Nana's Oatmeal Gumdrop Cookies

Yesterday was my husband's day off, so I was able to more easily get some work done around the house and get my baking done without having to run to stop my son from sticking his hand in Yuki's water dish! Lol though, even when Adrian's not off, these cookies are so easy to make that having to chase after Jaxson is hardly a deterrent!

These cookies were my favourite growing up. We didn't have them often, but as I grew I to adulthood, they were always something I remembered. Even now, despite how sweet these are, I swear I could eat a whole batch myself! The dough alone is the best dough I've ever smelled! I couldn't believe that my husband had never heard of these, let alone baking gumdrops (come on, jujubes in cookies? How can you go wrong??). I can confidently say that he's as obsessed with them as I was…. am…. Even Jaxson comes crawling over and stares at these cookies when we eat them! I know they'll be his favourite when he's older too ;-)

This past year, I got the recipe from my mum, and she told me the recipe is actually my dad's grandma's. It's funny how most of the amazing baking recipes are from that generation, eh? And those are the ones that are being passed down.

Anyway, this cookies are chewy, delicious, and not at all good for you! Just how proper cookies should be!! They use baking gumdrops, which I had a dickens of a time finding and ended up rediscovering at the Bulk Barn here in Saskatoon. Great store to buy baking essentials as you need them (for those of us with limited cupboard space for storage).

The recipe is as follows, ridiculously easy:
Mix all ingredients together:
2 cups Rolled Oats
2 cups Flour
1 cup Sugar
1 cup packed Brown Sugar (I find light brown sugar makes them softer and chewier)
2 Eggs
1 cup Butter
1 cup Unsweetened Coconut
1 cup Baking Gumdrops
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
Vanilla (I like to mix this into the melted butter before adding it to the dry ingredients)
¼ tsp Salt

Spoon onto a greased cookie tray and flatten slightly with a fork. They flatten out quite a bit (as you can see from the picture below, so make sure to space them well apart! The recipe says to bake them at 300° for 20-25 minutes, but I find that's a bit too much. I bake them for 18 minutes (until they are just slightly golden around the outside) and then let them cool on the tray for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.

Rather than greasing the cookie tray, I also just put a piece of parchment paper down - I've been obsessed with this stuff lately! You can reuse it multiple times, and it makes clean up sooooooo much easier!!

Yum yum, almost too good to share! But then again, something this good just HAS to be shared!