It's Christmas Time, Time for Gumdrop Cookies

So, we lost this recipe this year & I went bazerk looking for it! I had to call my Grandma Wallace and have her pull it out and dust it off. It is a holiday traditional cookie for my family, and we can't go a year without them! So I am putting it on here...

Gumdrop Cookies

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
• 1 cup packaged sweetened coconut
• 1 cup gum drops , cut into pieces
• Powdered Sugar
  

Cream the butter, margarine and sugar together in a mixer. Add vanilla, and the eggs one at a time until well blended. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the sifted flour to the butter and egg mixture and mix well. BY HAND (if you try to use your electric mixer, you will be in need of a new one!), stir in the coconut flakes, oatmeal and sliced gumdrops (I've read that if you put the gumdrops into a bowl of sugar & cut the gumdrops, it helps with the sticking. My family tradition is, we have a cup of very warm water and cut them with a knife dipped in the water. This is a VERY messy, but utterly delightfully fun task!)until just mixed.

Refrigerate the dough until it is well-chilled (at least 3 hours). Chilling the dough will help the cookies keep their shape.

Once the dough is chilled, pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Take about 1 heaping tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Place on a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet about 6 inches apart. Bake for about 10 minutes or until light brown.

Place the Powdered Sugar into a deep bowl. Once taking the cookies out of the oven, let them sit for 2-3 mins to cool a bit then toss into the Powdered Sugar to coat well.

Stand back and watch the magic happen =)

Split Pea & Ham Soup

Another Melissa original that turned out FABULOUS!

Ingredients:
2 lbs Split Peas
2 lg Carrots, chopped into bite size pieces
3 Celery Stalks, chopped into bite size pieces
1 Md Onion, chopped small ( I just use my Food Chopper)
3 Ham Hocks
1 stick of Butter
2 TBS Chicken Bouillon

Boil the ham hocks in 10 cups of water, until they just start to fall off of the bone. Remove & reserve the broth.
In a large pot, melt your butter. Add all of your vegis and saute until just softened. While they are sauteing rinse your peas in a collandar. Add the peas into the vegis and add your broth from the ham hocks. You should have 8 cups of broth. Simmer your soup until it cooks down (about 30-40 mins.
Add 2 more cups of water and then 2 more cups of with 2 TBS of chicken bouillon desolved. Let it come to a boil until your peas are cooked thoroughly (about 20 mins).
Enjoy!
My family LOVED it! They are picky soup eaters, but this was devoured, even by my mom who called it "Crap Soup".