Blue Ribbon Jumbles
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- Dessert
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- / Food & Wine
We were so honored to be asked to judge the Chocolate Jumbles competition at the county fair this year.
Jumbles–a spicy cookie made with molasses, nutmeg and clove–were common in Europe as early as the 17th century and were prepared by twisting the thick dough into shapes and then boiling.
The jumble made its way to the Mohawk Valley in the 19th century with the arrival of the German Palatine settlers. They added chocolate to the cookie and a characteristic round shape and painted the surface with a royal icing. Fancy!
Families have been making the cookie in Schoharie County for over 200 years, and each family has its own tradition and twist.
It wasn’t easy to choose a winner, but we bravely faced the challenge.
Congratulations to Debbie Collins who won the blue ribbon with a cookie just like her grandma used to make. That’s an heirloom recipe!!
Debbie Collins’ Chocolate Jumble Cookie
Ingredients
2 eggs
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of shortening or lard
1 cup molasses
5 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup of buttermilk
1 cup of cocoa
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of clove
1 tsp of salt
2 tsp of baking soda
Instructions
Combine ingredients in order given and then chill.
Roll and then cut out the cookie using a donut cutter.
Bake at 350 degrees just until the edges turn crisp
Allow to cool
Paint with royal icing
Learn more about the history of jumbles and several variations on the recipe in a booklet produced by the Friends of Fort Plain
Does your neck o’ the woods have a special cookie recipe? Tell us about it in the comments section below!
My mom made these cookies when I was a child. I have to look up the recipe to compare it to this one. I love these cookies. I have bought them at the Grapevine Farm!
Debbie we have worked with a similar recipe for many years. It was my late grandmother’s recipe. However in recent years the dough seems too soft to work with even though refrigerated over nite. It use to be very stiff wheh taking out of the frig now it is cold but too soft to work with. Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you for a new recipe, I will try it can’t wait.
I “jumbled for joy” when I read your blog about this recipe. I was exposed to these scrumptious cookies when I was a child, as my next door neighbor always made them. I managed to make my way to her back door every time she made a batch. She finally gave the recipe to my Mom, and I remember her letting me cut them out with the donut cutter after she had rolled out the dough. Years went by and I had almost forgotten about them. A few years ago, I literally craved these cookies like mad!! No one had ever heard of them, which didn’t surpise me. I found the recipe in one of my Mom’s old cookbooks, folded up and well worn with the ravages of time, a sure sign that this recipe was used time-and-time again. I ran right out and purchased a donut cutter and went to work. These are the best of both worlds. If you like good old fashioned molasses cookies and chocolate, you have a winner. I was so pleased to see that Debbie’s recipe was the same one I grew up with. What I love about these cookies is that they can go either way. If you under bake them a tad, they are soft and chewy, a tad over baked and they are awesome dunked in a big cold glass of milk or with a cup of orange spice tea to bring out the spices in the jumble.
As an aside Boys, my Dad grew up in Sharon Springs, on Rosenberg Road, in rural lingo, just a “stone’s throw away” from the Beekman. My great-aunt just lived down the road, on route 10, within walking distance from you. (I remember the old Beekman before it was restored). My grandparents attended the old Dutch Reformed church. My memories of Sharon Springs go beyond the definition of idyllic. I can remember sitting in my grandfather’s meadow and just dreaming away the hours, gazing up in the beautiful blue sky that always seemed to be different than anywhere else. I loved haying time. The aroma of that hay still lingers in my mind and whenever I smell it anywhere else, it takes me back to Sharon Springs. My grandparents harvested hops, and my Dad always had some good stories to tell of “hop pickin’ time.” We have many old photos that were transformed into postcards, back at the turn of the 20th century, of hop time in Sharon Springs. I can remember my Dad saying that a day going to town was to go to the village of Sharon Springs with horse and buggy and when the movie theater opened, they surely thought it doesn’t get much better than that. My aunts worked in the grand hotels every summer. Oh, so many stories and so little time…
Thanks so much for sharing these beautiful memories, Janan
With apples, yes but not with the peaches. Too hard to peel. An apple galette with carmel drizzled on to is my go to dessert for company and pot lucks.
I have all of the ingredients on hand, so I’m taking that as a sign that I need to try these soon!
Thank You
Im looking forward to trying this recipe.
Off topic, I picked peaches from my tree last night and made a peach pie using the “one plus one plus a little bit” recipe for crust that you taught everyone at The Country Living Fair in Columbus Ohio. It was yummy!
Bet it was, Pip! Do you have the galette down to 8 minutes yet?
I know you guys know I’m a Pastry Chef and Baker…this is the first I’ve heard of this type of cookie!! Great history and COOL recipe! It’s not often I run across the combination of buttermilk and molasses in the same recipe! Gonna take this to my cafe and try it out!! Thanks!
Sounds great! dark or light molasses?
your choice, Bonnie
Royal icing – is there a recipe for this somewhere?
Thanks!
Here’s the perfect, simple recipe for royal icing
http://candy.about.com/od/candybasics/r/royal_icing.htm
my grandmother always made these with coffee…..family fav…
-fun fact- she used to use a round oatmeal container to send them to my father when he was in the service in WWII.
Both great ideas, Linda. Thanks for sharing!
Looks wonderful! An anxious to try it. When reading the article it was sounding a bit complicated. Glad to see it will be quite easy. Congrats and thank you.