Old school baking

Its exactly three weeks until I move off to Paris. Most of my belongings are all packed away, and I'm mentally ready to go. I still wanted to make some cupcakes for the knitting group today and dug around my pantry for inspiration.

With my arsenal of ingredients lined up, I had a dreadful revelation. No stand-mixer. It was packed. No measuring cups. Packed. No measuring spoons, whisk, or proper utensils. All packed, packed, and packed. Well, not to worry, I still had a few mixing bowls and a spoon, albeit a small one. Flashback to when I was younger and didn't have all the creature comforts of my adulthood baking.

For the most part, I had to eyeball my ingredients. Its a good thing that I bake so much that I have a general idea of what one and a third cups of flour should look like... give or take. I creamed everything together and mixed the wet and the dry using brute force. This was definitely old school baking.

It was quite fitting that I decided to bake peanut butter and jelly cupcakes, a combination surely reminiscent of any red-blooded American's youth. PB&J sandwiches were always a comfort food to me and a quick fix. So much that I adapted them in college making PB&J taquitos with rolled up tortillas for a quick snack while running to lecture. This is another adaptation. I filled the cupcakes with raspberry jelly and topped them with peanut butter buttercream frosting.

Interesting side note: My milk went bad, so to make the frosting I added some vanilla Activia yogurt for moisture. So for those who sample the cupcakes, you get some extra probiotic lovin!