Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins – Soft, fluffy, peanut butter-scented muffins are filled with sweet, strawberry jelly, creating a fun twist on PB&J. They’re fast and easy to make, and come together with just one bowl and a whisk. Biting into a tender muffin and hitting an unexpected patch of jelly is the best kind of surprise.
I’ll take peanut butter and jelly in any form. PB & J sandwiches are fine.
But peanut butter muffins with strawberry jelly-filled centers definitely trump sandwiches.
Of all the Peanut Butter Recipes I’ve posted, there’s peanut butter cookies, cake, and bars up the wazoo, but I’ve never posted a peanut butter muffin recipe. It was time to remedy that.
The muffins are fast and easy to make, and come together in minutes with just one bowl and a whisk. No need to haul out your mixer.
The peanut butter does double duty of not only adding flavor, but it keeps the muffins soft and moist. I used oil rather than butter, which I prefer in muffins, cupcakes, and cakes because it keeps them extra soft and springy. Using buttermilk keeps them fluffy, lighter, and moist.
Between the peanut butter, oil, and buttermilk, they’re big softies.
Normally I don’t like surprises, but sinking my teeth into the strawberry jelly filling that’s hiding inside is a surprise I’m on board with.
I didn’t use liners because I didn’t want ruffled edges. I wanted muffins, not potato chips. Instead, I sprayed my muffin pan with floured cooking spray. No issues whatsoever with sticking.
When you’re filling the pan, don’t be scared to fill the wells up to nearly the top, a solid three-quarters full. This is what creates big, bakery-style domed-top muffins. I filled my 12-Cup Muffin Pan
perfectly with the batter. Just enough and none leftover.
I used my tw0-tablespoon cookie scoop, sprayed with cooking spray so the batter slides off easily, to fill each muffin cavity with about 2 tablespoons batter. It’ll come about one-third of the way up.
Then, add a nice dollop of jelly to each cavity, before topping with more batter.
When covering the jelly with batter, make sure it’s completely covered. If it’s not, exposed areas will be prone seeping out, caramelizing (burning), and sticking to the sides of the pan.
They’re soft, fluffy, and light, with just the right amount of density.
The peanut butter flavor is distinct, but not overpowering, perfect for breakfast, brunch, or snacks when you don’t want or need a super intense blast of peanut butter. If you want intense, try these.
The sweet jelly is the perfect compliment to the peanut butter, and it was fun watching my 6-year old bite into these and watching her eyes light up when she discovered the jelly filling. She’s missing her two front teeth right now, and soft, moist, tender food is perfect for my toothless princess.
I’ll never say no to a great PB&J sandwich, but the muffins are my new favorite way to eat PB & J.
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Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins
Soft, fluffy, peanut butter-scented muffins are filled with sweet, strawberry jelly, creating a fun twist on PB&J. You’ll never look at a PB&J sandwich the same way when you can have PB&J muffins in about 30 minutes. They’re fast and easy to make, and come together with just one bowl and a whisk. Biting into a tender muffin and hitting an unexpected patch of jelly is the best kind of surprise.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk; use any kind of milk – soy, cow, rice, goat, coconut)
- 1/2 heaping cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- about 1/4 cup strawberry jelly, jam or preserves (or try raspberry, grape, cherry, or your favorite), divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a standard 12-count muffin pan
with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside. For cosmetic reasons, I prefer to avoid the ruffled edges that paper liners create. - In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the the first six dry ingredients, ending with optional salt.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the next 6 wet ingredients, ending with vanilla extract.
- Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients, and fold to incorporate using a rubber spatula. Don’t stir vigorously or beat; just make sure everything is combined and there are no unblended dry ingredients hiding at the bottom of the bowl or in the folds of the batter. Don’t overmix or muffins will be tough. Batter will be quite thick.
- Using a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop or spoon that’s been sprayed with cooking spray (helps batter to slide right off), fill muffin wells with about 2 heaping tablespoons of batter each, coming about one-third of the way full. You want enough of a layer of batter that the jam that’s added in the next step has a nice cushion to rest on so it won’t bottom-out and sink while baking. Re-spray scoop with cooking spray every third or fourth scoopful of batter, or as necessary.
- Add 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons jelly to the center of each cavity (marble-sized mounds)
- Top each muffin with remaining batter, about 2 tablespoons each. Fill muffin cups up to a solid 3/4-full, nearly filling to the top. This creates domed, high-top muffins. Underfilled cups create flatter muffins, and you’ll also end up with extra batter.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until tops are golden, set, domed, and springy to the touch; don’t overbake.
