OF A GOLDEN AGE

My office runs a list of upcoming Fridays and someone signs up to bring treats for each one. In honor of my final Friday (my new job starts Tuesday) I baked cupcakes, starting with an unadorned Pillsbury white cake mix and chocolate cake mix.*

Here are some things I added or tried. All of these would work well independently in either white or chocolate cake mix. Combine them recklessly and with courage. Come on, you can do it.

• A cup of plain cooked oatmeal
• A cup of oatmeal cooked in sweetened black coffee
• Blend in two almost-brown bananas cut into pieces
• Dried cranberries
• One large carrot greated very fine
• Natural peanut butter
• Peanut butter or chocolate chips
• Finely chopped walnuts

As an example, in one batch of white cake I blended in cranberries, oatmeal, banana, carrots, walnuts, and chocolate chips. These came out amazing and I finished them with cream cheese frosting from a can. A veritable succes fou, the best part being, of course, how the mixing process took three minutes total.

* As my favorite pop band, Tullycraft, once asked jokingly: “Does the world really need another orange cake mix song? I don’t think so.” I’ve never seen an orange cake mix, unfortunately. But here are some dancing cupcakes.

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My favorite way to cook is to start with something really easy and amp it up with a little bit of thought. Experimenting with basics is a great way to learn how food works.

Start with a basic banana muffin mix. I used Krusteaz (honestly, who named this brand?) but I’d imagine they’re all similar. Prepare the batter as indicated.

Stir in the following:

• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli semi-sweets)
• 2 carrots, peeled and finely grated
• 1 banana, cut into fourths lengthwise then chopped

Bake at the prescribed temperature. Be prepared for a few extra minutes of baking time because of the moisture in the banana and carrots.

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