Jammy Peanut Butter Muffins #MuffinMonday

These lovely peanut butter muffins have jam swirled through the batter. Top them with candy berries for extra special decoration.

I know, I know you are probably saying to yourself, “But she just DID peanut butter.”  And, so I did.  But this week, our ingredient was jam and what goes better with jam than peanut butter?  I submit to you that the correct answer is NOTHING.  I used the lovely peanut buttery muffin recipe from My Baking Addiction and then swirled jam through the batter to create these lovely things.  And then, just for fun, I topped them with some Haribo “berries” for decoration.  And, frankly, I was very pleased with myself until right at the end.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g flour

1/2 cup or 115g sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 240ml creamy peanut butter
1 large egg (Ignore what looks like two eggs in the photo.  My egg had a double yolk!)
1 cup or 240ml whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup or 120ml mixed berry jam – or jam of your choice

Haribo candy “berries” to decorate, if desired.

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your muffin pan by greasing it or lining it with paper liners.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all of your dry ingredients: the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

In a smaller mixing bowl, add all of your wet ingredients EXCEPT the jam: the creamy peanut butter, egg, whole milk and vanilla extract.

Can't remember the last time I've opened an egg that had two yolks! 

Give your helper the peanut butter jar to lick clean for recycling.

Use a fork to break up the peanut butter and continue mixing until the whole mess is homogeneous.  That is to say, smooth and of the same consistency throughout.

Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ones and fold gently.  If there is still a bit of flour showing, that is fine.

Add your jam in big spoonfuls and then fold it in as well.  You want to see streaks of jam and we are no longer going for homogenous here.

Divide the batter between your prepared muffin cups.

Press a Haribo candy into each cup of batter, if desired.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.   I must confess that I checked these at 20 minutes and the Haribo candies were still whole and perky on top and I am sure the muffins were probably done, but I was chatting with my mother-in-law on Skype and decided they could wait another five minutes till I took them out.  After the additional five minutes, the muffins were fine but the “berries” had collapsed.  Could have kicked myself.  Ah, well.

After allowing them to cool for a few minutes, remove the muffins and place on a wire rack to finish cooling.

Looks aside, these muffins were still very tasty in all their peanut butter jamminess.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter M&M Muffins #MuffinMonday

Way back when I was a freshman (first year) at the University of Texas at Austin, I lived in an all-girls dorm called Contessa West.  It was suite-style, which meant three bedrooms with two girls each and a tiny common area in which you could not swing the proverbial cat, with a round table, four chairs, a two-burner electric stove, a hotel refrigerator and a bathroom-sized kitchen sink.  And that is all.  I am staying with my younger daughter in her campus apartment for a few days and, while student housing undoubtedly varies from school to school, I can only say, it’s lovely.  Three bedrooms with only one girl each and a fairly well equipped kitchen.  It has a real stove with an OVEN, a full-sized fridge and actual counter top space for food prep.  Her corner bedroom is full of light from three big windows and from my vantage point, perched in her bed writing this, I can see the beautiful dome of the Rhode Island State Building.  It’s a far cry from Contessa West, back in the Dark Ages, I can tell you.  Tell me, was your campus housing anything like this?  (Disclaimer:  Any mess you see is mine!  Amazingly, they keep their common area quite clean and my daughter's bedroom is fairly tidy.)

I could swing a few cats in here! 

My cardigan on the chair!

Check out all those windows!  And, yes, that is my unmade bed, where I am perched writing and my stuff on the desk.

Last night we were making gyozas from this recipe and I didn’t take a single photo but I can tell you they were delicious.  But yesterday morning, I was baking muffins and, since it’s Muffin Monday, I will share.  Our ingredient this week is peanut butter and since nothing goes better with peanut butter than more nuts and chocolate, I added in Nutella and Easter M&Ms.  My younger daughter and one of her roommates enjoyed a couple and then we took a few up to my elder daughter who works on Sundays at RISD|Works for her to share with her colleagues.  They were a hit!

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g all-purpose flour
1/2 cup or 115g sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 120ml peanut butter
1/4 cup or 60ml Nutella or other hazelnut chocolate spread
3/4 cup or 180ml milk (I used Rice Dream because that is what my daughter had. Worked great!)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1/4 cup or 60ml canola oil
1/2 cup or 100g milk chocolate M&Ms plus extra for decoration

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your muffin pan using non-stick spray, butter or by lining it with paper muffin cups.

Put your flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl and give it a good stir to combine.

In another smaller bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, Nutella, milk, vanilla, egg and canola oil.

Pour that luscious, chocolately peanutty mixture into your dry ingredients and mix until it is just coming together.  You’ll still see a little flour, but that’s perfect.

See that?  That's how you know this muffin will be delicious. 

Fold in the M&Ms.

Divide the batter between your muffin cups and poke a few more M&Ms into the batter for decoration.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for a few minutes and then remove to finish cooling.  I didn’t have a wire rack here so I put them on another baking tray that was chilled from the cold weather we are experiencing.  And several were eaten warm, almost straight from the oven.  Yum!

Enjoy!