Although member Celine Leonard says she usually follows recipes, she had to make a few changes when making her aunt’s traditional ginger cookie. “This was my aunt’s recipe, passed on to me from her daughter. The replacement recipe made ginger snaps, the harder dunk-in-your-milk kind,” she explains. “Because my husband prefers a softer, chewier cookie, I added the sweetened condensed milk and the crystallized ginger. Now we have flat, cracked-top, chewy ginger cookies.”


2 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger

1. In large bowl, stir together sugar, oil, sweetened condensed milk and molasses. Whisk in eggs, one at a time.

2. In another large bowl, stir together flour, ground ginger, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Slowly stir flour mixture into milk mixture; stir in ginger. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours or until chilled.

3. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease baking sheets or line with parchment paper. Roll dough into 1-inch balls; place on baking sheets. Bake 12 minutes or until edges begin to brown slightly. Cool on baking sheets 2 minutes to allow cookies to firm up slightly. Cool completely on wire racks.

5 dozen cookies

PER COOKIE: 140 calories, 5.5 g total fat (1 g saturated fat), 1.5 g protein, 21.5 g carbohydrate, 10 mg cholesterol, 75 mg sodium, .5 g fiber