- Allow muffins to cool in the pan on top of a wire rack for 5 minutes before removing them from the pan. Then place on a wire rack to cool completely.
- Tip: If you’ve accidentally overbaked your muffins, wrapping them while still warm in plasticwrap, and putting them inside a large Ziplock, and sealing it, will help muffins soften over the next day. Muffins are best fresh, but well-wrapped, they will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 274Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 243mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 1gSugar: 21gProtein: 5g
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35+ Favorite Peanut Butter Recipes
Peanut Butter and Jelly Recipes
Even after writing my first cookbook with 100+ Peanut Butter Recipes, Peanut Butter Comfort: Recipes for Breakfasts, Brownies, Cakes, Cookies, Candies, and Frozen Treats Featuring America’s Favorite Spread
, I’m still not sick of peanut butter.
Book release is just days away on June 4. Thanks to everyone who’s pre-ordered your copy!
Peanut butter and jelly fan?
Do you have a favorite muffin recipe?
So these muffins have now become a staple in our household. We love them! I have tweeked the recipe a bit by combining yogurt with my milk to creat the buttermilk with success. The last time I made them, I subbed some white whole wheat flour for the all purpose and although tasty they sank some. I did read some reviews and know that the sinkage is due to not as much gluten in the whole wheat flour. So my question is, is there anything I can add to help with the sinkage while still using some white whole wheat flour? Add more baking powder? Thank you!
I don’t bake much with whole wheat flour due to the gluten being less, and hence, things fall/sink. Not really sure what to suggest since I don’t personally use it much. More baking powder could work, but it could also create an overly cakey texture with weird air pockets. I would make the recipe as written since you love it so much and make some swaps elsewhere in diet/exercise if you’re concerned :)
Moist and peanut buttery deliciousness! I reduced sugars a tad, 1/3 cup of both brown and white sugar. Made them for my toddler for a quick breakfast, hubby took one for a mid morning snack and then mommy even had one post workout ? A real winner!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! And that you were able to reduce the sugars a bit and that the whole family enjoyed these!
Can these PB&J muffins be frozen and then opt in a kiddo’s lunch kit to thaw and them eat the muffins at lunch?
I haven’t tried freezing these so can’t say for sure exactly what they’re like upon thawing. Best to just keep at room temp with this recipe I think.
Hi, anybody there? LOL I made the peanut butter and jelly muffin, but the jelly went all the down to the bottom of the pan’s cavity… any ideas why? Thanks a lot
Possibly adding a bit too much jelly or possibly not adding enough batter for the base layer so the jelly didn’t have a sturdy enough platform on which to rest.
I’ve made these muffins a number of times so thought I should come back and leave a comment. We love these muffins! I make them for my kids’ school lunches as an alternative to sandwiches. They cut down on prep time in the morning when I put the lunch together and are fun for the kids to eat. I’ve also substituted sunbutter for the peanut butter since my son’s school has a peanut-free policy. They taste just as good with the sunbutter. Thanks for this recipe!
Thanks for trying these and commenting and so glad they come in handy for school lunches rather than PB&J, or in your case Sunbutter & J. :)
Fun to see these floating around Pinterest today! LOVE!
Thanks for the comment on this post…it’s amazing with our older posts how that can sometimes happen!
I just made these, and while they taste delicious, I ended up with flat tops and gooey bottoms from the jelly sinking, and I definitely used jelly, not jam! I did vary slightly from your recipe though…I subbed in 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour (just looking to sneak some fibre in!), I used dark brown sugar (since that’s what I had), and the PB I used was…borderline natural? I think it’s 93% peanuts, with some added vegetable oil, peanut oil, and salt. So maybe that made it too soggy…I’ll have to try again another time, maybe without messing with the formula, because they taste lovely!
Three huge mistakes: 1. whole wheat flour has way less gluten, therefore doesn’t rise as well, will contribute to sinking. 2. Dark brown sugar has almost twice the moisture than light brown, makes the batter heavier, thus could contribute to sinking. 3. Natural PB is usually more oily/greasy, even though it’s ‘natural’. It doesn’t behave like Jif or Skippy would in baking and can result in oily batter or in baked goods that lack structure; sometimes it will be okay, other times not. You never know so for baking, I never use natural. Everything you did can, will, and did cause sinking/sogginess. Try the recipe again as I wrote it and you’ll be fine!
Sigh…that’s what I get for trying to make it a bit healthier. It honestly pains me to buy non-natural peanut butter, I have defiantly used natural for every other recipe and it usually turns out just fine! Although I guess I’m already eating something full of sugar and not great for you, so what’s a big of extra sugar going to hurt?
