Sunday, June 2, 2013

Sentimental Sunday: Grandma Alice's Ginger Snap Cookies (the soft ones)

My family didn't live really close to any of our grandparents, aunts or uncles, so visiting these relatives was often how we spent vacations and holidays.  These visits were often to the farm of my maternal grandparents, Martin Rudolph Erickson and Alice Caroline Erickson (nee Spearman), in central Saskatchewan.  This is the farm where my mother grew up.

Here's a photo of my grandparents on their wedding day, 6 Sept 1936.




To keep all of us kids busy, and out from under foot, we were often given little tasks to do around the farm.  One of those tasks was picking raspberries from the long line of bushes my grandmother kept just to the east of the farm house.  We kids would pick ice cream pails full of berries that Grandma could use for jam.  Luckily, visiting on the farm wasn't all work - we would always get a bowl of raspberries with cream and sugar as payment!  We were often paid with cookies, as well.  Grandma Alice's baking was awesome, so I don't think we ever minded working for cookies.

Here's the Ginger Snap Cookie recipe from Grandma Alice.  These are the soft Ginger Snaps - not the hard and crunchy ones.  I remember eating these in Grandma's kitchen, they are so tasty!  And because they are soft, they are easy on the teeth and jaws of children, and older folks, too.


Grandma Alice's Soft Ginger Snap Cookies

1 cup shortening
3/4 cup sour milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg unbeaten
1/2 cup (scant) molasses
3 cups sifted flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
Sugar for rolling in

Method:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.   Mix and knead together all ingredients.  Roll into 1 inch balls, then roll in sugar, and lay out on baking sheet.  Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes. 

Okay, after typing this recipe out I'm really craving these.  Someone needs to bake these for me next time I'm home!

P.S. - for those of you who don't usually cook, "scant" means not quite full, or not quite a whole amount.  So "1/2 cup molasses (scant)" means you use just a bit less than 1/2 cup.


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Copyright 2013 Denise G Baker, All Rights Reserved

2 comments:

  1. Saw your blog listed at Geneabloggers, congratulations. I love the picture of your grandparents. Thanks for the recipe, you have a nice blog.

    Take care,

    Moises Garza
    We Are Cousins - My personal blog about Northeastern Mexico and South Texas Genealogy

    Mexican Genealogy - Blog where anyone with Mexican roots can get started with their family genealogy and history.

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