Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins – Soft, fluffy, peanut butter-scented muffins are filled with sweet, strawberry jelly, creating a fun twist on PB&J. They’re fast and easy to make, and come together with just one bowl and a whisk. Biting into a tender muffin and hitting an unexpected patch of jelly is the best kind of surprise.
I’ll take peanut butter and jelly in any form. PB & J sandwiches are fine.
But peanut butter muffins with strawberry jelly-filled centers definitely trump sandwiches.
Of all the Peanut Butter Recipes I’ve posted, there’s peanut butter cookies, cake, and bars up the wazoo, but I’ve never posted a peanut butter muffin recipe. It was time to remedy that.
The muffins are fast and easy to make, and come together in minutes with just one bowl and a whisk. No need to haul out your mixer.
The peanut butter does double duty of not only adding flavor, but it keeps the muffins soft and moist. I used oil rather than butter, which I prefer in muffins, cupcakes, and cakes because it keeps them extra soft and springy. Using buttermilk keeps them fluffy, lighter, and moist.
Between the peanut butter, oil, and buttermilk, they’re big softies.
Normally I don’t like surprises, but sinking my teeth into the strawberry jelly filling that’s hiding inside is a surprise I’m on board with.
I didn’t use liners because I didn’t want ruffled edges. I wanted muffins, not potato chips. Instead, I sprayed my muffin pan with floured cooking spray. No issues whatsoever with sticking.
When you’re filling the pan, don’t be scared to fill the wells up to nearly the top, a solid three-quarters full. This is what creates big, bakery-style domed-top muffins. I filled my 12-Cup Muffin Pan
perfectly with the batter. Just enough and none leftover.
I used my tw0-tablespoon cookie scoop, sprayed with cooking spray so the batter slides off easily, to fill each muffin cavity with about 2 tablespoons batter. It’ll come about one-third of the way up.
Then, add a nice dollop of jelly to each cavity, before topping with more batter.
When covering the jelly with batter, make sure it’s completely covered. If it’s not, exposed areas will be prone seeping out, caramelizing (burning), and sticking to the sides of the pan.
They’re soft, fluffy, and light, with just the right amount of density.
The peanut butter flavor is distinct, but not overpowering, perfect for breakfast, brunch, or snacks when you don’t want or need a super intense blast of peanut butter. If you want intense, try these.
The sweet jelly is the perfect compliment to the peanut butter, and it was fun watching my 6-year old bite into these and watching her eyes light up when she discovered the jelly filling. She’s missing her two front teeth right now, and soft, moist, tender food is perfect for my toothless princess.
I’ll never say no to a great PB&J sandwich, but the muffins are my new favorite way to eat PB & J.
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Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup milk, I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk; use any kind of milk – soy, cow, rice, goat, coconut
- ½ heaping cup creamy peanut butter
- ⅓ cup canola or vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- about 1/4 cup strawberry jelly, jam or preserves (or try raspberry, grape, cherry, or your favorite), divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a standard 12-count muffin pan with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside. For cosmetic reasons, I prefer to avoid the ruffled edges that paper liners create.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the the first six dry ingredients, ending with optional salt.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the next 6 wet ingredients, ending with vanilla extract.
- Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients, and fold to incorporate using a rubber spatula. Don’t stir vigorously or beat; just make sure everything is combined and there are no unblended dry ingredients hiding at the bottom of the bowl or in the folds of the batter. Don’t overmix or muffins will be tough. Batter will be quite thick.
- Using a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop or spoon that’s been sprayed with cooking spray (helps batter to slide right off), fill muffin wells with about 2 heaping tablespoons of batter each, coming about one-third of the way full. You want enough of a layer of batter that the jam that’s added in the next step has a nice cushion to rest on so it won’t bottom-out and sink while baking. Re-spray scoop with cooking spray every third or fourth scoopful of batter, or as necessary.
- Add 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons jelly to the center of each cavity (marble-sized mounds)
- Top each muffin with remaining batter, about 2 tablespoons each. Fill muffin cups up to a solid 3/4-full, nearly filling to the top. This creates domed, high-top muffins. Underfilled cups create flatter muffins, and you’ll also end up with extra batter.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until tops are golden, set, domed, and springy to the touch; don’t overbake.
