a special recipe...

My grandma was fabulous inthe kitchen!  I don't remember ever eating anything I didn't like, but there are definitely memorable dishes and treats.  The "GUMDROP JUMBOS" recipe was clipped from a newspaper.  Along the edge she had adjusted the baking time and temperature, and in her beautiful script penned "very good".  They are very good cookies.  Grandma made them for us at Christmas time every year, save this past year when her oven had died shortly before Christmas.  The peculiar ingredient is ketchup, which we speculate adds a bit of color and lots of sweetness, but the magic ingredient she put into this dough, as she put into all her treats for us, was a heaping portion of love!  I am not feeling brave enough to try the recipe myself yet; how could they even compare?  But someday I hope to make them as well as my grandma did.    GUMDROP JUMBOS   - 1 cup butter or margarine, softened - 1/2 cup each, granulated sugar & brown sugar, packed - 2 eggs - 1 tsp vanilla - 1/4 cup catsup - 2 3/4 cups flour - 1/2 tsp soda - 1/4 tsp salt - 1 1/3 cups miniature gumdrops (about 1 1/2 lbs)   Heat oven to 350.  Cream butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla & catsup thoroughly.  Stir in flour, soda & salt.  Fold in gumdrops.  Drop dough by scant 1/4 cupfuls 2" apart onto a greased & floured baking sheet.  Bake 12 - 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Makes 1 1/2 - 2 dozen large cookies.  "very good"