Cream Cheese Cookie Cups

Mother's Day. Eighth. Dustin made omelets. Omelets! A new entry in the breakfast repertoire. They were — I'm going to be generous — omelet-shaped scrambled eggs. The filling (cheese, ham, onion) was present. The shape was aspirational. The taste was: fine. Perfectly fine. Better than year one. The trajectory is clear: by Mother's Day 2040, the man will make a competent breakfast. I can wait.

Post-it: "Eight years. You feed the world. Let me feed you (one terrible omelet at a time)." The self-deprecation is his love language now. The Post-its have evolved from sweet to self-aware to comedic, and the comedy is its own form of love. A man who can laugh at his own cooking while his wife publishes cookbooks is a man who is secure in his role, and his role is: everything else. The car door. The truck. The storm shelter (still don't have one — it's on the list). The Post-its. The everything else.

Chicken fried steak at Mama's. Eighth year. The kitchen is the same. The stove is the same. Mama is fifty-nine. She told me today that she put in her retirement notice at Dollar General. Last day: August 31. After twenty-three years. She said it casually, over chicken fried steak, as if she was describing a weather change. "I put in my notice," she said. I put my fork down. I said, "Mama." She said, "Roy says it's time." She said, "My knees say it's time." She said, "I'm tired, baby. Twenty-three years of tired."

I held her hand across the table. The same hand that made pinto beans in the dark, that signed my dropout papers, that knitted three blankets and counting, that waved away every compliment. That hand is retiring. That hand is going to rest. For the first time in Shelly Moreland's life, the hand is going to rest. And I'm going to cook for her, every Wednesday, for the rest of her life, because feeding Mama is how I say thank you, and thank you is a word that will never be big enough for what she did.

I’ve been thinking about what I’ll bring Mama on that first Wednesday in September, when she doesn’t have a shift to get to and her knees get to decide the pace of the day. Chicken fried steak is hers to make — that’s her kitchen, her recipe, her authority — but dessert, that’s where I can show up. These cream cheese cookie cups are what I’ll walk through her door with: small, a little indulgent, made with both hands and all the thank-you I can press into a pan. Twenty-three years of tired deserves something sweet that asks nothing back.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 18 min | Total Time: 33 min | Servings: 24 cookie cups

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup fruit preserves, chocolate-hazelnut spread, or lemon curd (for filling)
Powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 24-cup mini muffin tin or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
Cream butter and cream cheese. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and cream cheese together with a hand mixer or stand mixer on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes.
Add sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla. Add the granulated sugar and beat until light and well combined. Mix in the egg yolk and vanilla extract until fully incorporated.
Mix in the dry ingredients. Reduce mixer speed to low. Add the flour and salt gradually, mixing just until a soft dough forms. Do not overmix.
Form the cups. Scoop roughly 1 tablespoon of dough into each mini muffin cup. Press the dough down and up the sides with your thumb or the back of a small spoon to form a cup shape with a well in the center.
Fill each cup. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of your chosen filling — preserves, lemon curd, or chocolate-hazelnut spread — into the center of each dough cup. Do not overfill.
Bake. Bake for 16–18 minutes, until the edges are just lightly golden and the dough is set. The centers may look slightly soft but will firm as they cool.
Cool and release. Allow the cookie cups to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before gently running a thin knife around the edges and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Finish and serve. Dust with powdered sugar if desired. Serve at room temperature. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Cream Cheese Cookie Cups — Something Sweet for the Hand That Finally Gets to Rest