Great cookie! When cutting up your gumdrops, place them in a bowl and cover with sugar. Then use a pair of scissors to snip them in half. The sugar will stick to the new edge and will keep the drops nice and seperated. Then just strain out the sugar and you are left with perfectly sized gumdrops. Enjoy!
These were very tasty... I added more gumdrops than 1 cup and make sure to get the really spicy ones to give this cookie more kick! I used butter rather than shortening and it worked well. Also make sure to toast the pecans before adding them in since that really brings out their flavor. Finally I'd recommend pre-mixing the nuts gumpdrops oatmeal and coconut together before adding these ingredients into the dough... otherwise you have to stir the dough too much in the end and the cookies aren't quite as tender. Tasty cookies!
I loved these cookies. I omit the pecans (just b/c I do not like them). Use baking gums in the cookies they come in just red green orange and yellow. These gumdromps are small so all you have to do is snip them in two with a pair of scissors very quick! I used margarine instead of shortening and the cookies came out fine. Also I flatten them slightly with a spatula just as they come out of the oven while still on the bakingn sheet I find this makes them chewier (is that even a word?)then I remove them to cool as directed. Exactly as I remember from childhood thanks for sharing an excellent recipe.
Awesome base recipe! The recipe called for shortening as an ingredient but butter in the directions - so I used half of each. I used chopped gumdrop orange slices in this that I had bought for another project and didn't end up using. I'm not a huge gumdrop fan but they're good in this. I will probably use the recipe over and over with different additions though replacing the gumdrops with dried fruit or another candy. The base cookie is excellent crispy and chewy perfectly sweet. Thanks!!!
I make these every year for Christmas. At first I was hesitant to use all shortening instead of butter but I decided to follow the recipe exactly. The cookies came out awesome! The only mistake I made was to be a little too generous with the oatmeal coconut pecans and gumdrops; there was barely enough dough to hold everything together! But now I just add scant cups of these things and the cookies are still loaded! EXREMELY TASTY!
These are great cookies. My family fought over them. My daughter took some to her Christmas party and they were the hit of the party. I used red and green spiced gumdrops. The only thing I would do different next time is chop the gumdrops smaller (I chopped them in half).
This recipe has been number one with me for years. I am so excited to find it on here. My gramma made these when I was a child and I lost her recipe. I would call them Christmas light cookies and hold them to the light. They are chewy from the gum drops yet crispy and the coconut adds sweetness these are a wonderful addition to a Christmas tradition. This is a top notch cookie. Bake with confidence and enjoy! mmm is all I can say!
These are so good.They are chewy and very tasty. I omitted the pecans which didn't effect the recipe at all. Definetly to be recommended.
Butter flavored shortening works best. My family has been making these for 30 years but have never added nuts (kids prefer without!). We always at least double the amount of gumdrops it calls for. Cut the gumdrops into quarters using kitchen scissors dipped in water then toss the cut pieces into granulated sugar to re-coat. Be sure to weed out the black gumdrops! These are very festive and a must-have for Christmas!
Forget the gumdrops! I made these twice; once with gumdrops and once without. My family did not care for the gumdrops at all but without the gumdrops the cookies are very good; cookies had a chewy/crunchy texture.