Back to School PB J Muffins

Today I woke up a school bus screech and kids yelling. Yup, it's that time of year again already, Cool School time. I totally forgot about it, mostly because I've been going to school year round for the last couple of years :)

But anyways, if I counted the amount of peanut butter and jam sandwiches I've had throughout the years, it would be well into the thousands. It was such an easy, "throw together as you hear the bus pull up" lunch, and I had one EVERY single day growing up. We didn't really do lunch meat at my house, so it was either PB&J or maybe a fluffenutter to break up any monotomy. If I stacked all those sandwiches end on end, they would probably reach and hit the Hubble telescope.

So yes, I love peanut butter and jam. I think it was ingrained into my brain at such an early age, that it's something I will carry with me forever. So comforting, and so delicious. One of my favorite parts is the interchanability of the jam flavors. You can do traditional grape or strawberry, but maybe one day you want to live on the edge, and go with like orange, or gooseberry, or pomegra-something. It's all up to you, and no sandwich is the same.

Today I pay a tribute to my childhood lunch friend, who has been there with me through football games, show and tell, learning cursive, long division, and multiplication tables. :)

But I'm doing it in one of my favorite forms... the muffin form. We're going to rock and roll with Jam Filled Peanut Butter Muffins... put one of these in the kids lunch boxes, and they will be in for an awesome surprise.

Peanut Butter and Jam Muffins

Recipe by Adam

-1 cup whole wheat flour

-3/4 cup AP flour

-3/4 cup granulated sugar

-1 1/2 tsp baking powder

-1 tsp baking soda

-1/4 tsp salt

-1 cup lowfat or skim milk

-1 egg, slightly beaten

-2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

-1 tsp vanilla

-1/3 cup smooth natural peanut butter

-Jams of your choice

Preheat oven to 400*, center your rack and get your 12 cup muffin pan ready, either lined with muffin cups, or sprayed with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, stir both flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.

In a medium bowl, add the milk, peanut butter, melted butter, vanilla, and beaten egg together, and mix until it comes together. (The peanut butter won't totally mix in, but that's ok).

Make a well in the dry ingredients, and add the milk mixture all at once. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, gently fold the dry and wet "groups" together for about 10 seconds or like 20 "go arounds" or "turns" as I call them. Do not overmix, and remember, we want lumps. Yes we do. Don't worry all will be ok in muffin land.

Pour the muffin batter into the muffin cups so they are about 1/2 full, so you have about a 1/3 or so of the batter left over. Then drop heaping teaspoonfuls of your favorite jam into the center of the muffin batter. Proceed to cover the jam with more muffin batter, and smooth the batter over to make sure the jam is covered up completely. Bake in your preheated over for about 12-15 minutes, and let cool completely on a cooling rack.

I really dug this muffins. My room mate told me it has a peanut butter flavor, without the "smack in your face" peanut flavor. For those of you who don't speak his language, he's just saying the flavor is there, but not like really peanutbutter cookie strong. I like them like that, and the fact that they aren't too sweet too, because the jam sweetens them up. Oh, and in case your wondering, I went with cranberry jam for half of them, and apple for the other half. I think I'm entering Fall mode, and going with Fall flavors. If you have PB&J, what is your J flavor of choice?

Billy Madison