Gum Drop Cookies

Are your kids back to school this week? Here's a way to give a after-school 'hug' -- with homemade gum drop cookies, just the way like my mom did for my sister and me.

My mom's gum drop cookie recipe, a sweet, chewy cookie set with jewel-colored chunks of gum drop.

The year my sister started kindergarten, my mom wrote here in Kitchen Parade, “It sure is quiet around the house these mornings. Even the dog looks forlorn now that the big orange monster has carried off both her children.”

In her own childhood, Mom and her siblings often arrived home from school to a warm kitchen and fresh cookies. For her, after-school aromas of butter and sugar and spice were a sort of cookie hug that asked, “How was your day?" and made known "I’m glad you’re home!” Even as a working mom, she often baked cookies while waiting for that "big orange monster” school bus to spit us out at the end of the driveway.

With flat, gummy rounds tucked like jewel surprises inside the dough, this old recipe for gum drop cookies will hug your children as they come home from school.

ALANNA's TIPS Cut the gum drops with kitchen shears, easier and faster than a knife.

An 11-ounce bag of gum drops is enough for three batches and these cookies do freeze well if you want to make a double or triple batch.

Before flattening, dip just the tops of the dough balls in sugar; this way they spread more while baking and the extra sweetness just isn’t necessary.

GUM DROP COOKIES RECIPE

Mixing: 20 minutes
Rolling and baking: 30 minutes
Makes about 30

1/2 cup spicy gumdrops
1/2 cup coconut (unsweetened if possible)
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour, fluffed to aerate before measuring
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
Additional sugar for dipping

Preheat oven to 350F. Cut gumdrops in thirds into a medium bowl, then add coconut and oatmeal. In a large mixing bowl, mix shortening and sugars until soft with an electric mixer. Add the egg and vanilla; combine well. Add a quarter of the sifted flour to the gum drop mixture. Add remaining flour and dry ingredients to the dough mixture and combine well. Stir gum drop mixture well. Add to dough and combine well. Roll dough in one-inch balls. Dip the top of each ball in sugar, then flatten lightly with a fork in X fashion on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, about 15 cookies per sheet.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per Cookie: 105Cal; 1g Protein; 4g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 16g Carb; 0g Fiber; 52mg Sodium; 7mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 2 points

Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg
and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating
and occasional indulgences.

In 2009, Kitchen Parade celebrates its 50th anniversary with a special collection of my mother's recipes.

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