circular cookies and top with a hole-cut cookie. Dust with confectioner's sugar and serve. Keeps in a tin or Tupperware up to 1 week.



Related recipes:
Almond and Grapefruit-Ginger Marmalade Crostata
Apple Butter
Bakewell Tart with Apple Rosemary Jelly
Joulutorttu or Finish Jam Tarts
Meyer Lemon Honey Marmalade Linzer Torte

Sandy Spring Sand Tarts

Last year I was hired by Sandy Spring Museum and Maryland Traditions, the folklife organization for the state, to conduct an initial folklife survey in Sandy Spring, Maryland, 20 miles north of Washington, D.C. A historic Quaker and African-American community, Sandy Spring was a known stop on the Underground Railroad-- it was said to be on Harriet Tubman's route-- and the town also hosted lectures by Frederic Douglass and housed Dred Scott when he was awaiting trial. Today it is an increasingly diverse community with newer immigrant populations and families who've been there for decades.

My task in Sandy Spring was to identify traditional artists and tradition bearers and interview them, to assist the Museum in better understanding the cultural activity in the community, as well as explore ideas for future programming. Two such tradition bearers I interviewed were Beth Garretson and Louise Kriger Meganson -- both Quakers and members of the Women's Mutual Improvement Association, a local social club founded in 1857.



At The Association's monthly luncheons, members are invited to share something that interested them that month-- a poem, an article,  bird calls, horticultural advice. Like any good club, though, this one seems to really revolve around food, namely cookies, and specifically, Sandy Spring Sand Tarts. The cookies that bear the town's name spurred quite a discussion in our interview, the gist of which is perhaps best relayed in the dialogue itself:

Emily: So you said you're into cookies-- are there any recipes that get passed down or continue to pop up among the group?

Louise: Absolutely! We have Sandy Spring Tarts-- they're about 20 versions. They're the best. But there are all kinds of different sorts. You know, people will make them a certain thickness or use a certain amount of flour, or you use eggs or you don't use eggs or you put an almond on top or you don't put an almond on top.

Beth: We had everyone bring their recipe for sand tarts one month and it was amazing. The difference in them.

Louise: They were tasty!

Beth: But of course I know that I have the right recipe!

Beth went on to explain that the sand tarts are not especially unusual, but have been made by Sandy Springers for Christmas cookies for generations. That's true in a broader context too. According to Food Timeline, sand tarts are likely descendants of simple sugar cookies, with "sand tarts" appearing in cookbooks in the 1880s, though absent of attribution or narrative. They're common Christmas cookies in Denmark and Sweden, and have similar ingredients to German sand tortes. Sand tarts are also popular in domestic scientist cookbooks-- there's a version in Fannie Farmer's Boston Cooking School Cookbook, from 1886.

Personally, I like them for their buttery simplicity, and,with their diamond shapes, potential for tessellation patterns (resembling quilt squares) in their presentation. They're also an ideal tea or snack cookie-- I took a tin of them cross-country skiing last weekend and they were the perfect warm-up treat with a nip of whiskey or hot chocolate.



Sandy Spring Sand Tarts
Adapted from Beth Garrettson via the Sandy Spring Women's Association Cookbook

Makes 3-4 dozen, depending on size

Ingredients
1/4 lb. raw unsalted almonds
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, reserving one egg white for finishing
4 cups all-purpose flour
Cinnamon sugar for dusting (1 cup granulated sugar + 2 Tablespoons cinnamon)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Blanch and split the almonds by pouring boiling water over almonds to cover. Let sit until the skins can be slipped off easily. Drain, then cut almonds in half and set aside.

2. In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream butter and slowly add the sugar. Add the eggs, minus one white. Mix in the flour. Dough should be firm and not at all sticky, if it is too wet, gradually add more flour.

3. Divide the dough into 4 large balls. On a clean, floured surface, roll out each part about 1/4-inch thick and cut into diamonds. Beat the egg white with a whisk until frothy and brush cookies with egg white and generously sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

4. Place cookies on cookie sheet, fairly close together as they spread just a little. Press half almond on each one and bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned and puffed. Store in metal box-- they keep for nearly a month.

Related recipes:
Almond and Grapefruit-Ginger Marmalade Crostata
Lemon-Lavender Meringue Pie Cookies 
Pea & Corn Cookies