Sunday, March 8, 2009

Comfort Tray

Nothing takes care of a horrible no good very bad day better than some of mom's comfort, warm tea and freshly baked cookies.

Are you prepared with a comfort food for your kids if they are having one of those tough days? Or if your husband comes home from a rotten day at work? Or even for yourself if the wash machine decides to overflow, dinner burns, the coffee scalds, the pets are sick and everyone is crying?

A trick I like to do is have a comfort tray ready for times of small emotional disasters. My tray consists of two special tea cups, pretty napkins, and some tea bags. And the fridge or freezer always has at least one batch of drop cookies ready to take out and pop into the oven at a moments notice.


I also just made some laminated coupons to go on the tray. Very simply, I took pretty pieces of paper and wrote out a few words on them, then covered them in clear plastic to help make them lasting. The point of using the coupons is to give the kids an opportunity to express what they need to help them feel better without necessarily having to explain it in words. We have:
*Hug*
*Talk*
*Book*
*Game*
*DVD*
*Comfort Corner*

So if someone is having one of those horrible no good very bad days, they can go to the tray and pick a coupon while I heat some water and pop some cookies into the oven for a little dose of mama's comfort.
An added bonus of the always set tea tray, is that it is ready and easily available when someone comes to visit! So again, just heat up water and pop the cookies in the oven!

The cookies that we like to have on hand is the Toll House Chocolate Chip recipe. I mix up a batch of these and drop them into rounded balls onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Then cover with another layer of plastic and stick into the freezer. I drop 12 per sheet, which is how many fit onto my cookie sheet. That way, I don't have to bake the entire batch, just a pan at a time.

Original NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Nestle´ Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts
Directions:PREHEAT oven to 375° F.COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. * May be stored in refrigerator for up to 1 week or in freezer for up to 8 weeks. FOR HIGH ALTITUDE BAKING (5,200 feet): Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups. Add 2 teaspoons water with flour and reduce both granulated sugar and brown sugar to 2/3 cup each. Bake drop cookies for 8 to 10 minutes and pan cookie for 17 to 19 minutes.

1 comment:

  1. What a WONDERFUL idea! I am so going to add a comfort tray to my home! Thanks, mama! :0)

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