peanut butter & jelly cupcakes

a couple of weeks ago i cleaned out my car.

first of all, this was a complete miracle.

second of all, you probably haven't noticed because it's dirty again.

regardless, i found some pretty amazing treasures in my trunk.

let's just say it has a special knack for collecting random things,

and then storing them there for years and years at a time.

my life could pretty much be summed up with this quote:

"one of the advantages to being disorderly is that one 

is constantly making exciting new discoveries" 

~ a a milne

well, one of these 'exciting new discoveries' was an album 

of about 100 old CD's that i probably hadn't seen in a good 8+ years.

some of them were legit CDs... but just old (boys to men, ace of base, etc)

but i would say a good 75% of them were mix tape style... 

a random compilation of songs that now mean nothing to anybody.

although i'm sure they were significant at the time.

 i tossed most of these in the garbage immediately.

i did decide to keep a handful that had intriguing titles... 

like 'breakup mix' 'mixture mix' and 'a little bit of this and a little bit of that' 

(hilarious, i know)

so i popped one of these albums into my CD player 

during a long drive a couple of weeks back.

but YESTERDAY when i played the CD again 

(totally forgetting it was in even in the player)

THIS SONG CAME ON.

this is not a joke friends. 

i don't know who i was 10 years ago or who i was friends with, 

but this song got on a playlist. 

i can't decide whether i'm embarrassed or just the funniest person of all time.

WOW.

moving right along.

when i was put in charge of a 'sweet treat' for our superbowl party, 

it took a while to get inspired... but finally the lightbulb went on, 

and i knew i had to make a peanut butter and jelly cupcake. obviously.

it was definitely a 99% peanut butter cupcake with a dollop of jelly,

but nonetheless enjoyable, especially if you're a pb lover :)

 recipe via martha stewart

cupcake ingredients

1 3/4 cup flour

3/4 tablespoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

6 oz (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/3 cups sugar

2/3 cup creamy peanut butter

3 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

cupcake directions

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees

line muffin tins with paper liners.

2. whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl.

3. cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

add peanut butter and beat well.

add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. mix remaining wet ingredients in a bowl, including vanilla and sour cream.

add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions, 

alternating with wet ingredients and end with the dry ones.

scrape sides of bowl and divide batter among muffin cups,

 filling each to the top.

5. bake cupcakes about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

cool on wire racks and frost (see below)

frosting ingredients

6 oz cream cheese

1/3 powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup heavy cream

raspberry or strawberry jam :)

frosting directions

1. beat cream cheese and powdered sugar on medium.

add salt, then peanut butter, then vanilla.

whisk cream until soft peaks form, and then fold into peanut butter mixture.

use immediately, or cover and refrigerate.

enjoy :)