Snickerdoodles

kids are the coolest

I’ve been in LA for the past week at my best friend Claire’s house, on true vacation mode for the first time in what feels like years (I quit my job 2 weeks ago!). In between the two wedding cakes I came here to make, my time has consisted of doing very little (as planned), mostly just training for a 5K I plan to run when I return to nyc and hanging out with Claire’s niece and nephew, Maeve and Tomas. I didn’t expect to enjoy hanging out with a 2 and 3 year old so much (only cause I don’t hang out with little kids regularly, or really at all haha), but it’s really been the best part of this trip so far. Little kids are so smart and so intuitive, you can’t fake or hide anything from them, they’re on to you the second they see you. I also generally hate being asked questions (decision fatigue iykyk) but I love how many questions they ask and just the deeply inquisitive nature of kids. But I think the most amazing thing about being around Maeve and Tomas is how present they are and how each passing moment can be such a rush of pure joy, laughter, giddiness, frustration, disappointment, or sadness. Really for the first time in my adult life it’s made me really think of how I moved through the world as a kid. Remembering what it’s like to experience life without being a jaded, cynical, pessimistic adult (maybe I’m being too dramatic but…) is both a gut punch but also like the most comforting thing I’ve thought about in ages. Little kids don’t have a compartment dedicated to self hatred in their brains yet and that’s like truly so awesome. I wonder why that changes as you get older.

Anyways, we did a few baking projects together which was a cool test of my patience and really very fun. I was actually blown away by how perfectly this 3 year old could crack an egg. These snickerdoodles have been in my recipe collection for almost 2 decades, I adapted them from a recipe on All Recipes that I think is still one of the most top rated cookie recipes on the site. Nothing beats a buttery snickerdoodle with a glass of ice cold milk. I like my snickerdoodles pretty soft in the center so I underbake them a good deal. If you like crispier snickerdoodles bake them a few minutes longer. Oh and these make phenomenal ice cream sandwiches.