- Allow muffins to cool in the pan on top of a wire rack for 5 minutes before removing them from the pan. Then place on a wire rack to cool completely.
- Tip: If you’ve accidentally overbaked your muffins, wrapping them while still warm in plasticwrap, and putting them inside a large Ziplock, and sealing it, will help muffins soften over the next day. Muffins are best fresh, but well-wrapped, they will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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35+ Favorite Peanut Butter Recipes
Peanut Butter and Jelly Recipes
Even after writing my first cookbook with 100+ Peanut Butter Recipes, Peanut Butter Comfort: Recipes for Breakfasts, Brownies, Cakes, Cookies, Candies, and Frozen Treats Featuring America’s Favorite Spread
, I’m still not sick of peanut butter.
Book release is just days away on June 4. Thanks to everyone who’s pre-ordered your copy!
Peanut butter and jelly fan?
Do you have a favorite muffin recipe?
Peanut butter and jelly muffins?! YUM. I’m just about to drool on my keyboard, to be honest with ya. ; ) These are going on the ‘must make’ list right now!
LMK how they turn out!
Well you know I love my peanut butter anything :) these look so good!! You did it again Averie :)
Glad you like them!
I have been on a muffin-for-breakfast kick because I don’t have time for much else, so these are going on my to-make list. As soon as I go through the muffins I currently have in the freezer. :)
Mine just came out of the oven ten minutes ago and they taste incredible!
…although my jelly did sink to the bottom of the pan making a gooey bottomed muffin, they are sitting dome side down on the cooling rack.
Pity that I’m going to have to make these again sometime for a second crack at ’em. :)
So glad you tried them and the taste is incredible! As for the sinking jelly…hmmm…I did not have that problem at all. I used jelly, rather than jam (if you used jam, maybe it had bigger/heavier fruit chunks in it?) I also added about 1 heaping teaspoon, not a tablespoon or anything. You could also try to add slightly more batter when you’re filling the cups up the first time before adding the jelly, so you have a thicker ‘cushion’ for it. LMK if you try again and how things go!
i love how you thought of not using a liner…they do look so perfect smooth like that. and i have to laugh I don’t usually like surprises in my food either but knowing it is a pb&j muffin i am all for it!
have my cookbook preorder….so excited and happy for you Averie. LoVE your blog…and as always…all you share and teach us!
Thanks for pre-ordering and I appreciate it and all your support! :)
Gorgeous as always Averie! I’m sure these are such a hit with kids! And adults…My hubby is a huge pb&j fan, so I’m sure he’d love these as well!
Those muffins sound sooooo good! Thanks for sharing :)
Happy Blogging!
Happy Valley Chow
Muffins totally trump sammies. These look amazing!
Averie, I feel like I can taste these through the screen. They sound awesome!
Yum! What a great and cute little muffin! You just have to love PB and J in all forms!!!
These are awesome – I’m not a fan of the J in PB&J, but I could totally do these with Nutella…
And I love your potato chip reference. Makes me laugh every time!
You can’t go wrong with PB&J! My kids would love these. And they look easy and quick and would be perfect for breakfast, or lunch, or a snack, or all of the above! :)
Is it wrong that I would probably want to add more pb to these? ;)
These sound like they’d be the perfect afternoon snack! They look so moist too! :)
Averie, I just adore peanut butter and jelly…or, jam…in any combo! Love trail mix made with peanuts and dried fruit, too. Must make your muffins ASAP, girl! And, yes…sometimes it is pure joy to mix batters and dough simply in a bowl with a wooden spoon versus a stand mixer. It just feels so dang good! You are the PB Queen! xo
I love no-mixer batters. Perfect for those times you just need to throw something together fast!
Thanks to 2, barrel sized jars of peanut butter we bought at BJ’s, I’ve been on a PB kick myself. These sound so ridiculously good I want to make them right now! Perfect to go with my morning smoothie.
When I was writing my cookbook, I was going through so much PB it would make your head spin. So I can relate to the barrel-sized containers!