I love these soft and chewy ginger cookies. I grew up with the crispy kind, and I do like those, too. But there is something heavenly about a soft, chewy cookie… and ginger snaps are no exception! This recipe is very similar to another one I make, but it uses butter instead of shortening which makes me entirely too happy! And I don’t know why I never thought of making gingerbread men with ginger cookie dough. Let’s be honest, does anyone really like true gingerbread? Ginger cookies are so cute! And so fun! This recipe is part of the newest Lemon Poppy cookbook: “When Life Gives You Kids… A Collection of Recipes for Life’s Greatest Adventure!” And it is jam packed with great recipes and ideas for kids of all ages. My two year old is a big fan of Ali’s and goes through her recipe book saying, “That look good!” or “Mmmmm…” as he looks at each picture. (If you want to see a preview of some of the recipes in the book, check out THIS post). So if my little guy is any indication, these books should be a hit! And a great gift for all the mothers in your life. Visit www.lemonpoppycake.com to pick up one of these gems.
For the giveaway, leave a comment telling us what your favorite recipe for kids has been. The winner will announced on Monday. Good Luck!
Ginger Cookies
Submitted by Mindy ~ The Sisters Cafe
Recipe Source: ”When Life Gives You Kids” by Lemon Poppy
3/4 cups butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar (for rolling cookie dough)
To make cookies: Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and molasses and mix again. In a separate bowl combine flour, ginger cinnamon, cloves, soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until combined. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and then roll in sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. These cookies will be soft and delicious.
To make a Gingerbread Man: Chill dough for at least one hour. Roll out on a floured surface about 1/4 inch thick, and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes (the longer you bake, the crispier the cookies will be). Decorate cookies with frosting, candy, sprinkles and licorice. In order for the gingerbread men to run away here is what you need to do. Lay the decorated gingerbread people on a cookie sheet and place in the oven (with the oven turned off). All the kids must go outside and read the Gingerbread Man story. One adult must stay in the kitchen to watch for ay escaping gingerbread people. Once the story is over check the oven…
{ 125 comments… read them below or add one }
One of my favorite recipes for kids has been homemade pudding pops. My 3 year old and I try all kinds of different combinations and its so fun to walk with him through the grocery store (mostly candy isle) trying to decide what we want to put in them. We both love it!
My favorite recipe for kids is chocolate dipped marshmallows. SO yummy!
My kids love the Blueberry bars, I make them once a week.
My favorite kids recipe is for Skinny Elvis Sandwiches! 2 slices Ezekiel bread, almond butter, sliced strawberries and bananas, a dash of cinnamon and toast in a skillet w/vegan margarine!!!
I love to try different recipes – I sit down and read cookbooks like a novel… but my favorite and my kids favorite is just good ol’ fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Chicken Taco Night is a big hit around here. :)
I make sweet potatoe bars (sweet potatoes, oats, honey, cinnamon) for my girls, and they eat them up!
My children are grown adults now however, I have fun grandchildren that love to get all gooey with Grandma. Even as adults my son still comes home to make carmel popcorn balls (gooey) and we still have Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats at family get togethers. My secret to making them taste “just right” is to use ‘real’ vanilla, butter (not margarine) and Cocoa Pebbles ! yummmmmy.
My kids love fruit smoothies and any type of cookie!
Apples dipped in peanut butter!
I think Danish pancakes are about the favorite in our house.
My favorite kids recipe is the Christmas wreath recipe made out of cornflakes, marshmallows, and red hots!
I don’t have kids yet but one of my favorites when I was a kid was/is ants on a log…celery with p.b. and raisins!
Can’t ever go wrong with ice cream, homemade is even better!
My kids love helping me make, and eat, pancakes and rice krispy treats
One of the main ones I remember is the Raggedy Ann Salad. So cute!
My favorite recipe for kids is mac and cheese – I know, boring, but there’s never any leftovers!
My kids’ used to love oatmeal butterscotch cookies!
My kids love peanut butter balls (peanut butter playdough). They love being able to play with their food!
Big Kids or little kids love my Bread sticks I have been asked to make them many times and even have been paid to make them for people.
