That's right it's time for some Muffin Mania here on Doctor Kitten in the Kitchen, quite literally as the recipe featured in this post is my own variation on a muffin from a fantastic little book called, you guessed it,
Muffin Mania (it is a fantastic book, which, although currently out of print as far as the big sellers (such as Amazon) are concerned, can be obtained through the
website of the granddaughter of one of the two Canadian women who originally wrote the book. If you have any doubts whatsoever about the widespread love and devotion, which really does reach cult status, you need only check the
blog devoted to paeans of praise for it. Indeed, a quick internet search has led me to believe that an unusually high proportion of baking bloggers have a copy of this book (often photocopied from their mother's copy).
My own copy of my mother's much battered copy, filled with annotations and notes is a treasured possession. And I have to say, our copy was liberally shared around a great number of friends of the family (who in turn, I believe, passed it on to everyone who tasted muffins made to the recipe in this book). Indeed, so much is this the case that I figure a good high percentage you you reading this blog will have a photocopy of the book already (especially if you knew me when I lived in California).
The book has any number of fantastic recipes divided into categories (Breakfast, Coffee Break, Lunch, Brunch or Instead of Bread, Teatime and Dessert), with some of my favourites being Muffins that Taste Like Donuts and Chocolate Cheesecake, but there are delicious savoury ones as well. At the start of the book is a plain basic muffin recipe, which makes a great springboard for throwing in anything else you want to throw in (like seasonal, frozen or dried fruit, or anything really). This plain recipe is on the fan blog,
here. I find that this plain recipe (or most of the recipes in the book really) make 6 large 21st century style muffins, so double if you want to make 12.
However, as much as a love all the recipes in this book (with the possible exception of Sandy's Seafood Muffin—which to be fair, I'm not sure I have ever actually tried), some of my favourite muffin recipes are the variations that my family has developed based on the recipes in this book, for instance, the Blueberry Cornmeal Muffin (use the Cornmeal muffin recipe and add blueberries).
Anyway, I recently decided to play around with the
Muffin Mania recipe for Peanut Butter Muffins (page 34 in the section entitled "Coffee Break"). Now, I always have peanut butter in the house. Moreover, guided by the fact that peanut butter is easily obtainable in all the major and minor supermarkets in the UK, I had thought that most people must also have peanut butter in the house at all times. Not so I believe. Nor, so far as my British husband would have me believe is PB&J (Peanut Butter and Jelly, a.k.a Jam) a mainstay of the average British schoolchild's lunchbox, let alone the Peanut Butter variation sandwiches (such as Peanut Butter and Banana slices and especially not the wonderfully named "fluffernutter", which is Peanut Butter and Banana Marshmallow spread—indeed, no amount of descriptions of this Marshmallow Spread that I had eaten in my youth, or glimpses of the product in the pantry of Nigella's BBC kitchen could actually make my husband believe that such a thing really did exist until I showed him a jar of
Marshmallow Fluff up close and personal in a candy store in Greenwich, although I would like to point out that it is available via
Ocado as well). However, I have not put Marshmallow Fluff in my muffins yet. Thus far, my main aim has been to make my husband truly accustomed to PB&J as a culinary concept. So, I added jam to my Peanut Butter muffins. Now, the batch that I made back in June (see photo below), were your basic peanut butter muffins with homemade raspberry jam just spread on the muffins as they came out of the oven (as the recipe suggests as a variation).
However, having made muffins with "surprise" centres before (particularly the Chocolate Cheesecake) muffins from
Muffin Mania) and having just had some of my cousin-in-law's Nutella muffins during the Christmas festivities, I decided to make these truly PB&J muffins, which required rejigging the recipe a little. So here it is:
PB&J Muffins adapted from the Peanut Butter Muffins of Muffin Mania
170g Plain (All Purpose) flour (which is about 3.5 cups)
60g of golden caster (or granulated) sugar (about 2 cups)
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
50g melted butter
2 cups of milk
4 eggs, beaten
100g peanut butter (or to taste)
50g jam, plus a tbsp more more the topping
Large 12- Muffin tin
Muffin cups or baking paper cut into large squares
Pre-heat the oven to 180C/360F.
Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl (or a food processor), combine and then add the peanut butter.
Either stir/cut in the peanut butter, or if using a food processor, just blend.
Combine the melted butter, the milk and the eggs.
Add the wet mixture to the dry, stir (just) to combine, but don't over mix. The mixture may be quite wet at this point.
For the baking tin, if you are using muffin papers, place these in the tin. If you have run out of muffin papers or forgot to buy some, cut up large squares of baking paper.
Put one large spoonful of muffin batter into each muffin compartment (if using baking paper, try using a one cup measuring cup to first press down the paper, then take the cup out and quickly and carefully put batter in the compartment. The batter should hold the baking paper in place).
Add a small spoonful of jam (I used homemade raspberry jam, but any flavour of home made or store-bought should do) into each muffin compartment.
Cover each muffin with an additional large spoonful of batter (covering the jam), or as much batter as you have left.
Cook the muffins in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
Take the muffins out of the oven.
Place a couple of TBSP of jam in a cup and microwave it for about 30 seconds to a minute, or until it is all gooey.
Spread the jam over the top of the still warm muffins.
Enjoy (they should keep on the counter for about 5 days to a week, if covered or in a sealed container, or for a few months in the freezer). For reheating either a few days old or frozen muffins, place a damp paper towel/piece of kitchen roll under the muffin and microwave for 30 seconds/1 minute.
