An old family recipe
This week the Wolfe house is busy with the making of play-dough on the stove top. The DFW team for Texas Parent-to-Parent will have a booth at the Autism Speaks Walk this Saturday at the Ballpark in Arlington and we plan on giving the kids at the event a super experience for their senses.
I’ve dusted off an old family recipe that was a big hit with Sam when he was little. He was consumed with making sense of the world through his challenged senses. We made this dough, and then added a secret ingredient — a package of unsweetened Kool-Aid to match the color with a flavor “scent.” He loved it.
To wit, put these ingredients in a large saucepan and heat over very low heat, stirring constantly, until it’s thick:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon oil.
Remove from the heat and as soon as you can work the dough with your hands, make a well in the middle and add 1/2 teaspoon of food coloring to match the Kool-Aid flavor. For example — purple and grape; green and lime; red and strawberry; yellow and lemon; and, of course, orange orange and blue blueberry.
The dough keeps for a few days in a rubber keeper or airtight bag. Plus, if your little one takes a bite, you don’t have to worry about any mystery ingredients.
And when I say thick, I mean a ball of clay, and slightly dry. That’s why the heat has to stay low and you’ve got to keep stirring.
I noticed when I mixed up the purple color and grape Kool-Aid it was a more gray than purple at first. By morning, it was a nice purple color. I imagine the salt in the dough has to cool a bit for the color to emerge.