My girls love to make all kinds of things in the kitchen. We especially like to do fun things with popcorn!
Homemade granola or granola bars- thanks to the recipes found right here at sisterscafe! And for the non-edible treat, can’t beat cooking up a batch of homemade play dough!
Alfredo pasta for dinner and chocolate chip cookies for desert are the favorites at our house. Finding something all 7 kids will like is always a challenge!
My favorite kid recipe is Hand Cookies for Santa. Every Christmas eve we make these and leave them for santa. It’s really just sugar cookies but we cut them to the shape of our hand and then the kids go to town decorating. It’s a tradition carried on for generations.
My kids L.O.V.E Chocolate brownies with cookies and cream candy bars in the middle. They are so good!! especially for breakfast with a diet Dr. Pepper!!!
Fruit smoothies and homemade soft pretzels…the kids love to help twist the pretzels!
Individual pizzas, kids can put on their own favorite toppings!
My favorite recipe that I’ve just recently tried was S’mores brownies – brownies topped with marshmallows, Hershey’s chocolate and graham crackers. It’s s’mores with no fire – totally fun!
Pancakes! Whole wheat…plain…with blueberries, syrup, anything…as long as it is pancakes, everything goes smooth.
My kids all love homemade chicken nuggets. They are always a big hit when I make them!
My kids would like the krispy pops.
My kids loooove my Italian Chicken Pasta.
My favorite recipe for kids is cookie dough play dough! Is it more fun to play with or to bake and eat the cookies? A great activity combined with an activity!
My favorite recipe for kids is cookie dough play dough. Is it more fun to play with or to bake and eat the cookies?? A great activity combined with a snack!
The all time favorite in our house is “moose drop pancakes” which is chocolate chip pancakes!
My kids love anything with sugar :) but I can never go wrong with cookies!
Oh our most recent favorite are the LAYERED DRINKS. I surprised the family on Father’s day with them and the kids were so mesmerized by the magic. Immediately my 6 year old wanted to try out the magic too and you should have seen her excitement as she too was able to recreate the fabulous drinks. Thanks a bunch for all your awesome recipes!
I was wishing we could go to Disney World, but it wasn’t in the cards, so I made the kiddos Mickey Mouse-shaped rice krispie treats on a stick and dipped them in chocolate candy coating. They were thrilled!
My favorite recipe for kids is stromboli. They love ham and cheese or cheese and pepporoni! It always looks so fun and they love love love dipping their stromboli in yummy alfredo or marinara sauce.
My kid is super picky, but he loves yogurt drinks (he calls them monkey drinks) and cheese quesadillas!
Mix in the pan yellow cake was an easy recipe for us kids to make growing up and was especially great when my dad used it to make English Trifle. All the kids loved the layers of the dessert!
Chocolate chip cookies. With milk, of course.
Red White & Blue Layered Drinks! My kids had a great time making these to share with their friends.
My kids favorite right now is pasta with the “green” sauce. It’s really a creamy pesto that my husband and I enjoy also!
Hey Sara,
I am a huge fan of pesto… how do you do the creamy pesto sauce? I am already craving it and I don’t even know what it really is! :)
When we were little, my mom used to make up a batch of bread dough, give us each a chunk of dough and some cookie cutters. We each had our own pan of little bread shapes.. it’s one of my favorite memories! I can’t wait to do the same with my little man.
With my nieces and nephews I love to make a huge tray of rice krispie treats and then use cookie cutters to cut them out in shapes and then either characterize them or frost them.
pizza bread…and sugar cookies.
I just discovered this blog through pinterest and will be trying some recipes soon!!
Honestly…my kids go CRAZY over homemade popcorn. We even make it when we go camping!
Congratulations Brooke, you won! Email us at [email protected] with your address, and we’ll send you your cookbook ASAP.
It’s a toss up between no bake cookies or caramel popcorn!!
I don’t have a favorite recipe, but I do know that I’ve got to get my boys cooking – even if I have to start with desserts! :)
My favorite recipe for kids would have to be rice krispie treats. They are so easy and kids just gobble them up!
My son is just 22 months so I don’t have a favorite but I would love to learn some new recipes for him!
