Every once in a while, I really, REALLY want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Or peanut butter and honey, or peanut butter and banana... But, I hardly ever give in to those cravings. As a lunch, these sandwiches always seem too indulgent; my lunches have always been on the small side, and therefore eating PB & J often just makes me feel guilty. And, although I have had a PB & J sandwich once for breakfast and once for dinner, that's not exactly routine for me. So, what's a girl to do when she really wants her fix of peanut butter and jelly but doesn't want to call it lunch? Make it into a muffin (with banana!) and eat it for breakfast, since it'll be ready-made. (I also get my fix at Costco every so often when they're sampling those frozen Uncrustables... talk about a weird guilty pleasure, but i love 'em.)
These muffins are just like eating a PB & J sandwich with bananas. I don't know if you can label that PBB & J? They're moist, with the perfect amount of all three major ingredients so as to not be too peanut buttery or banana-y, or super sweet from the jelly. Plus, they're 100% whole wheat with no oil or butter, so you can feel a little bit less guilty about eating them. To top it all off, they rose nicely (I can't stand it when my muffins don't rise about the top of the tin!)
I used different kinds of jelly in the muffins; some got pomegranate, some got strawberry, and a few got apricot. Have fun with it!
Whole Wheat PB&J Muffins with Banana
(makes 12 muffins)
1 ⅚ cup whole wheat flour (⅚ = ½ + ⅓)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
⅓ cup brown sugar
1 cup milk
2 eggs
½ cup peanut butter
⅓ cup pureed banana
½ cup jelly/jam (or 2 teaspoons per muffin)
Oven Temperature: 375 F
1. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Add the brown sugar and whisk lightly to combine.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the milk, eggs, peanut butter, and pureed banana. Add the flour mixture to this mixture and stir at lowest speed until just incorporated.
3. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin and divide half of the batter among the muffin cups. If in doubt, do less than half rather than more. Add 2 teaspoons of jelly or jam to each cup, and then top with the remaining batter.
4. Bake muffins in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, making sure that a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean. Allow to cool for at least ten minutes before removing from the muffin tin to cool completely.
waitarethosecookies says
I am loooving these! I love nut butter (this may be fairly evident on my blog, haha), but I never thought of putting it with jam in a muffin! Mind blown. They're sitting in the fridge waiting to be eaten as I type this :)
alexandra says
These muffins sound like they're right up your alley! So happy you tried them and let me know :)
waitarethosecookies says
They're EXCELLENT with pumpkin butter---my roommate and I can't leave them alone!
Katie says
I may actually be addicted to Pb&J, so I know I'd loooove this.
alexandra says
Hah! You should definitely try them then!
sheelbeel says
I had a friend's mom make these for me once and I nearly fainted from the awesomeness. I've always wondered how to make them myself. Thanks so much for sharing!!
alexandra says
You're welcome! I'm glad you found this recipe so you can make them yourself :) If you're a PB&J lover, they are pretty awesome.