Kind Like Katey

Around Christmas one year, I asked my grandma for the recipe for my brother’s favorite cupcakes.

I can’t remember if I called her at home in New York or if she happened to be down here visiting when I asked. But apparently she didn’t have the recipe handy, because I didn’t get it then.

I probably forgot all about it.

Grandma didn’t.

Later, she wrote the recipe out on an index card, tucked a little note in with it, and mailed it to my mom to give to me.

I still have both.

The recipe card.
And the note.

About a year later, Grandma passed away.

At the time she sent it, I’m sure I just thought, Yay, now I can make the cupcakes.

I had no idea what that little card and note would eventually mean to me.

That’s the thing about family recipes.

Sometimes you know immediately that something is important. Other times it’s just a recipe someone mailed you because you asked for it.

Until years pass.

Then you look at that handwriting and realize the person who wrote it isn’t here anymore.

You can find a chocolate cupcake recipe anywhere. Hell, you can Google one and have 500 versions in seconds.

But you can’t Google Grandma’s handwriting.

You can’t recreate that little note she wrote because she remembered I had asked her for something.

And you can’t replace knowing that she took the time to write it all down, put it in an envelope, mail it from New York to North Carolina, and make sure it got to me.

And thank God she did.

Because every Thanksgiving, I make my brother’s favorite cupcakes from Grandma’s recipe.

It’s just one of those things we do now.

I pull out that old card, make the cupcakes, and Grandma gets to be part of Thanksgiving again.

Maybe that’s why I’m becoming so damn sentimental about old recipes.

They aren’t just recipes.

Sometimes they’re little pieces of people we get to keep. ❤️

Grandma’s Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 1 box chocolate cake mix
• Ingredients needed to prepare the cake mix according to the package directions

Cream Cheese Filling

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Prepare the chocolate cake mix according to the package directions.

Fill cupcake liners about halfway with the chocolate cake batter.

Mix the softened cream cheese, sugar, and egg together. Stir in the semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Add a spoonful of the cream cheese mixture to each cupcake.

Bake at 375°F until done.