My 5 year old loves to make fudge – mostly to lick the spoon I think!
The grandkids enjoy making snickerdoodles and they always turn out great!
We love cake pops!
Our favorite recipe is the giant cookie. The kids think it is great!
Looks like a cute cookbook! And I agree a soft ginger cookie tastes best!
I love making homemade pretzels with my kids. They actually like to roll them and make them into other shapes and people figures. :)
Mindy:
Did I miss it? About how many cookies (not g-bread men) will this recipe make? THANKS!
P
Pauline,
It made just over 3 dozen for me. Hope you enjoy!
My favorite are chocolate chip cookies.
When I asked the kids (who are all hanging out here) they all yelled “cut out cookies!!”. That being said, the thing I learned was that they build cookies vertically! I didn’t know that a 1/3 inch cookie could have 3 inches of frosting in it…amazing!
My daughter’s favorite is anything Mexican! She loves taco nights!
When my daughter-in-law was visiting from Houston this summer she showed me your blog with all the great recipes she and Jackson (figure that, my son cooking!) like to cook. When I read it, I said “I know them!”. How fun to see the talented Sterzer girls and their cute Mom. We moved to Heber soon after your parents left the ward. We loved your family and now I love making your recipes. Thanks for sharing.
Suzette,
That is such a funny story! It’s crazy how many people we’ve reconnected with since starting this blog. I didn’t know you guys had moved to Heber. Love that area! Tell your family hi for us. It was SO fun hearing from you.
My girls love ginger cookies. We’ll have to try this new recipe! Thanks!!
I like to make cookies for Santa with my kids and Reindeer food (aka muddy buddies or puppy chow) to leave out Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning I bake up some Monkey Bread and I say to them, “look what Santa’s reindeer left us!” it’s my little joke, and they’re still too young to get it. Someday they’ll laugh or roll their eyes . . . I’ll take either reaction :)
My oldest is an energetic two year old, so she loves anything she can ‘help’ with. Her most frequent request, however, is pancakes—made with love by Daddy.
we love making fruit smoothies and I love sneaking in frozen spinach while the kids aren’t looking. Oh, and they really love getting out the ice cream maker and making homemade ice cream, such a fun process.
We love to make chocolate chip cookies at our house or really any fun sweet treat.
The favorite around this chicken coop is wheat pancakes!! It is a homemade recipe that I have kept from my own mother that I try to keep around for the frequent times that comfort food is needed. All I can say is ::BEWARE:: if I don’t have any mix on hand!
Thank you for your wonderful contributions to our family table!
My kids are all grown up now, but they used to love a recipe for edible chocolate playdough. My son asked for the recipe to make for his kids and I couldn’t find mine but I found one on the cdkitchen.com website that appears to be like the one I used to make. The recipe is fun, easy and delicious – think Tootsie Roll!
Different recipes at different stages…right now with kids 18, 16 and 11 we love to grill pizza and homemade cookies or pizzookies topped with vanilla bean ice cream. YUMMY!
My kids LOVE homemade popsicles and smoothies. So easy, so fun, and so great when everyone enjoys the treat.
My son is always excited to decorate sugar cookies. A cookie can’t have too many sprinkles!
My kids love no-bake granola bars. They have fun witht all the possible mix-ins!
Rice Krispies Bars!!
My kids love my french toast with buttermilk syrup. They keep telling me that I could open a restaurant that only serves breakfast :) They know how to get what they want.
My boys love peanut butter popcorn! It’s a favorite for movie night.
Rice Krispy treats! They’re very forgiving a kid-friendly!
My kids LOVE decorating sugar cookies with me. I love it too…just not the clean-up after. ;)
My favorite recipe for kids has been homemade popsicles. This is a great little recipe that my mom use to make for my sister and I. She would let us pick out the flavors of Jello and Kool aid. They were perfect on a hot day. The ginger cookies look super yummy!! I like chewy ones too!!
In our house we love what my daughter calls “Big Pancakes”. They are french crepes that we fry, put butter and powdered sugar on and then roll. Delicious! I love this website, almost as much as my husband! He loves every recipe of yours I try!
