Another Popular Walz Family Recipe Just Dropped, And After Trying It Myself, I Can See Why Everyone's Obsessed With It

The past few years have gifted us quite a few recipes in the era of politician-food crossovers. I distinctly remember Vice President Kamala Harris's tuna melt recipe from 2020, in which she playfully teased Virginia Sen. Mark Warner for his viral controversial take on the sandwich. His version included some white bread, sopping wet tuna, and a 30-second blast in the microwave to melt the cheese. Needless to say, he was quickly humbled.

There was also the time we unfortunately had to learn that former president Donald Trump ordered a $54 dry-aged New York strip steak well done and proceeded to smother it in ketchup.

@Eater / Stephen Lovekin / WireImage for Hill & Knowlton / Via Twitter: @Eater

Most recently, Minnesota Governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz's Hotdish went viral, a meal my fellow BuzzFeed writer Ross described as "perfection." Apparently, Walz has a history of award-winning hotdish recipes, even if he gets called out by passionate Midwesterners for using peas.

@GovTimWalz / Via Twitter: @GovTimWalz

All this to say that food and politics have entered quite the union, whether it's a Cooking with Kamala segment or some good ol' pork chop flipping at the Iowa State Fair.

So it's no surprise that in continuing the spirit of politics, food, and Walz family recipes, Minnesota first lady and wife of Tim Walz, Gwen Walz, dropped a famous dish of her own: her great-grandmother's gingersnap cookies. In an incredibly wholesome video posted on YouTube, Gwen says she brings her cookies to field offices along the campaign trail for folks working "long hours."

While there aren't specific measurements listed in the video, Gwen can be seen using some pretty standard cookie ingredients. The only one that slightly threw me off was the shortening (we'll get to that later), but considering her great-grandmother lived through the Depression, it makes sense that she would've needed a suitable replacement for an expensive ingredient like butter.

One thing that she does specify, however, is an extra sprinkling of sugar on top of the cookies for each member of her family to add "a little love." Ugh, my heart.

After they received the Hope stamp of approval, I knew the amateur baker in me had to try these out for myself. As I mentioned, there aren't too many details in the video, but luckily for me, the internet works fast and has already come up with its take on the Gwen Walz Gingersnap Cookie. I decided to follow one from the food blog Riehl Food.

Here's everything I used to make them myself:

Before we get into it, just a quick note: I used my stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to make these, so my instructions will be based on that. But, just like Gwen, you can 100% use a hand mixer! Mine just so happened to be very old and tragically died a few months ago during the Great Birthday Cake Incident of 2024. So everyone say hi to my pride and joy, Bertha.

STEP 1: First, preheat your oven to 350ºF and prepare your baking sheet(s) with parchment paper. Then, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices in a large bowl. Give everything a good whisk until it's well combined and set aside.

Claudia Santos

STEP 2: In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a separate bowl using a hand mixer, cream the shortening and sugar together until smooth and fluffy, about three to five minutes on medium-high speed. This helps aerate your dough for a light, tender cookie. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go so that you wind up with a uniform dough!

Claudia Santos

This is what you're looking for. Creating those little air pockets in your dough will give you the best results, so don't skip this step! You don't want these ingredients to be just "combined." I know it can feel tedious, especially with a hand mixer, but it's worth it.

A big question I anticipate people asking is: Can you make this with softened butter? The short answer is yes, go for it. The long answer is that it will dramatically change the texture of these cookies. Shortening contains 100% fat as opposed to the approximate 80% in butter, meaning that there's no water that'll evaporate as you bake. This results in softer, taller cookies that spread less. Butter will make your cookies spread more and give them crisper edges, so it's up to your preference!

STEP 3: Add in the egg and molasses and mix everything again until smooth and homogenous, another two to three minutes.

Claudia Santos

STEP 4: Once everything is smooth, add your dry ingredients and mix on the lowest speed (sometimes I even like to pulse my mixer to do this, but I found that adding it all at once worked just fine). Mix until no visible dry spots remain, and then finish mixing by hand to get any flour you may have missed. This also prevents an overmixed dough.

Claudia Santos

You should end up with something like this: a tacky and soft dough that won't stick to your hands if you try to roll it. It'll also smell like fall in a bowl, which is a plus.

STEP 5: Now it's time to form your cookies. I highly recommend a cookie scoop to ensure all of your cookies are the same size (I used a 1 1/4-inch scoop, which I think yielded the perfect size), but you can, of course, just eyeball it.

STEP 6: Form the dough into a ball and roll it in your cinnamon sugar mixture. I want to say this step is optional, but really, it's not. That extra cinnamon-y crunch makes these that much more special.

Claudia Santos

STEP 7: Arrange your cookies on your prepared baking sheets, leaving enough room to account for spreading. I used a 12x8 baking sheet and found that four cookies fit perfectly, with plenty of room to spread.

STEP 8: Bake the cookies for about 10–12 minutes (mine took exactly 11 minutes in my oven). They should have set edges and puffy centers with a crinkle pattern formed on the surface. If they look slightly underdone, that's okay! It's preferred, actually, since they'll keep "cooking" on the baking tray as they set. I let mine sit for about 10 minutes and then transferred them to a cooling rack.

Now, the moment you've all been waiting for — the taste test. Right off the bat, baking these made my apartment smell like a dream. I'm usually a chocolate chip over cinnamon cookie kind of person, but I was willing to give these spiced cookies a fair shot simply because they smelled divine.

The texture was incredible, with crisp, set edges but a super soft and chewy center. It was kind of like a gingerbread cookie that won't break your teeth. But, while I did like their spiciness, the ground cloves slightly overpowered everything else. If I were to make these again, I'd either cut the amount by half or maybe do 1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom since I'm not a huge fan of cloves in the first place. I'd also personally up the salt to 1/2 teaspoon and maybe add some vanilla bean paste/extract.

Gwen also mentions using nutmeg in her video, which wasn't included in this particular recipe recreation but would, I'm sure, be delicious. The thing to take away is that you can totally adjust the spices depending on what you like (or don't like).

The recipe I used also didn't require any chill time, but just for the sake of experimenting, I chilled one batch for about an hour to see if it'd make a difference. The center was slightly softer, and the intense clove flavor kind of mellowed out a bit, but I wouldn't say chilling this dough is totally necessary if you don't have time.

Overall, these were so comforting and delicious — it felt like I was eating a tray of cookies at my grandma's house during Christmas. The cloves did sort of grow on me the more I ate them (and believe me, I ate a lot of them), but I'd personally adjust them next time for my own tastes.

Here are the adjustments I'd make, just in case you're also anti-clove and pro-salty cookies:

— 2 teaspoons ground ginger (instead of 1 teaspoon)

— 1/2–1 teaspoon salt (instead of 1/4 teaspoon)

— 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves or ground cardamom (instead of 1 teaspoon)

— 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract (I'd add this in with the eggs and molasses)

Let me know if you give Gwen's Gingersnaps a shot! Remember to take care of yourselves today, and know that I'll be stress-baking right alongside you.