Earlier this summer I made these baking kits for the Lorton Community Action Center’s child programming. In lieu of on site activities they asked for volunteers to make kits that the children could use to learn and have fun over the summer. Of course I chose the baking option :P. It was a blast putting this kit together! The funnest part was designing the instructions / activity packet. I probably went overboard on details, but I hope they found it at least entertaining. Here is a link to the instructions / activity packet.

I chose to share my grandma’s famous ginger cookie recipe (the same one I used for the Bakers Against Racism campaign earlier this year). These are such accessible cookies because they require so few “fresh” or “specialty” ingredients and they are so delicious.

With the kit, I was able to provide everything except for the one egg required by the recipe. I wondered if I could incorporate measuring ingredients somehow, but I settled on pre-measured supplies to make it easier. I did, however, provide the kids with an easy math problem involving measurements on the activity sheet.

I personally love cookies fresh out of the oven, and since there is only two of us around here, I don’t like to bake all the cookies in a batch at once (pace yourselves!). So if I make cookie dough for us, I usually end up freezing most of it. If you want to make a batch of molasses cookie dough and freeze it, here is what I recommend: Roll the balls of dough in sugar and place on a lined baking sheet. Freeze uncovered until frozen. Place into a freezer bag or freezer-safe, airtight container and label with the date. Conventional wisdom is that frozen cookie dough lasts 9-12 months in freezer.

You can find the entire cookie recipe here.

Do you bake with your kids? Or do you have other recipes in mind that would work well for a kit like this?

Want more Fairfax Foodie Fun? Follow us on Instagram @fairfaxfoodie, Scroll through our Pinterest board, or find me on Twitter @TawnyaAzar