PB&J how??

Happy first week in June everyone!
Do you like peanut butter? Do you like jelly or jam? I love both of those but sometimes a pb&j sandwich makes me feel like I am eating a kids school lunch! lol Well, this recipe is about to change that!  Adults and children alike love these and they are suppose to make everyone happy and feel child like! While cupcakes have a European ancestor in the Queen Cake, a small pound cake with fruit baked in a paper cup which was popular among the upper crust British in the 18th century, the cupcake itself is definitely an American fair. Not to be confused with the cup cake, which was a cake made in Colonial America when they used actual cups as a form of measurements due to a lack of standard weights and measures, the cupcake was born from the need of sweets when baking a large cake was hard to pull off. In Colonial kitchens everything was baked and cooked by fire, so cake batter would be poured into a heat-proof cup and baked at the edge of the kitchen fire. Thank goodness for those innovative early Americans! So now that the history lesson is over, on to the recipe!


I found this recipe watching The Chew. Do any of you watch that show? I love it! Anyways, Carla Hall made them on the show and I just knew I had to try it! So last I whipped a batch together and they were FABULOUS!!!  These are some very tasty cupcakes! All peanut buttery with a strawberry buttercream frosting! Honestly, I loved the frosting so much I couldn't stop eating it from the bowl!  I am not very good at frosting, will have to practice a lot more, so don't giggle too much at the picture. I hope you all like them as much as my family did!

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes
(recipe adapted from The Chew)

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups Cake Flour (spooned and leveled)

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1 1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup water (hot)

4 tablespoons Unsalted Butter (softened)

2/3 cup Creamy Peanut Butter

2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/3 cup Canola oil

3 Large Eggs (slightly beaten)

1/2 cup sour cream

For the Frosting:

3 cups Confectioners Sugar

1 cup Butter

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 tablespoon Whole Milk

2 tablespoons Strawberry Jam

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat over to 350 degrees.

2. Combine flour and baking powder in a bowl and set aside.

3. In a mixer bowl, combine brown sugar and hot water, mixing on low for a few seconds until sugar dissolves.

4. Add butter, peanut butter, vanilla extract, salt, and oil, mixing to combine.

5. Mixing on low, gradually add flour, mixing just until combined and remove bowl. (don't over mix)

6. Mix eggs and sour cream together in a separate bowl.

7. Stir egg mixture into batter.

8. Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 of the way.

9. Bake for 18-20 minutes until middle of cupcake springs back. (do not over bake)

10. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Frosting Instructions:

1. With the whisk attachment, beat confectioners sugar and butter until well blended, beginning on low and gradually increasing the speed.

2. Add the strawberry jam, vanilla, and milk, continuing to beat until a spreadable consistency is reached.

3. Frost the cooled peanut butter cupcakes and serve.

Options:

I made the frosting with strawberry jam and whole milk, because that is what I had on hand but the original recipe calls for strawberry puree and heavy cream. Also, using a different fruit for the frosting would be really fun! For a lighter version, piping some fruit puree folded into light or fat free whipped topping would also be very good!

I just wanted to show you how wonderful just the cupcakes looked when they come out of the oven! Yummy!!

Get Ready for Company!

(Ok, so being new to this blogging thing, I some how removed my previous post of this recipe. I really have no idea what happened, but oh well, I am sure it will not be the last mishap. LOL So please enjoy, again!)
For today's post I wanted to do something a little sweet but also practical.  I love to make these for when we have overnight company or in the morning, or even just as a snack! As a matter of fact, I like pretty much all muffins! lol Baked goods are one of my weaknesses.  These muffins are wonderful with or without the streusel!  The trick to having moist muffins, or cakes and bread as well, is to not over mix once you have added the wet ingredients to the flour. 

Blueberry Streusel Muffins
(recipe adapted from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook: Everything you need to know to cook)

Ingredients: 

Streusel Topping

4 Tbsp firm stick or butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

 

Muffins

1 cup milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 large egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

3 tsp baking owder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup fresh or canned (drained) blueberries

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Grease the bottoms only of medium muffin pan with shortening or line with paper baking cups.

3. Prepare streusel by cutting margarine into 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in medium bowl until crumbly and set aside.

4. Beat milk, oil, vanilla, and egg in a large bowl.

5. Whisk together  flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

6. Stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture all at once just until flour is moistened. Batter will be lumpy.

7. Fold in blueberries.

8. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

9. Sprinkle each with 2-3 tsp of streusel topping.

10. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

11. Immediately remove from pan to cooling rack.

Options: Try using whole wheat flour to make this a little healthier. Also, you could add 1 Tbsp of poppy seeds to change up the usual recipe.

Tools I used for this recipe:
Classic Batter Bowl
Adjustable Measuring Spoons
Mini Measure-All Cup
Easy Read Measuring Cup
Stainless Mixing Bowl Set
Muffin Pan
Stainless Whisk
Bamboo Spoon Set

Easter Fun!!

So I know Easter has come and gone, but I wanted to share this fun recipe that I made for our family picnic.  It was really easy and looks great! I put a section at the bottom with links to the tools I used during this recipe.

Chocolate Bird Nests

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of unsalted butter, for greasing the muffin pan

6oz (1/2 bag) of semi-sweet chocolate chips

6oz (1/2 bag) of butterscotch chips

1 cup creamy peanut butter

6oz (1/2 of a large bag) of chow mein noodles

36 Cadbury eggs or jelly beans

Instructions:

1. Generously grease the wells of the muffin pan with the butter (this will help later when you are taking out the chilled nests)

2. In a large microwave-proof bowl, heat the chocolate and butterscotch chips in 30 second intervals until thoroughly melted, stirring after each increment.

3. Once melted, add the peanut butter to the chocolate/butterscotch mixture, mixing well until smooth and completely combined.

4. Carefully fold in the chow mein noodles using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, until completely coated.

5. Using a large spoon, mold the mixture into the wells of your muffin tin, indenting the tops slightly.

6. Chill the nests until hardened, about 1 hour in the fridge. ***I didn't have a lot of time, so I put mine in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

7. Once chilled, gently remove the nests from the muffin tin. ***I used a butter knife to pop them out but be careful if you are using a nonstick pan, it may scratch it!

8. Place three eggs or colored jelly beans on top of each nest.

Serve and enjoy! Be sure to have napkins handy, they can be a bit of a yummy sticky mess!

Tools I used making this recipe:

Pampered Chef Classic Batter Bowl

Pampered Chef Measure All Cup - for the peanut butter

Pampered Chef Small Mix 'N Scraper

Pampered Chef 12 cup Muffin Pan (Stoneware)