[A Delicious-Looking Jam & Butter Plate]

Galettes, sablés, langues de chat, shortbreads—even when we group them under the single word "cookie," the varieties are truly endless. Hearing the names of some immediately brings their shape and texture to mind, while others make you pause and wonder, "Does this cookie have a specific name too?"

Especially during childhood, a cookie tin beautifully packed with many different kinds of cookies was something truly special. The metallic click when opening the lid, the sweet aroma wafting out—it felt just like peering into a treasure chest, and I remember enjoying even the time spent deliberating over which one to eat first. Among them, I was always drawn to the ones with a jewel-like glint of jam in the center, or those topped with a glossy chocolate cream. I wonder if those cookies have a name. Generally, the ones topped with jam are called "jam cookies," and those with two layers are known as "jam sandwich cookies." They still make my heart flutter today, but it feels like they have a special name and yet don't at the same time.

While looking into this, I came across "Ochsenaugen" and "Russian cakes." "Ochsenaugen" is a traditional German pastry named because the red jam in the center resembles an ox's eye. On the other hand, a "Russian cake" is a confection that combines a cookie base with jam, chocolate, or macaron batter. Despite having "Russian" in its name, it is not a pastry brought directly from Russia to Japan, but rather one that developed uniquely within Japan. The period from the Taisho era to the early Showa era was a time of heightened interest in foreign literature and culture, during which Nakamuraya invited the Russian pastry chef Stanley Okhotsky to sell a wide variety of baked goods. Within this historical flow, foreign elements spread through Japanese Western-style confectionery. Both of these share roots with what we call "jam cookies" today.

Following World War II, the resumption of metal manufacturing was deeply tied to the historical shift toward preserving food in tins. Because cookies have a long shelf life, putting them in glamorous tins allowed them to become widely cherished as special gifts. Looking back, my first encounter with those glittering, glossy cookies was in a cookie tin from a long-established Japanese confectionery maker. The tins that heightened my excitement and the very first cookie I would always pick were, in fact, packed full of a Western-style pastry culture nurtured right here in Japan.

Gazing at Kiya Kamino's Jam & Butter Plate brings back memories of the days when I was captivated by those gem-like cookies. Don't the ones crafted from maple wood look like plain-flavored cookies, and the ones from walnut wood look like slightly bittersweet cocoa-flavored ones? The way the jam or cream rests perfectly within the rounded rim looks exactly like the cookies from back then. When you visit our showroom, please pick up a Kiya Kamino Jam & Butter Plate and take a look. We would be delighted if you could experience the silky, smooth texture of the natural wood grain while imagining it filled with bright red jam or chocolate cream.

Kiya Kamino's Jam & Butter Plate
https://www.shokunin.com/en/kiyakamino/jambutter.html
Showroom Information
https://www.shokunin.com/en/showroom/

References
https://www.nakamuraya.co.jp/pavilion/history/showa.html
https://www.nakayamaseika.co.jp/ja/story/russian/