Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Muffins

Today started as one of those days. No matter what recipe I wanted to try I was missing a key ingredient. Since it’s against the rules to shop in between big grocery trips, I had to do some serious searching on my favorite blogs.

And I am soooo very happy I did. These Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins have been on my to-do list, and I’m happy I was finally forced to make them

Tender, rich, so very tasty and a quick, easy recipe to boot. Yay for my bad day!

Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Chip Muffins
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter (or smooth)
2 large eggs
1 cup milk (low fat or skim is fine)
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, peanut butter, eggs and milk until smooth. Pour into flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
Divide batter into your paper-lined muffin tin. Each cup should be filled to the top, not just half way up, to ensure you get a nice dome on the muffin.
Bake for 17-20 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the top of the muffin springs back when lightly pressed.
Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12.

The recipe says “fill cups to the top.” The idea of that freaked me out a little bit. I kept imaging I was going to open the oven door and find a bunch of muffin tops spread out and stuck together. But nope, she said they’d dome, and dome they did. I swear my muffin tin is clean. It’s old. Really, really old. Older than my marriage old.

That’s why it makes such good treats.

17 minutes in the oven and these weren’t quite done yet. I didn’t even bother setting the timer for any additional time, I just stood and stared at my oven window. I forced myself to pull them out a minute later. I am a notorious overbaker, so when I think something just “needs another couple minutes,” it’s a sure sign it’s ready.

Oh. Yes. Now they’re done. A little tip … I’d avoid putting the chocolate chip on each muffin before baking. They, um, well, they look like boobs. I didn’t plan that. Obviously I didn’t visualize the finished product either. So yeah, skip that step.

I usually find something to add or omit from a recipe. Not this time. These are perfect just the way they are. Even with the nipples.

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Jam filled Coffee Cake Muffins

I love, love, love coffee cake. I don’t eat a lot of what I bake, but coffee cake is an exception. Coffee cake muffins are an even bigger exception. These are perfect with a cup of coffee in the morning as I shove all of the children out the door.

I love when school is in.

I even shared these with the kids. Nice Mom that I am.

I divided the muffins into thirds and filled them with either strawberry, raspberry or blackberry jam.

Because I never, ever screw up, I intentionally forgot to mark the pan so I wouldn’t know which row had which flavor. It was like a surprise party in my mouth.

I used a basic coffee cake recipe and stole an awesome streusel from Salt and Chocolate. I made the blackberry muffins from there and have used the streusel tons of times since.

Jam Filled Coffee Crumb Cake

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Jam of choice (I use a fat teaspoonful, so enough for 12 muffins)

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, lightly beat eggs; add buttermilk. Pour into dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Spoon half of the batter into 12 greased or paper-lined muffin cups. Make a well in the center of each; add jam. Spoon remaining batter over jam. Cover generously with streusel. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

Topping (borrowed from Salt and Chocolate)

6-7 tablespoons of butter
1 cup AP flour
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon of cinnamon
¼ teaspoon of baking powder
¼ teaspoon of salt

Melt butter in a sauce pan and let cool to room temperature. Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt together, add in the cooled butter and stir with a fork until blended. When it starts to form crumbs, squeeze it with your hands to form larger lumps and then break them apart. Let sit for 10 -15 minutes before using.

You know you spend too much time with your food when you convince yourself it’s smiling at you.

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