If there is one cookie that says childhood to me it would the gumdrop cookie. One of my earliest memories of my mom baking is her making those. I don’t have that recipe – I know what cookbook it came out of but finding the really vintage edition is pretty hard, even in the day of online book sales. It was more a sugar cookie intensively sweet with large sugary gumdrops. No wonder I loved them so much!
For my version that Ford and I made together today I made it with oats and coconut and then used roughly chopped all natural gum drops. You can find them in most natural food stores. They do not use artificial dyes (plant-based instead) and use fruit juice for flavoring. They function the same though in the recipe.
As with most of my cookie recipes I use a disher to scoop out balls. The difference in baking quality is worth the getting of these handy devices! For these cookies I used a 9/16 Ounce Size 60 Stainless Steel Round Squeeze Disher (13-0640)
Gumdrop Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 cusp quick oats
1 cup shredded or flaked coconut, make sure it is fresh
1 cup (6-ounces) natural gumdrops, chopped
Directions:
Heat your oven to 375°. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper or use silicone baking liners. You will need this to prevent sticking.
In a large stand mixer add the butter and two sugars. Beat on medium till well blended.
Add in the eggs one at a time, incorporating each, then add in the vanilla.
Meanwhile in a medium bowl measure the pre-sifted flour and combine with the baking powder, baking soda, salt and oats.
With the mixer running on low add in the dry ingredients, let just start to come together and then crank up the speed to at least medium. It will depend on your mixer’s strength though. Quickly add in the coconut, let mix in and then the gum drops. Scrape down the bowl and mix again for a couple seconds to make sure the gum drops are blended in.
Using the disher scoop out 1 Tbsp balls and bake 12 per tray for 10 to 13 minutes. The cookies are done when just browning but still look ‘wet’ on top, just starting to crackle. It is easy to over bake so keep an eye on the first batch.
Let cool on their tray for a couple minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.
Makes 72 cookies (6 trays). And yes, they freeze well!
~Sarah