Non-natural PB for baking is a total recipe for disaster. It may or may not work. By using it, you compromise all the other ingredients$$ in the bowl and the success of the recipe. It’s one of those things I’d rather take 2 less bites than worry about the sugar comparison in natural vs. non-natural. Or do 1/10th extra mile of cardio. It’s not even worth the risk to use it for baking IMO!
I love this idea! Definitely going to try it.. Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches are not very famous here in Spain but I´ve always loved the combination, or peanut butter & golden syrup which I consumed daily when I grew up in South Africa.
So glad I found your blog via Pinterest.
Would like to invite you to visit my blog too:
http://www.flavoursandfrosting.blogspot.com
Have a great weekend!
Johlene
Xx
just made these! i got over ambitious and had too much batter and jam in each muffin! but beyond that, they tasted fantastic! a nice light batter. thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for LMK you tried them! And overzealous…boy, how I have been there. I am queen of overflowing my muffin pan. Glad you enjoyed these and thanks for telling me!
I think I’m in love! These look adorable and sound wonderful! Thanks for sharing at Time to Sparkle : )
Liz
These tasted SO great!! So light and fluffy. So moist. Wow.
I did have an issue, though. My 2 tablespoons in the bottom before the jam must not have been enough, because after cooling the muffins, the jam fell right out the bottoms of almost all my muffins when I took them out of the pan! Next time I will fill them a little further before adding the jam. Anyway, they still looked fine from the top and tasted awesome.
Also, I used all the batter and filled ’em all up, and my muffins baked over the edges of the cups, big time, and ran into each other. Thankfully, they came apart and still looked nice, but I was concerned! They ended up looking cool, like bakery-style muffins, but I think I might make a few more than 12 next time, instead.
All of my issues/mistakes aside, I can’t wait to make these again! This is a wonderful recipe.
So glad you enjoyed the overall taste of the muffin and the texture! Yes, when filling them, make a nice ‘cushion’ for the jam to rest. If it’s 3 tbsp or whatever you need so that the jam is going to have an nice sturdy place to rest so it won’t bottom-out as easily, do so. Just eyeball it and use your judgment.
And based on muffin pans being slightly different sizes, if you need to make 13 or 14 next time, go for it. Thanks for trying the recipe and so glad you’re happy!
I had the same problems. Def makes more than 12 muffins. Delicious nonetheless!!
More than 12 isn’t really a problem, though, right? :)
Glad you enjoyed them!
This is the muffin pan I use http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YKGQN8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003YKGQN8&linkCode=as2&tag=lovvegyogruna-20
AMAZING!!!! It took all my will power not to just sit down and eat the entire bowl of batter. Even as amazing as the batter was, it doesn’t compare with the finished product!! I need to stay out of the kitchen currently so I don’t eat the entire dozen! Well done!
Thanks for LMK you loved them – batter and all :) So happy you’re pleased with them & thanks for coming back to tell me!
Averie, I love peanut butter but I’m not a jelly or jam fan so when I saw this recipe I decided to add mini chocolate chips instead of the jelly. Let me tell you, these are amazing!!! Thanks for the recipe and I can’t wait for your book to arrive.
So glad you tried them out and PB & Chocolate sounds pretty fabulous to me! And thanks for ordering my book – I really appreciate it!!
These look so tasty. I am glad I saw them on Tuesday Talent Show. I hope you’ll come share them at my weekly party: http://www.tumbleweedcontessa.com/blog/whatd-you-do-this-weekend-18/
I am going to pin these right now. Best wishes for tasty dishes this week!
Thanks for clicking over and for the pin – much appreciated!
Yum! My children would love these for breakfast or a snack! I can’t wait to make these:) Pinning!
Thanks for pinning!
I love the look of these Averie, I’ve never tried putting jam in the middle of muffins (have tried lemon curd) but will be trying it soon! :-)
How cute are these with the hidden jelly surprise inside! Thanks for linking up with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
I love PB&J…I also love fluffernutters…I may make a few of these muffins with fluff in the middle…anyways can I substitute the buttermilk? I never have buttermilk and when I do have it I always end up throwing most of it out.
Make some! Add 1 to 2 tbsp of white vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup of regular milk. Wait 10 mins. That’s buttermilk!
Or use reg milk + a dollop of Greek yogurt or sour cream. You need something cultured in this batter so you get nice rise and some lift b/c the PB is dense otherwise.
I’m new to your page but so glad I found it! These look amazing and are on my to do list asap. Just out of curiosity do you use a sweeter peanut butter (like Kraft) for your baking or a plainer just peanuts sort of one? Thank you!
