Jumble (cookie)

Jumbles (other spellings Jambles, Jumbals, Jumbolls, Jumbolds, Jumballs) are cookie-like pastries, common in England and abroad since the Middle Ages, which tend to have a relatively simple recipe of nuts, flour, eggs, and sugar, with vanilla, anise, or caraway seed used for flavoring. They were formerly often made in the form of rings or rolls.

Jumbles were known by many variations on the basic name, including jambal, jemelloe, and gemmel. They were widespread, specifically because they travelled well, thanks to their very dense, hard nature. They could be stored for up to a year without becoming too stale. Because of their density, they were sometimes twisted into knots before baking, in order to make them easier to eat, generating knots as another common name.

Jumbals were traditionally shaped in intricate loop or knot patterns, usually of rolled out dough. Early flavouring agents were aniseed, coriander, caraway seeds and rosewater. Later, jumbles referred, especially in the United States, to a thin crisp cake or cookie using e.g. lemon-peel as a flavouring agent.