He watches the doors to the playground every morning eagerly waiting for his best friend to arrive. They run to greet each other and my son hands him the toy car he picked from his basket on the way out the door to share with him on the playground before the bell rings. Whenever I pass his classroom and indulge the urge to peek inside the open door, I always find them together, sitting side by side on the circle rug or rummaging through the costume box together deep in their pretend play.

He will have many best friends in his life, but the first one is special. He is learning how to be a friend, they are learning together, and it’s wonderful to see from afar. Every once in a while, I see a downturned eye and frown, then a hand reaches for a shoulder, and they smile eye to eye before running off again. These sweet boys are learning valuable lessons from each other every day, and I am so blessed to witness it.

His best friend has a big sister, and one afternoon on the way to her family car, she handed me a note from her mother with her phone number. I waved to her in the pickup line and sent her a message later to set up a playdate. We met at a playground on a Saturday afternoon and enjoyed learning about each other. She is from a different culture, and they speak a different language in their home, and I am truly thrilled to learn more from her — some new words, some unknown history, and especially some recipes … I love Thai food!

My son was exhausted after his afternoon at the playground, so he rested in his spot on the couch while I made my weekly batch of cookies for his after-school treat. This week I wanted to make something a little different — something a little less vanilla than our usual chocolate chip, so I made a batch of spiced molasses cookies with golden sprinkles. These soft, pillowy cookies are sweet and fragrant and perfect with a glass of milk after a playdate.

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¾ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

¼ cup molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla

Sugar for rolling (optional)

Directions:

Cream the butter and brown sugar until lightened and fluffy.

Add the egg and mix until smooth.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and baking soda.

Add the molasses to the creamed butter and mix thoroughly. You don’t want any streaks.

Add the dry ingredients and mix gently to combine. Try not to overwork the dough or your cookies will end up tough.

Cover with plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Roll the chilled dough into small balls. You want the finished cookies to be small- the flavor can be overwhelming in large portions, so keep them small. Each of my dough balls was about a tablespoon and a half.

You can roll the dough balls in sugar at this stage if you want, but there was enough sugar in the dough for my taste, so I skipped this step.

Arrange your balls on the lined baking sheet and press down gently to flatten slightly. I topped mine with sprinkles at this stage.

Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the edges are slightly darkened. The centers should look slightly undercooked — don’t worry, they will finish as they cool. If the centers are firm in the oven, the cookies will be dry.

Cool completely before storing for up to 1 week.