Thanks for finding me! And good question. First of all, I don’t bake with homemade or ‘natural’ PB (for anyone else who reads this comment). And what I do bake with is generally honey roasted like a Peter Pan honey roasted or similar. For just a ‘plain’ PB, can’t go wrong with good ole Jif. I prefer baking with sweeter PBs but that’s all personal preference. LMK if you try these!
Making anything peanut butter + jelly flavored is amazing, I’m all for peanut butter & jelly flavored muffins, cookies, ice cream, creme brulee, whatever! Haha. Love the jelly in the middle of this!!
Yum! These looks fabulous :) so fun!
Peanut butter and jelly muffins?! YUM. I’m just about to drool on my keyboard, to be honest with ya. ; ) These are going on the ‘must make’ list right now!
LMK how they turn out!
Well you know I love my peanut butter anything :) these look so good!! You did it again Averie :)
Glad you like them!
I have been on a muffin-for-breakfast kick because I don’t have time for much else, so these are going on my to-make list. As soon as I go through the muffins I currently have in the freezer. :)
Mine just came out of the oven ten minutes ago and they taste incredible!
…although my jelly did sink to the bottom of the pan making a gooey bottomed muffin, they are sitting dome side down on the cooling rack.
Pity that I’m going to have to make these again sometime for a second crack at ’em. :)
So glad you tried them and the taste is incredible! As for the sinking jelly…hmmm…I did not have that problem at all. I used jelly, rather than jam (if you used jam, maybe it had bigger/heavier fruit chunks in it?) I also added about 1 heaping teaspoon, not a tablespoon or anything. You could also try to add slightly more batter when you’re filling the cups up the first time before adding the jelly, so you have a thicker ‘cushion’ for it. LMK if you try again and how things go!
i love how you thought of not using a liner…they do look so perfect smooth like that. and i have to laugh I don’t usually like surprises in my food either but knowing it is a pb&j muffin i am all for it!
have my cookbook preorder….so excited and happy for you Averie. LoVE your blog…and as always…all you share and teach us!
Thanks for pre-ordering and I appreciate it and all your support! :)
Gorgeous as always Averie! I’m sure these are such a hit with kids! And adults…My hubby is a huge pb&j fan, so I’m sure he’d love these as well!
Those muffins sound sooooo good! Thanks for sharing :)
Happy Blogging!
Happy Valley Chow
Muffins totally trump sammies. These look amazing!
Averie, I feel like I can taste these through the screen. They sound awesome!
Yum! What a great and cute little muffin! You just have to love PB and J in all forms!!!
These are awesome – I’m not a fan of the J in PB&J, but I could totally do these with Nutella…
And I love your potato chip reference. Makes me laugh every time!
You can’t go wrong with PB&J! My kids would love these. And they look easy and quick and would be perfect for breakfast, or lunch, or a snack, or all of the above! :)
Is it wrong that I would probably want to add more pb to these? ;)
These sound like they’d be the perfect afternoon snack! They look so moist too! :)
Averie, I just adore peanut butter and jelly…or, jam…in any combo! Love trail mix made with peanuts and dried fruit, too. Must make your muffins ASAP, girl! And, yes…sometimes it is pure joy to mix batters and dough simply in a bowl with a wooden spoon versus a stand mixer. It just feels so dang good! You are the PB Queen! xo
I love no-mixer batters. Perfect for those times you just need to throw something together fast!
Thanks to 2, barrel sized jars of peanut butter we bought at BJ’s, I’ve been on a PB kick myself. These sound so ridiculously good I want to make them right now! Perfect to go with my morning smoothie.
When I was writing my cookbook, I was going through so much PB it would make your head spin. So I can relate to the barrel-sized containers!
I love this! Its like a bite size peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
And much cuter I think too :)
Perfect brunch muffins!
These look perfect Averie! I was literally just thinking the other day about baking muffins with jam in them! I’m all about stuffing things into other things these days!
I had previously done jam-swirled blueberry muffins but hadnt fully baked it into them til now. So glad I did!
These look so good! I can’t believe I have never made a PB muffin either – I am obsessed with PB, and yours look incredible! PS – Your toothless princess sounds adorable :)
She’s so adorable :) And yes, I’m biased but missing two front teeth at the same time is just a priceless look!
Wow – looks amazing! Great way to eat PB&J for breakfast without feeling guilty!
Sometimes it’s nice to give the over-taxed stand mixer a break (and sometimes I need to sink my teeth into something jelly-filled!). This recipe will make both of us happy. (My stand mixer is an “us.”) :D
Love these, what a hidden surprise when tearing one open. Would love to bake these for a friends get together. :)
I would like to eat the food in all those displayed pictures. Oh my, oh my!
