Note to self: Be careful of your hashtags and double entendres. Because regardless of what you intend, all it takes is a simple misinterpretation to get a completely different read on a situation, comment, or post.

Let me back up to when I got a refresher course in being straightforward. Last summer, I had it in my head to get ahead on my blog. Use all that free time without kiddos, lesson plans, and meetings to take pictures, create recipes, and type up the posts. It was a good plan, and I was on track until October hit, and I completely forgot to post. #fail. Anyway, in the midst of me summering and chipping away at the blog to do list, I had a short bout of post-concussion syndrome. (The bars and slides at the City Museum will do that to you if you’re not careful.) While under the influence of this post-concussion syndrome, I posted a picture of unfrosted cookie cups after I tested the recipe. In my excitement about getting ahead and, you know, feeling like I had my life together, I instagrammed three of these little cookies with the caption and hashtags: “Always hustlin’. #jennythebaker #cominginseptember.”

Now, what I meant was, “Look at me getting ahead of myself and not waiting until the 29th of the month to realize, “Oh crap, the month is almost over, and I still haven’t posted anything yet! But nope- not this time- I’m prepping a post in June for September. Woops. I mean, January.”
But I guess being a late 20-something, having three cookies on a plate, and the hashtag “cominginseptember” could be read differently and lead you to believe this post wasn’t about a new recipe. Despite the questionable math behind a June announcement for a September baby (isn’t there a rule about announcing in the 12-20 week range?), there was at least one person who thought I was pregnant. If you know me, you are probably dying right now because you know where I stand on the babies/kiddos decision. It involves waiting. A while. A long while.

At 28, the requests I get for custom cake orders have moved on from gender reveal cakes to smash cakes (if you need one, I got you!), and my calendar is bursting with notifications to bring this friend a meal, go to that first birthday party, and attend another friend’s baby shower. This season is full of couples multiplying into families and babies growing into toddlers. It’s crazy, it’s joyful, and it’s exciting. But it is also interesting to be an outsider looking in, experiencing all of these life and family changes vicariously and not simultaneously.
If you had asked me in my freshman or sophomore year of college what my life would look like 10 years later, I would have said something about staying at home and having children. Plural. But somewhere between being 18 and 22, the vision for my life changed, and God made me realize that going to school merely for an M.R.S. degree was not at all it. So here I am, with my only “kiddos” being the 81 boys who call me Mrs. Barrett and are in my care from 7:45-4:00 Monday through Friday. And I LOVE it. I love my boys, and I love my job. I also love my friends and their kids. I’m happy to hold their babies and wrangle their toddlers.

But I want to acknowledge the disconnect that comes with being a certain age and feeling stuck in a stage of life when others have “moved on” to the “next stage.” Regardless of whether that “being stuck” is by choice or not, it complicates things and makes relationships more difficult. I have learned a lot, and not just about butt paste, breastfeeding, and the cloth vs. disposable diapers debate. Having empathy, being able to listen well, and finding common ground have become more important than ever. And while the easy thing is to ditch the relationships with those I don’t have much in common with, citing a different life stage and resultant drifting as a plausible reason to separate, that’s just an excuse. Building relationships with someone who is different from me makes both of us better people. It’s not about who can do which stage of life best or why mine is better than yours, but about what we can learn from each other and our differences. And for right now, that means loving and supporting my friends who are moms, singles, grandparents, etc. to the best of my ability and continuing to seek out friendships with people I can’t call “my twin.”

Whew. That got deep real fast, and if you came here just for the cookies, thanks for sticking with me! Speaking of babies and cuteness, these little cookie cups are about to blow your mind and become your new favorite! They’re a mashup of the classic snickerdoodle and one of my favorite childhood cereals, Golden Grahams. Growing up, we didn’t have snickerdoodles a whole lot (Mom wasn’t a huge fan, but I have vague memories of them on cookie trays at Christmas), and Golden Grahams were a treat (heyo parents against sugary cereal), but now I’m an adult and get to eat whatever I want! Ha! Cookies for breakfast! But seriously, I’ve jazzed up snickerdoodles before, but this time, we’ve got two extra twists going on: one, the cookie-baked-in-a-muffin-tin lends itself well to being a mini deep dish cookie. This makes a perfect canvas for twist number two, the frosting, which has crushed up Golden Graham in it. Dangerous stuff to have on hand, let me tell you what. I made these cookies for my coworkers as a test, and they got rave reviews, so much so that one of them requested them for her birthday! If Fruit Loops or cereal milk isn’t your thing, but you’re still looking for a cereal-themed treat, make these, and let me know how it goes!

Snickerdoodle Cookie Cups with Golden Graham Frosting!

Created by Jenny Barrett on January 13, 2018

A cookie cup decked out in cinnamon and graham deliciousness!

• Total Time: 1h

• Yield: 24-28 cookie cups

Ingredients

Snickerdoodle Cookie Cups

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
• 2 tablespoons white sugar

Golden Graham Frosting

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup Golden Grahams, crushed into a fine powder
• 1 teaspoon heavy cream, as needed

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray with cooking spray or line two 12-count muffin tins with cupcake wrappers.
2. Beat butter and brown sugar on medium high until light and fluffy, about 1.5-2 minutes.
3. Beat in egg and vanilla, mixing on low speed until combined.
4. Add baking powder, salt, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and half of the flour. Mix until combined, and then add the remaining flour.
5. In a small bowl, combine the white sugar and cinnamon. Mix until combined.
6. Roll the cookie dough into balls that contain about 2 tablespoons of dough. Before placing in the muffin tins, coat the dough balls in cinnamon sugar mixture. Distribute dough balls into muffin tins.
7. Bake for 10-13 minutes at 350 degrees, turning at the 5 minute mark. Mine were done at 11:30. Allow the cookies to cool in the muffin tins for at least 10 minutes. Once completely cooled, pipe or spread frosting onto cookie cups.
8. To make the frosting, cream the butter and powdered sugar together until smooth and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add heavy cream if you'd like to alter the consistency (too thick); beat the frosting on high for 1-2 minutes if you\'d like the frosting to be fluffier. Once the frosting is your desired consistency, stir in the graham cracker crumbs.

Source: Your Cup of Cake

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