Gumdrop cookies are the perfect festive treat for all of your get-togethers, whether it’s the holiday season or any time of year, for that matter!
Colorful, delicious gumdrops speckle traditional oatmeal cookies for a delicious flavor-packed with so much cheer!
The jellied gumdrops are as pretty as they are tasty! Their beautiful colors look like stained glass throughout the cookie.
When you think of Christmas cookies, you might just think of sugar cookies with icing. These cookies are just as festive, with traditional flavors and colors.
If you’ve never made gumdrop cookies before, you won’t believe how simple it is. They turn out so beautifully, and they look like a lot of hard work!
Gumdrop Cookies
Not every grandma had gumdrop cookies in her holiday baking arsenal. If you are new to gumdrop cookies, you are in for a treat!
Gumdrop cookies are sugar cookies flavored with coconut and oatmeal, then filled with chewy pieces of gumdrops!
Brown sugar and butter play an important role in the base of the cookie. With all that goodness, these cookies can cure any sweet tooth!
While cooking, the gumdrop pieces melt into gooey fruit flavored-morsels that burst with each bite!
This traditional recipe has been around for years, and I know why! They’re so delicious, and they’re perfect for everyone’s holiday traditions.
What are you waiting for? Grab your apron and get started whipping up a batch of gumdrop cookies.
Ingredients for Gumdrop Cookies
Gumdrops — They wouldn’t be gumdrop cookies without plenty of gumdrops! Pick up a pack of the traditional ones, complete with all the sugar!
Brown Sugar — Brown sugar brings a molasses flavor and rich color to the cookies. Whenever a recipe calls for brown sugar, you know it will be delicious!
White Sugar — What cookie recipe would be complete without a generous scoop of white sugar?
Butter — Unless the recipe states otherwise, always use unsalted butter. Salted butter and the salt from the recipe would be overpowering in these cookies!
Eggs — Eggs add a fudgy texture to the cookie and work as a binding agent, so your cookies stay thick and chewy!
Flour — Like any baking recipe, the quality of the treats depends on the quality of the ingredients. Choose a good all-purpose flour to bake with!
Sea Salt — This is important! Sea salt is less potent than table salt and will provide your cookies with the perfect amount of salty flavor.
Baking Soda — Baking soda plays an important role in the chemical processes of baking. Be sure to add the perfect amount to get a delicious cookie!
Baking Powder — Serves a similar function to baking soda. This ingredient is part of the chemical process of baking a cookie.
Vanilla Extract — Add a little vanilla flavor to your dough to round out the taste of these delicious cookies!
Tips For The Best Cookies
When making gumdrop cookies, each cookie must have an abundance of gumdrop pieces.
To be sure they do, I like to fold the gumdrop pieces into the dough AND add several pieces on top after I have shaped each cookie.
This way, I know each cookie has enough gumdrops and I can be specific about where I place the pieces.
It can be tempting to pick up a pack of spiced gumdrops when shopping for this recipe. While those candies are delicious, sugared gumdrops are the way to go.
The sugary sweetness makes them the perfect complement for the coconut-oatmeal flavor of the rest of the cookie.
When cutting the gumdrops, try to get each piece as close to the same size as possible.
I like to slice the drop straight down the middle each way, making four pieces.
Do the Gumdrops Need to Be Chopped?
Not necessarily. This depends on your preference. If you like big gumdrops in each bite, don’t bother with chopping them up.
However, if you would like smaller pieces of gumdrops, you can chop them up before folding the pieces into the dough.
It all depends on how many gumdrops you want in each bite. If you want to chow down on large, whole gumdrops, go for it!
Chopping makes the pieces smaller in each bite.
When the pieces are chopped, you can get more than one gumdrop flavor in each bite. The whole gumdrops only fit one in each bite.
How to Store Gumdrop Cookies
On the off chance that you happen to have any of these cookies leftover, you can store them for up to a week.
Place the cookies in an air-tight container and leave them at room temperature.
They will no longer be good after a week, but you really won’t have to worry about this. Those cookies will be gone before you know it!
If you do find yourself with leftovers or you’re taking them to a gathering, regular Tupperware works wonderfully to store your delicious cookies.
They do not need to be refrigerated.
Gumdrop Cookies
36
servings20
minutes15
minutes102
kcalIngredients
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped fruit-flavored or spiced gumdrops
2 large egg whites
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- With an electric mixer, beat together the shortening and 3/4 cup sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the almond extract.
- In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in the gumdrops.
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining sugar (1/4 cup) and beat until stiff peaks form once again. Fold into the dough.
- Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets, keeping them at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown.
- Allow the cookies to cool for 2 to 3 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
The coconut and oatmeal don’t appear in the instructions, so there’s no indication of how much to use.
Hi Anne, thanks for bringing that to our attention! They are actually not part of the original recipe, so you can omit them.