These are so fun Averie! I love everything about them. Especially the generous amount of jelly inside. I’m a big fan of PB&J sammies, but they have to be dripping with PB and overloaded with jelly!!!
That jelly filling looks to-die-for. Love!
Averie, these muffins look perfect! Totally would be a hit for breakfast over here.
These are gorgeous! My family and I would love these. Can’t wait to try them!
Love these muffins, Averie! PB & J in a perfect pop-able form! My kids will love them! Pinning!
What a fun twist on PB&J!
You had me at pb&j–best combo ever!
why have a boring pb&j sandwich when you can have these?
love them in muffin form!
I agree with the comment above me- your muffins are magnificent and always turn out wonderfully! These PBJ cuties sound like the perfect snack on the go.
Love that surprise in the middle! I’ve only made a jam filled muffin once but they were so good! Such a fun idea Averie!
I keep wanting to make pbj cupcakes but muffins are so much easier and perfectly acceptable for breakfast :) Pb muffins are some of my faves because they are so super moist. The jelly would be such a nice surprise if you didn’t know it was there.
How fun do those look?! I’m not a PB&J fan, but that’s on a sandwich. This is something totally different in my book. Love the creativity!
Yum!!! These muffins look so great!! The little surprise of jelly in the middle is so clever :)
Your muffins always turn out beautiful! I can not get over your tops, they are perfect! Normally, I am a straight peanut butter girl. Jelly is not usually my thing, but lately I have been experimenting with it and kind of like it. I still just prefer only peanut (ok, well I like PB and Banana), but theses muffin look too good not to try!
These turned out nice but trust me, I have made my share of mushrooms, not muffins, before :)
Yum, Averie! These remind me of one of the first things I baked as a “tween” – – a muffin filled with jam. But back then I wasn’t wise enough to make it a peanut butter muffin! This is every PB&J lover’s breakfast dream… I go back and forth on whether I prefer using muffin liners for muffins or not. Sometimes I like the soft edges the liners allow for, other times I like the more firm outer crust.
I used to think I liked liners but cosmetically, I love them without – plus sometimes the liner and the food dont get along well and half the food ends up on them. But you have a point with the softer texture. I want the best of all worlds!
I just have to admit it. I love peanut butter and jelly more than peanut butter and chocolate. It’s true! Nothing in my recipe archive backs that statement up, but you just gotta believe me. :) I would love these muffins! They are so perfectly stuffed. Sometimes I rip open a stuffed muffin to find the filling off the side and seeping out. That’s just the product of a lazy filler who didn’t do a good job making sure it was properly centered before baking! Anyway, I love these Averie. I immediately thought of your PBJ blondies when I saw the first photo of this post and I’m glad you liked back to those.
a lazy filler who didn’t do a good job making sure it was properly centered before baking <--- LOL but it's true :) And I loved those blondies; if for nothing else, I made them in Aruba and as much as my photo shoots there suck as we've discussed, every time I look at the pics, I am transported to my happy place.
Is it bad that I want to slurp the jelly out of these?
I too love PB and J. I’ve been seeing a lot of recipes with them lately… these by far look the best… love muffins!!
Thanks for saying they look by far the best :)
I have always loved pb&j sandwiches and always will… But that doesn’t mean I’m not on the lookout for new ways to enjoy the beloved combo! These muffins are so much fun! I’d love to sink my teeth into one and enjoy that “surprise” filling!!
The only kind of surprise I like :)
I am going through a huge PB&J phase and can’t wait to try the PB&J blondies–thanks for posting!!
They’re so dense – almost like PB Fudge! I love those things!
I’m pretty sure my husband loves PB as much as me. He’ll top a brownie or ice cream with it and PB&J is one of his frequent snacks. I’ve made PB quick bread and a PB yeast bread, but not a filled muffin. Love this…and so will he! I think it would be fun to go with a few different jam flavors.
I wish I would have thought to fill up some with peach, some with strawberry, raspberry, whatever I had open, but…I didn’t. Fun thought! LMK what you try!
A classic all in one. Love it!
These look amazing!! It’s been way too long since I’ve made muffins and pb and jelly ones are genius! :) These are definitely going on the to-bake list.
Super easy, too. The best kind of muffin :)
I’ll take PB & J in any form too! It’s been a while since I made muffins and I just stocked up on peanut butter at TJ’s today so I really need to make these! I’ve been slacking on breakfast foods so this here is the perfect pick-me-up before I go to work.
oooh that’s awesome that you’re well-stocked. Love that feeling. And you’re the muffin and cupcake queen so I’m honored you’d make these!