Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Mrs. CBB’s grandma’s easy gumdrop cookies are thick, moist, and full of colorful jubes, perfect for the Christmas holidays.
Today, I’ll share how to make the best cookies and the difference between baking gums and jujubes.
Gumdrop Cookies Like Grandma Used To Make
If you’ve been looking for a recipe for gumdrop cookies, this is the only one you’ll need.
Mrs. CBB and I spent about an hour scouring through her grandmother’s recipe books, looking for this recipe.
Seeing the handwritten recipes clipped and taped to a book with lined paper was fascinating.
There are hundreds of recipes that span back decades, and what we learned was that she was passionate about her baking.
Baking and visiting her grandma always went hand-in-hand for Mrs. CBB after a long 8-hour journey up north.
Her grandma baked many types of Christmas cookies since it was typically the holidays when they would visit.
While reminiscing, Mrs. CBB told me that her grandparents both had a sweet tooth and often found her grandfather sneaking cookies.
You would always find baked goods if you opened her grandma’s chest freezer in the basement, which had a padlock (I guess we know why, ha).
Over the years, we’ve shared three of Mrs. CBB’s grandma’s holiday baked goods on Canadian Budget Binder.
- Festive No-bake Coconut Balls
- Christmas Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls
- Holiday Walnut Pecan Snowballs
Baking Gumdrops Vs. JuJubes
Although this gumdrop recipe combines a drop cookie recipe, Grandma added her special touch.
Some people might like the baking gumdrops you can buy in bulk, but I couldn’t find them.
What I did learn, however, was that the price of baking gumdrops is higher than jujubes.
That makes sense since Mrs. CBB said her frugal grandma only used them for fruit cake.
However, I did find 1kg of Cottage Country Baking Gumdrops on Amazon for $18.99.
If you live in Burlington, Ontario, visit the Cottage Country store run by the Scholten family for outlet pricing.
When I checked the Cottage Country website, I found that a 220g bag of baking gums were only $3.99
Factor in tax and shipping, and the total comes to $28.88, which costs more than Amazon Canada.
You can get Cottage Country1kg baking gums on Amazon for $17.99 Prime delivery.
Purchasing a large bag of gumdrops will be ideal if you’re batch-baking recipes that include gumdrops.
Otherwise, you can opt for jubes with a softer texture than a firm baking gumdrop.
Since I was making one batch of gumdrop cookies for the Christmas holidays, I opted for jujubes.
If you choose to use jujubes as I did, you only need to cut them into three pieces.
Cottage Country sells 1kg of jujubes on Amazon for $14.99 or Santa Jubes 1kg for $16.99.
The cheapest bulk jubes on Amazon are Yupik Super Jujubes for $10.92.
The drop cookies recipe says it would make 2 1/2 dozen cookies, but it didn’t.
Perhaps I like more giant cookies, but I felt these were decent-sized baked cookies.
I ended up with one dozen gumdrop cookies, which made more sense.
The Secret Of Good Cookies
I’m always looking for secrets to bake the best cookies, and I found some tips in grandma’s recipe book.
- The secret of good cookies is in the dough.
- No matter what cookie, the softest dough will make the most tender product.
- Chilling dough before rolling prevents stickiness and taking up too much flour during the process.
- Cool cookies on a rack before storing them.
- Store cookies in an air-tight container
- Let crisp cookies sit in a slow oven at 300 degrees for 3 to 5 minutes if crisp cookies become soft.
How To Make Gumdrop Cookies
Learn how to make the perfect gumdrop cookies, just like Grandma used to bake. These moist and delicious treats are a must-try for the Christmas season.
Standard Drop Cookies with Jujubes or Baking Gums
- 1 cup All-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup softened butter
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon 2% milk
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
- 1 cup chopped jujubes or baking gums
Stir the flour, baking soda, powder, and salt in a large bowl.
Cream that butter and brown sugar gradually, beating well after each addition.
Mix well with egg, milk, vanilla, and almond extract.
Blend in dry ingredients.
Fold in the chopped jujubes or baking gums and nuts (optional).
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet (I used parchment paper), allowing space for spreading.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350 degrees for 7 minutes or until browned.
Remove from the baking sheet and put on a cooling rack.
Makes 2 1/2 dozen tiny gumdrop cookies or one dozen regular-sized cookies.
The recipe may be doubled.
You can make the gumdrop cookies up to 3 months in advance and store them in freezer bags for the holidays.
Grandma's Easy Gumdrop Cookies
Mrs. CBB’s grandma’s easy gumdrop cookies are thick, moist, and full of colorful jubes, perfect for the Christmas holidays.
Ingredients
- 1 cup All-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup softened butter
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon 2% milk
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
- 1 cup chopped jujubes or baking gums
Instructions
- Stir the flour, baking soda, powder, and salt in a large bowl.
- Cream that butter and brown sugar gradually, beating well after each addition.
- Mix well with egg, milk, vanilla, and almond extract.
- Blend in dry ingredients.
- Fold in the chopped jujubes or baking gums and nuts (optional).
- Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet (I used parchment paper), allowing space for spreading.
- Bake in a moderate oven at 350 degrees for 7 minutes or until browned.
- Remove from the baking sheet and put on a cooling rack.
- Makes 2 1/2 dozen tiny gumdrop cookies or one dozen regular-sized cookies.
Notes
- You can easily double the recipe.
- Freeze for up to 6 months.
- Substitute jujubes for baking gumdrops if desired.