Filled Cookies & Sandwich Cookies
New Hampshire Filled Cookies, Filled Sour Cream Cookies
 Jelly Centered Sugar Cookies, Jelly Jumbles, Yo Yo’s
Chocolate Ice Cream Cookies

By Mary E. Gage
 

What is a Filled Cookie?  It is a cookie with filling placed inside before it is baked.
What is a Sandwich Cookie? It is two cookies with the filling added after the cookies are baked.

History

Sandwich cookies show up in the historical record in 1908. The Sunshine Company of Kansas City, Kansas introduced the first sandwich cookie, Hydrox in 1908. The National Biscuit Company (later re-named Nabisco) of New York City, New York introduced the Oreo in 1912. These were commercially made sandwich cookies.  Only one recipe with a frosting type filling was found in an older cook book. It was in a local pamphlet type cook book with recipes from local women, Community Cook Book by the American Legion Auxiliary in Meredith, New Hampshire. The recipe was called Chocolate Ice Cream Cookies and was filled with white vanilla frosting. Though the name is different it was the same type of recipe as the Hydrox and Oreo. The cook book is not dated but judging from the telephone number system and lack of street numbers it dates to the 1930’s. The name is probably from a recipe that showed up in a magazine or newspaper. It lacks regional identity with its general all purpose name. The name is misleading for it was not made with ice cream. However, to print the recipe it needed a name other than the two trademarked sandwich cookies. By the 1930’s jam was listed as a filling in sandwich cookies. The cookies were baked and cooled then filled, and sandwiched together.

The original term associated with “sandwich cookie” was a very different type of cookie. It consisted of a vanilla wafer or sugar cookie covered with a layer of whipped egg whites, a layer of chocolate, and a second layer of whipped egg whites. The sandwich was the chocolate sandwich on top of the cookie that was then baked. This type of recipe showed up several times in cook books.

Filled cookies first show up in the Boston Cooking School Cook Book. The school introduced Jelly Jumbles in the 1910 edition. The Jelly Jumbles recipe stayed in print until the 1933 edition. In the 1936 edition the name got changed to Filled Cookies or Jumbles and new fillings were added. The jelly filling was retained but was augmented by jam, mincemeat and raisin fillings. Jumbles were the original sugar cookie. Later the name changed to Sugar Cookies. The name Jumbles refers to a large cookie with a hole in the middle, a flat ring. Jelly Jumbles used a whole cookie on the bottom to hold the jelly and a second regular jumble with a hole cutout on top. The edges were pressed together to seal them. Then they were baked. Sugar cookies do not have a hole in the middle plus the milk or sour cream was reduced. The New England Cook Book (1936) published Jelly Centered Sugar Cookies. It lacked the hole in the top cookie.

Another version of filled cookies showed up in 1915. One recipe was published in the Boston Journal Volume LXXXII Issue 26580 dated February 9, 1915. “At Home With the Modern Family” was a weekly column.  It read, “Mrs. Modern says-Miss Ida M. Paquette, Barton, Vt., sends her recipe for ‘filled cookies’.”  The cookie was filled with a raisin filling. The second recipe was from a New Jersey cook book. It too had raisin filling. By the 1930’s the Filled Cookies recipe name became embedded in the culture. It shows up in cook books from Boston to Chicago.

A 1947 regional cook book Secrets of New England Cooking had a recipe called New Hampshire Filled Cookies. It had sour cream and a raisin filling.  A Vermont Cook Book (1946-1965) listed a recipe for Filled Sour Cream Cookies with raisin filling. The Vermont recipe used half butter and half sour cream whereas New Hampshire’s recipe only used sour cream. It seems both states liked their sour cream based raisin filled cookie enough to lay claim to it as a state associated recipe.

Both the jelly filled and raisin filled cookies were both well liked in New England.

Chocolate Ice Cream Cookies
“1 c. [cup] white sugar, ½ c. butter, 2 squares melted chocolate, 2-3 [2/3] cup sour milk, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tsp. [baking] soda, 1 egg, flour to roll thin. Cut small and bake. Put together with white frosting made of powdered sugar, hot water, vanilla and butter. Put frosting on the bottom of one cookie and press another onto it as a sandwich.” 

                                                                                                Katharine Barnard

Community Cook Book
American Legion Auxiliary
Roy H. Griggs Unit, No. 33
Meredith, N.H.

Jelly Jumbles
½ cup butter, [softened]
1 cup sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup sour milk
¼ teaspoon salt
Flour

To fill: place small amount of jelly or jam on bottom cookie and add top cookie with cutout, press edges with fork and bake in 350 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly brown

Sugar Cookies
Cream together
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar

Add
2 eggs, well beaten
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon lemon or vanilla extract

Sift together
2 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Mix dry ingredients with liquid ingredients
Chill to firm
Roll thin
Cut one round whole, use donut cutter to cut second round (top)
Bottom and top rounds need to be the same size

Filled cookie: place small amount of raisin filling (see below) on bottom cookie and add top cookie with cutout, press edges with fork and bake 350 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly brown

Sandwich cookie: bake cookies 350 degrees for 8 to10 minutes, cool and fill, place small amount of jam on bottom cookie and cover with cutout cookie.

Called Yo Yo’s in More Essex County Cooks (1972).

New Hampshire Filled Cookies
Mix together:
1 cup sour cream
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon lemon extract

Mix and sift together:
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda

Combine dry ingredient mixture with liquid ingredient mixture.
Chill to firm
Roll thin
Cut one round whole, use donut cutter to cut second round (top)
Bottom and top need to be the same size
Fill: place small amount of raisin filling on bottom cookie and add top cookie with cutout, press edges with fork, sprinkle with sugar.
Bake: Ten minutes in hot oven, 400 degrees

 Raisin Filling

1 cup chopped raisins
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour (Modern recipes use 2 tablespoons butter and leave out the flour)
Juice of ½ lemon (2 teaspoons)
1/8 teaspoon salt
¼ cup boiling water
Cook until thick and cool before using.