Turning a Favorite Family Recipe into a Digital Math Lesson
My grandparents had a small farm in Mansfield, IL, surrounded by cornfields. Grandma Bateman, her apron covered in flour, was often at work in her kitchen baking sugar cookies for her 20 + grandchildren. As a little girl, I watched in fascination as she mixed the ingredients in a bowl, kneaded the dough, then rolled it out with her rolling pin. I knew if I was patient she might slip me a small piece to taste. It was a family favorite, and Grandma always had fresh cookies on hand for our regular Sunday afternoon visits. This recipe has passed down the generations and is now a Christmas Tradition. Please feel free to borrow for your own family:
Grandma Bateman’s Sugar Cookies
1 cup of Sugar, 1/2 cup of Butter, 1 Egg, 3 1/2 cups of Flour, 1/4 teaspoon Salt, 3/4 cup of Milk, 1/2 teaspoon of Nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon of Lemon Extract, 3 teaspoons of Baking Powder.
Mix the flour, sugar, salt, nutmeg, lemon extract, and baking powder in a bowl and sift together. In a separate bowl, mix the butter, egg, and milk, stirring till soft. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the milk mixture, adding another 1/2 cup of milk, if needed, to keep it moist. Knead the dough till smooth and springy. Put in the refrigerator overnight, or in the freezer for one hour. Then roll out the dough with a rolling pin, and cut into shapes. Bake at 325 degrees for 8 minutes. Spread icing on the warm cookies and shake on sprinkles. (Grandma Bateman used red food dye to color her sugar pink, then sprinkled it on the cookies.) Enjoy!!
Inspiration for a Math Lesson!
This recipe inspired me, years later as a math teacher, to create a math lesson for my students on doubling and tripling fractions. The students first read the list of ingredients and are introduced to the idea of doubling and tripling. When the Central Illinois cousins popped in for a visit, Grandma would have to double the recipe. (Karla, Gail, David, Kevin, Julie, Randy, Kelly, Cheryl, and Jeff!) Students take each ingredient and multiply by 2. And when the Chicago cousins came down, or the Arizona cousins came for the summer, the recipe would have to triple! (Kerry, Debbie, Scott, Jack, Ted, Dick, Nancy, Sally, Monica, Connie, Bonnie, Mark, and Bruce!) Students must then multiply each ingredient by 3. Students learn with a real-life example of how and why we multiply fractions.
Find this product in my store:
https://ampeduplearning.com/doubling-and-tripling-fractions-grandmas-sugar-cookies/
