Several years ago when Miss Bee and my Goddaughter were finishing their 6th grade confirmation class at church,
they were asked to come up with a mission project that would serve the
community.  They both love to bake and thought they could combine their
interest in baking with finding a way to serve others.  Thus, “Flour
Girls” was formed.   Who doesn’t have a soft spot for cute little girls asking if you would support their cause?

It was a perfect plan with so many teaching opportunities we never imagined.  In their own 12-year old way they wrote a business plan, used their math skills to tweak recipes, learned how to present themselves and share their project with our church members by handing out samples and taking orders, calculated how many cookies they had to make in order to fulfill orders, packaged them, followed up to remind donors their orders were ready and distributed them on the promised delivery date.  Their first project raised $600 and benefited Family Pathfinders whose mission is
to strengthen the community by empowering families and individuals to
attain self-sufficiency.  They stretched their one-time project into two years.  Between homework and after-school activities, two little girls “Baking Sweets for Change” raised over $2,500.

One recipe they perfected was for Soft Ginger Cookies.  The Flour Girls made these in the fall one year and they were a big hit with everyone.  Being a cold, rainy night I was in the mood to bake.  When I came across the recipe tonight, I saw a note that said, “Need to make 1,062 cookies = 88 dozen = 187 bags of cookies.”  That’s a lot of sweetness!

Soft Ginger Cookies

2 1/4 cups of flour
3 tsp. of ground ginger
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. of cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup of softened butter
1 cup of white sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup of molasses

Combine flour, ginger, soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt.  Set aside.

Beat butter 30 seconds until soft.

Add sugar and beat until fluffy.

Add egg and molasses and beat well.

Add 1/2 the flour mixture and stir in the rest of the flour mixture.

Roll into 1-inch balls, then roll into a mixture of sugar and cinnamon.

Place cookies 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.  Do not brown.  The cookies should be almost under baked in the middle.

Let cool (who really does that?).

Makes 36 cookies.