Hidden Gumdrop Cookies

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Popular with children, these colorful cookies have a hidden surprise – a gumdrop baked into the center! We used green gumdrops and purple icing (which could also work for Mardi Gras) for our Hidden Gumdrop Cookies. Feel free to use a variety of gumdrop colors and frosting shades, to create a festive, multicolored cookie platter!

Ingredients (Makes 30 cookies)

30 gumdrop candies

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 2/3 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

For the icing:

1 tablespoon butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon rum

1 drop food coloring (any color you wish)

colored sugar, optional

Directions

Step 1) Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and almond extract; mix well.

Step 2) Stir in flour, baking powder, and cream of tartar. Refrigerate dough in a covered container for at least two hours or overnight.

Step 3) Roll chilled dough 1/4 inch thick on a floured countertop. Cut 2 1/2 inch circles out of dough.

Step 4) Place a gumdrop in the center of each circle, and fold/roll the dough so that you have spheres of dough with a gumdrop in the center of each.

Step 5) Bake cookie spheres on baking sheets lined with parchment paper in a 375 degree oven for 8 – 10 minutes, or until the bottoms of the cookies begin to brown. Cookies will spread, so be sure to allow about 2 inches of space between spheres of dough.

Step 6) While cookies cool, blend together butter, powdered sugar, rum, and food coloring for icing. Pipe icing onto the center of each cooled cookie, right over the gumdrop (a sandwich bag with a corner snipped off works well as a homemade pastry bag). Sprinkle with colored sugar, and Voila! Your Hidden Gumdrop Cookies are ready to enjoy!

HINT: Hidden Gumdrop Cookies freeze well, but should be allowed to thaw completely before serving. Who wants to eat frozen gumdrops? Not me!