I cook and bake as much as you amazing women (and especially love using YOUR recipes!) and now that I have more kids running around, there are more things I like for them…but sometimes less things I like to make WITH them since they all want to help everytime ;) Some of my favorite treats to make with them are homemade Butterfinger Ice Cream, Frozen Oreo Mint Ice Cream Dessert, a Double Chocolate Cherry Dessert Pizza recipe, they love to help make Puppy Chow (Muddy Buddies) for a fun quick travel snack, and those fun rolo, pretzel, m&m snacks on the snaps pretzel grids are so fun for them to do 100% on their own.
Green smoothies! No better way for my picky 3 year old to eat spinach.
Good ol’ chocolate chip cookies.
My 17 month-old girl loves pumpkin-banana muffins. The banana makes the pumpkin really mild and the muffins have chocolate chips.
Rainbow jello!
Frozen juice pops!
My daughter loves making anything she can dip her fingers in to try! She also likes making popsicles with fruit and veggie juice.
We love to do Choc Cover Rice Krispies!!
my kids love mickey mouse pancakes with the choc chip face
My kids love to make cookies, all kinds!
My kids love rice krispie treats and anything with peanut butter!
We love good old-fashioned sugar cookies, and decorating them, or course!
after all these year our favorite is still home made playdough :)
My all time favorite is my grandma’s Raisin filled ice box cookies. They are like fig newtons but made with raisins. Soooo yummy!
We love making cinnamon swirl bread, which usually only lasts about a day and a half. The kids are great bread kneaders!
My son loves when we make home-made pudding pops or jello popcorn!
My boys love spaghetti!!
How about caramel popcorn? Shaken in a large plastic bag instead of stirred. OR – Homemade ice cream, super-wrapped in a ball and thrown around until it creams. The fun only heightens the anticipation of the dessert!
Brownie’s! Mostly because my kids like to lick the bowls and spatulas. :)
My kids LOVE breakfast for dinner. Preferably chocolate chip pancakes.
My kids’ favorites are cereal-based: rice krispies treats and muddy buddies!
“Green Wreath Christmas Cookies” ~ Cream cheese spritz cookie dough using the star disc. My kids have loved making these for the last 23 years. They can’t wait to put a little frosting on and then the red hots :0) It is a family tradition around here.
My kids favorite is Steak and Dutch oven potatoes made on the stove. They beg for it.
My kids love homemade mac’n'cheese and also anything they can dip. Love your blog!
My favorite thing to bake with my kids is muffins! We definitely know the muffin man around our house!
I recently made the soft pretzel recipe with my kids. They thought it was great to make snakes and paint them with butter. Thanks for the great recipes!
My kids love making Sm’ores on a stick. they love dipping different shaped marshmallow in melted chocolate then graham crackers.
We like to try all kinds of new things but I think my kids’ favorite is good old snickerdoodles.
My grandchildren love blueberry muffins (with the tops dipped in a butter-lemon juice mixture and then sugar) made in the mini-muffin pans. There’s something about their tiny size that they just love. I’d love to have this cookbook – thanks for sharing!
My kids favorite in chocolate chip pancakes with fresh raspberries in them. They are so sweet they don’t even need sticky syrup!
My kids love helping make no bake cookies.
I loved making puppy chow with my kids. They are now grownup but the grandkids love it also.
Why, oh why, did I get rid of my Sesame Street cookie cutters circa 1985?!? They came with a simple sugar cookie-like recipe and we loved to make those cookies. Nothing special, but oh, the memories!
Waffles with strawberries and whip cream smiley faces! Also Chocolate Chip Cookies!
My kids and I love cooking anything together, but muffins and pancakes seem to be what we’ve done the most!
My kids love taco salad!!!
Apple sandwiches. I slice them so they’re about 1/4″ thin and the whole circular shape of the apple, which is the bread, then they take small cookie cutters and cute their cheese slices into shapes and put it inside the “apple bread”, sometimes I get them to add lunch meat or pepperoni too.
well darn, I think this giveaway might be closed, I was out of town and missed it. I am commenting in case it is not closed, I would love to win
yeay, this is 4 sure the recipe im going to use this christmas