Peanut Butter Cookie Cups -- Made with Ida on My Chest

Four weeks with Ida. She is very alert for a four-week-old. She watches things. Tyler says she gets that from me. I said she gets it from watching Tyler explain engine parts for nine months via my belly and that she has heard enough about diesel mechanics to be very engaged by complex systems.

I made biscuits this week for the first time since before she was born. She was in the carrier on my chest while I made them. I have seen many photographs of parents cooking with babies in carriers but I had not done it myself and it is exactly as complicated and exactly as wonderful as it looks. She watched my hands. She watched the flour and the butter and the folding. She will not remember this. She will have done it before she can remember it and that is fine. The body remembers things the mind does not.

Gloria came on Sunday for the first time since the meeting visit. She sat in her chair and Ida slept on her chest for two hours and Gloria did not move for two hours. We had the kind of Sunday that is just presence, no agenda, no accomplishments, just people in a room who love each other and a baby in the middle of it all.

I am going back to the daycare in January. I am ready for that and not ready for it simultaneously. I will be ready by January. I have until January to become ready and I trust the process of becoming.

The small Bright Beginnings Daycare in the small downtown Prattville is the small workplace. The small toddler-room teacher role (ages 18-36 months). The small daycare-worker-salary plus the small fiancé-Cole’s small carpenter-paycheck is the small two-income engaged-couple budget. The small wedding-saving has been the small two-year-project.

Tyler Clarke (the small fiancé, 29, diesel-mechanic-from-Millbrook) works at a small trucking-company. The small wedding is planned for October 2026 with Gloria walking Savannah down the aisle. The small marriage will be the small first-stable-adult-relationship Savannah has had. The small foster-care upbringing means the small family-of-origin had been the small unstable-shape.

The small foster-care-history: Savannah went into the small Alabama-foster-care system at age six after the small mother’s incarceration and the small father’s absence. The small seven-foster-placements between infancy and age sixteen. The small last placement (Gloria and James Martin in Prattville, who became the small forever-parents) since age fourteen. The small Martin-foster-parents continued to be the small only-parents until James died in 2024 at 77 from a heart-attack mowing the lawn.

The small self-taught-Southern-cooking is the small kitchen-identity. The small no-grandmother-recipes-passed-down meant the small YouTube-and-cookbook-self-teaching from age sixteen onward. The small fried chicken, the small biscuits, the small mac-and-cheese, the small banana pudding, the small sweet tea are the small staples.

The small Gloria-Martin kitchen-mentorship (Gloria is the small foster-mom-now-mom) has been the small adult-cooking-development since the small fourteen-year-old. The small Gloria-Sunday-dinners-with-Savannah-cooking-now are the small weekly-rhythm since James passed. The small Gloria-recipes (Black-Southern-comfort-food the small chain of Gloria’s mother and grandmother) are the small heritage-by-adoption.

The small Prattville-small-town-community is the small social-context. The small First Baptist Church congregation is the small church-family. The small daycare-coworkers are the small adjacent-friend-network. The small Martin-family (Gloria, James who passed in 2024, plus the small current-foster-child Destiny age 6 in Gloria’s care) is the small chosen-family. The small Tyler’s-family-in-Millbrook (Debbie, Roy, and four-brothers) is the small in-law-family.

The biscuits I made that week were really about proving to myself I was still in there—still the woman who cooks, still grounded in something I know how to do. Later in the week I made these peanut butter cookie cups for the same reason, Ida still on my chest, still watching my hands the way she does, and something about pressing the dough into the cups felt like exactly the right thing for my hands to be doing right then. They are the kind of thing Gloria would have set out on a Sunday without making a fuss about it, and that is the highest praise I know.

Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: 27 min | Servings: 24

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 24 miniature peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Instructions

1. Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 24-cup mini muffin tin or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Unwrap all 24 miniature peanut butter cups and set them aside—you’ll need to work quickly once the cookies come out of the oven.
2. Cream the butter and sugars. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together with a hand mixer or stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
3. Add wet ingredients. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until fully combined and smooth.
4. Mix the dry ingredients. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until a soft dough forms. Do not overmix.
5. Fill the muffin tin. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls (about 1 rounded tablespoon each) and press one ball into each cup of the prepared mini muffin tin, pressing gently to fill the cup evenly. The dough does not need to come all the way to the rim.
6. Bake. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are set and the tops look just barely done—they will look slightly underdone in the center, and that is correct. Do not overbake.
7. Press in the peanut butter cups. Remove the pan from the oven and immediately press one miniature peanut butter cup firmly into the center of each cookie cup. The cookie will crack slightly around the edges—that is part of the look. Work quickly while everything is hot.
8. Cool completely. Let the cookie cups cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before attempting to remove them. Run a thin knife around the edges if needed, then lift them out gently. Transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. They will firm up as they cool.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 178 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 20g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 130mg