Gumdrop Cookies

I'm not sure if the loss of my grandmother has made me nostalgic or what, but I was really in the mood to resurrect a holiday tradition this year. My great-grandmother Josephine used to make spiced gumdrop cookies and I remembered loving them but no one has made them in years. I didn't have her recipe, but I found this one online, tweaked it a bit and made them tonight. They are so good - I think I might have a new favorite cookie! They are a bit more labor intensive than your run-of-the-mill chocolate chip, but it's nice to have something different and festive. Whipping the egg whites and then folding them in gives them such a lovely texture, they just melt in your mouth. The outside turns out nice and crisp and I love the chewy gumdrops. I made a double batch and got about 4 dozen cookies.

Baked on the right, unbaked on the left. As you can see, they didn't get very brown. They don't look super exciting, but I promise they taste delicious!

Ingredients:

• 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 fruit-flavored or spiced gumdrops (chop them if you want to, but I didn't bother)
• 2 egg whites

In a large bowl, cream shortening and 3/4 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in extract. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in gumdrops. Dough will be kinda crumbly.
In a small bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Fold into dough.
Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls (I used my small scooper and they were a bit bigger) 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets (I used parchment paper and it worked great). Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 1 minute before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.