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?
Fun to see these floating around Pinterest today! LOVE!
Thanks for the comment on this post…it’s amazing with our older posts how that can sometimes happen!
I just made these, and while they taste delicious, I ended up with flat tops and gooey bottoms from the jelly sinking, and I definitely used jelly, not jam! I did vary slightly from your recipe though…I subbed in 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour (just looking to sneak some fibre in!), I used dark brown sugar (since that’s what I had), and the PB I used was…borderline natural? I think it’s 93% peanuts, with some added vegetable oil, peanut oil, and salt. So maybe that made it too soggy…I’ll have to try again another time, maybe without messing with the formula, because they taste lovely!
Three huge mistakes: 1. whole wheat flour has way less gluten, therefore doesn’t rise as well, will contribute to sinking. 2. Dark brown sugar has almost twice the moisture than light brown, makes the batter heavier, thus could contribute to sinking. 3. Natural PB is usually more oily/greasy, even though it’s ‘natural’. It doesn’t behave like Jif or Skippy would in baking and can result in oily batter or in baked goods that lack structure; sometimes it will be okay, other times not. You never know so for baking, I never use natural. Everything you did can, will, and did cause sinking/sogginess. Try the recipe again as I wrote it and you’ll be fine!
Sigh…that’s what I get for trying to make it a bit healthier. It honestly pains me to buy non-natural peanut butter, I have defiantly used natural for every other recipe and it usually turns out just fine! Although I guess I’m already eating something full of sugar and not great for you, so what’s a big of extra sugar going to hurt?
Non-natural PB for baking is a total recipe for disaster. It may or may not work. By using it, you compromise all the other ingredients$$ in the bowl and the success of the recipe. It’s one of those things I’d rather take 2 less bites than worry about the sugar comparison in natural vs. non-natural. Or do 1/10th extra mile of cardio. It’s not even worth the risk to use it for baking IMO!
I love this idea! Definitely going to try it.. Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches are not very famous here in Spain but I´ve always loved the combination, or peanut butter & golden syrup which I consumed daily when I grew up in South Africa.
So glad I found your blog via Pinterest.
Would like to invite you to visit my blog too:
http://www.flavoursandfrosting.blogspot.com
Have a great weekend!
Johlene
Xx
just made these! i got over ambitious and had too much batter and jam in each muffin! but beyond that, they tasted fantastic! a nice light batter. thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for LMK you tried them! And overzealous…boy, how I have been there. I am queen of overflowing my muffin pan. Glad you enjoyed these and thanks for telling me!
I think I’m in love! These look adorable and sound wonderful! Thanks for sharing at Time to Sparkle : )
Liz
These tasted SO great!! So light and fluffy. So moist. Wow.
I did have an issue, though. My 2 tablespoons in the bottom before the jam must not have been enough, because after cooling the muffins, the jam fell right out the bottoms of almost all my muffins when I took them out of the pan! Next time I will fill them a little further before adding the jam. Anyway, they still looked fine from the top and tasted awesome.
Also, I used all the batter and filled ’em all up, and my muffins baked over the edges of the cups, big time, and ran into each other. Thankfully, they came apart and still looked nice, but I was concerned! They ended up looking cool, like bakery-style muffins, but I think I might make a few more than 12 next time, instead.
All of my issues/mistakes aside, I can’t wait to make these again! This is a wonderful recipe.
So glad you enjoyed the overall taste of the muffin and the texture! Yes, when filling them, make a nice ‘cushion’ for the jam to rest. If it’s 3 tbsp or whatever you need so that the jam is going to have an nice sturdy place to rest so it won’t bottom-out as easily, do so. Just eyeball it and use your judgment.
And based on muffin pans being slightly different sizes, if you need to make 13 or 14 next time, go for it. Thanks for trying the recipe and so glad you’re happy!
I had the same problems. Def makes more than 12 muffins. Delicious nonetheless!!
More than 12 isn’t really a problem, though, right? :)
Glad you enjoyed them!
This is the muffin pan I use https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YKGQN8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003YKGQN8&linkCode=as2&tag=lovvegyogruna-20
AMAZING!!!! It took all my will power not to just sit down and eat the entire bowl of batter. Even as amazing as the batter was, it doesn’t compare with the finished product!! I need to stay out of the kitchen currently so I don’t eat the entire dozen! Well done!
Thanks for LMK you loved them – batter and all :) So happy you’re pleased with them & thanks for coming back to tell me!
Averie, I love peanut butter but I’m not a jelly or jam fan so when I saw this recipe I decided to add mini chocolate chips instead of the jelly. Let me tell you, these are amazing!!! Thanks for the recipe and I can’t wait for your book to arrive.
So glad you tried them out and PB & Chocolate sounds pretty fabulous to me! And thanks for ordering my book – I really appreciate it!!
These look so tasty. I am glad I saw them on Tuesday Talent Show. I hope you’ll come share them at my weekly party: https://www.tumbleweedcontessa.com/blog/whatd-you-do-this-weekend-18/
I am going to pin these right now. Best wishes for tasty dishes this week!
Thanks for clicking over and for the pin – much appreciated!
Yum! My children would love these for breakfast or a snack! I can’t wait to make these:) Pinning!
Thanks for pinning!
I love the look of these Averie, I’ve never tried putting jam in the middle of muffins (have tried lemon curd) but will be trying it soon! :-)
How cute are these with the hidden jelly surprise inside! Thanks for linking up with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
I love PB&J…I also love fluffernutters…I may make a few of these muffins with fluff in the middle…anyways can I substitute the buttermilk? I never have buttermilk and when I do have it I always end up throwing most of it out.
Make some! Add 1 to 2 tbsp of white vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup of regular milk. Wait 10 mins. That’s buttermilk!
Or use reg milk + a dollop of Greek yogurt or sour cream. You need something cultured in this batter so you get nice rise and some lift b/c the PB is dense otherwise.
I’m new to your page but so glad I found it! These look amazing and are on my to do list asap. Just out of curiosity do you use a sweeter peanut butter (like Kraft) for your baking or a plainer just peanuts sort of one? Thank you!
Thanks for finding me! And good question. First of all, I don’t bake with homemade or ‘natural’ PB (for anyone else who reads this comment). And what I do bake with is generally honey roasted like a Peter Pan honey roasted or similar. For just a ‘plain’ PB, can’t go wrong with good ole Jif. I prefer baking with sweeter PBs but that’s all personal preference. LMK if you try these!
Making anything peanut butter + jelly flavored is amazing, I’m all for peanut butter & jelly flavored muffins, cookies, ice cream, creme brulee, whatever! Haha. Love the jelly in the middle of this!!
Yum! These looks fabulous :) so fun!