The Idea

The Cookie Fairy Project is an idea designed to teach children about spreading kindness. With their families, children will bake chocolate chip cookies and write a note for someone. My hope is that the recipient will pass this act of kindness along to someone else by doing the same thing - and so on and so on.

The Project

The Cookie Fairy Project is an idea that came to me one day after the kids and I delivered chocolate chip cookies to family friends whose daughter had just undergone a major surgery. I knew how much they had recently been through. My goal was, for a brief moment, to give this family a small reprieve from everything they were experiencing with a little treat and put a smile on their faces.

I love to bake chocolate chip cookies. And let's be honest, who doesn't love a chocolate chip cookie? It's the only recipe I know by heart, and probably the only one I can't mess up, well, most of the time! I can't take credit for this hobby though. I have to give credit where credit is due, to my mom.

I grew up in a house where my mom was always baking cookies for people. Whether it was for someone who was graduating, sick, in the middle of a crisis, moving into a new home, you name it, my mom was always sending cards and cookies. Often, my mom let me help, and that was a treat because I got to lick the spatula and probably have a cookie, too! I cherish those memories of spending time together in the kitchen.

As a mom, I look back at those memories of my mom baking and delivering cookies for families with a different viewpoint. I realize now that her intentions were much greater than a tasty treat, but it was about showing kindness to others. She wanted them to feel loved, appreciated, and thought of. She wanted them to know that this was her way of reaching out. It wasn't a huge gesture that took a great deal of time but it was one that took care and thought.

I try to follow in my mom's footsteps in a lot of ways. I'll never be nearly as thoughtful or generous, but I see the value in this small act on so many levels. My kids love to bake, and they love to bake with me! As a family spending time in the kitchen together is a time for us to laugh and talk and learn about so many things. Baking not only teaches kids about science and math, but it also teaches them about trial and error, perseverance, and patience. Most importantly though, it teaches them to look outside themselves and their own lives and allows them to feel compassion and love for others.

You might be thinking come on Jul, you're laying it on a little thick here, but I'm telling you, it makes my heart smile to pass this on to my kids. Moms, I'm sure you can vouch for me. Do our kids realize how lucky they are? Do they ask for material things, like A LOT? Do they value screen time way too much? Chances are you've answered yes to all three of my questions! After that day when I delivered those cookies to the family I mentioned earlier, I had one of Oprah's ah-hah moments! This is my mission! This is what I'm meant to share with the world! Ok, maybe this idea won't reach around the globe, but hey, what do we tell our kids? Aim high! And so, The Cookie Fairy Project is born. It's like the tooth fairy, but even better! I ask you with an open heart, will you join me on this journey? Will you become a cookie fairy?

xoxo,

Julie

The Recipe

1/2 pound unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup white sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 bags of chocolate chips or chocolate chunks (either semi-sweet or milk)

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugars on a fairly high speed for a few minutes.

When the butter and sugars are light and fluffy, add in the eggs, on a slow speed, one at a time.

Next, add the vanilla. In a separate bowl, gently stir the dry ingredients together - that's the flour, salt, and baking soda.

Now you are ready to add the dry ingredients to the batter.

On a slow speed, carefully and slowly add the dry ingredients until combined. Try not to over mix.

Last but not least, slowly add your chocolate chips to the batter.

Now, that wasn't so bad, right? I recommend you line your cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Using a teaspoon cookie scooper, drop cookies about two inches apart on your sheet. If you don't have a cookie scoop, no big deal, roll about an inch of dough into a ball and place each cookie on your tray, again, about two inches apart.

Adults, place the cookie sheets in your oven. Each oven is different, but the cookies should take about 10 minutes to bake.

You'll know your cookies are done when you start to smell the delicious aroma in your kitchen and the cookies are brown around the edges.

Adults, when done, carefully remove the tray from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on a cooling rack.

When the cookies are cool, you can place them into a plastic container, metal tin, large bag, or whatever you wish to deliver them in.

What to do while your cookies are baking

While your cookies are baking you can fill out the available note to send with your cookies. By this time, you've probably already thought of the person or family you would like to send cookies to. Take this time to write a thoughtful note. It doesn't have to be long, just try to express why you chose them and what they mean to you. Speak from the heart. Listen to your children and what they want to say. It doesn't have to be perfectly written. After all of the batches of cookies have been baked and cooled, attach the note to the container and you're done! Once you have delivered your cookies, you will be an official cookie fairy! Maybe whoever received the cookies is in a position to pay this gesture forward to someone else! How great would that be! But if not, that's completely fine, too. You did something great for someone. Be proud!

Testimonials

If you've been a recipient of a Cookie Fairy, or you've become a Cookie Fairy, I encourage you to write a little message on Facebook or Instagram about what this small act of kindness meant to you. You can also upload a short video if you'd like. My hope is that we encourage one another with our testimonials, either on the giving or receiving end, to keep The Cookie Fairy Project alive and growing, and reaching more and more people.

Let's see how far and wide this act of kindness can travel. Maybe it'll start in Oceanport, NJ and stay here. I would honestly be happy with that! But maybe, just maybe, this idea has the impact to reach hundreds or even thousands of others in our state, in other states, or dare I say, even in other countries! Unfortunately, there are a lot of scary and sad things happening in our world today, but if there's something I truly believe in, it's that humanity is kind. Help me spread the cookie love! Let's spend this quality time with our kids and teach them that sometimes small acts of kindness have a great impact.