Peanut Butter and Jelly Crumb Muffins.
Just LOOK at these little round love muffins.
I’m freaking.
It’s peanut butter and jelly MUFFIN time.
They’re breakfast. A snack. Lunch! Second lunch. Middle of the night munchie.
They’re soft and delicious and filled with preserves and topped with the crumbliest crumb in the universe.
Maybe I’m spending too much time with a certain little love muffin because I’m calling everything a love muffin but these… these really are love muffins.
My obsessive phases go way, way back. I think I ate a PB & J for kindergarten lunch every single day, like to the point where even at five years old, after a year of consuming said sandwich, I was totally over it. So, so over it.
I refused, like flatout REFUSED, to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for years after that. We are talking around fifteen-ish years, to be exact. I wanted not a darn thing to do with the combo. That is, until I realized I could have a jelly preference.
Grape? No can do. So not a fan.
And I was like, wait… what? There are flavors in jars other than grape? There are jellies and jams that don’t come in that squeeze tube? I can have strawberry or peach or sour cherry or blackberry or better yet – fig?!
SOLD.
(Sidebar: I even made cookies with the fig stuff once. So good.)
That’s why these here muffins are made with strawberry. My go-to easy choice for peanut butter and jelly stuff, always. It’s my standard, my fall back, my classic. I use the fig and what not if I want to get a little fancy, but strawberry it is when I feel like I need that nostalgic bite.
Know what? The base of these muffins are almost cookie-like. Cookie muffin hybrids, if you will.
They are made with lots of peanut butter which is very much NOT a light ingredient when it comes to fluffy baking. Therefore, the muffin layers takes on a slightly denser, rich crumb… seriously very cookie-like. At least very peanut butter cookie-like. The super buttery kind, oh yes. The ones that are almost melt in your mouth.
Truth be told, this is not my first peanut butter jelly muffin recipe here on this page where I ramble on the internets. The first one, I posted over FIVE years ago (wtf?!) and it was a little boring and not quite as flavorful as this recipe. The muffins were okay for being mostly whole wheat, but if we’re being real, I’ve learned a ton in those 1826 (27?) days and had about one thousand muffin fails to teach me all about the goods.
These!! are the goods. Cookie muffs. Muffin cooks. Whatever you want to call them. They are dessert masquerading as snacks. Which is always the best thing. Secret treats!
Peanut Butter and Jelly Crumb Muffins
Yield: makes 12 muffins
Total Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 large egg
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
12 ounces strawberry preserves
crumb topping
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the butter and peanut butter together in a bowl and microwave for 30 seconds, stirring well. If the entire mixture is not melted, microwave in 15 second increments, stirring well after each, until it is. Set aside to cool slightly.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside. Line a muffin tin with liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, brown sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. Stir in the butter and peanut butter, mixing until smooth - the batter will be slightly thick. Add in the dry ingredients and stir until almost combined (it will be very thick) then add in the milk and stir until a batter forms, trying not to overmix. Fill the liners 3/4 of the way full. Press a tablespoon or so of the strawberry preserves into the center of the batter, pushing it into the middle. Sprinkle each with the crumb topping. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes.
crumb topping
To make the crumb topping, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, salt and melted butter until combined. Whisk for a a good minute or two until the sugar begins to dissolve, then use a wooden spoon to stir in the flour. The mixture will be crumb-like and dry. Almost like a sludge or paste. This is what you want!
