Monday 25 June 2012

Peanut Butter Cup Muffins



Okay, people said these were good. My dog loved me when I was making them because she got to lick the peanut buttery spoons clean. (She's such a good little helper.) I don't actually know what they taste like as I'd much rather eat my Nutella Muffins than these. Plus, I'm not so fond of these muffins for the sole reason that they gave me a horrible time when trying to photograph them. Yup, I don't know what it is about muffins (and breakfast foods and breads) that make them so hard to get a good picture of. Maybe it's that they are all brown and brown isn't the nicest colour. Or even that they are brown and I'm trying to take their picture next to a brown countertop, brown wood board, brown kitchen cupboards, brown walls. I think I've found why I can't get a decent picture. Then again, didn't I say that I don't really care if I have top notch photography (or even mediocre), so I shouldn't be fretting over this. This blog in the end is just for me to document what went right and wrong in the kitchen. Hey, if anyone else wants to read this then that's a bonus.

Yes, this is the same muffin recipe as the one from which I made my Banana Bran Nutella Muffins. In the process of trying to make these muffins dairy free, I think I also created something wonderful. You see, the first time I made these with peanut butter, I threw a couple chocolate chips on top as an after thought because hey, everyone that likes peanut butter seems to love peanut butter cups. Well the verdict quickly came in, they were good but didn't have enough chocolate. So here you have my updated Peanut Butter Cup Muffin Recipe. And yes, they still are pretty healthy (minus the odd chocolate chip or two now in them.)

One thing I did notice is that while you think peanut butter and nutella have a similar consistency, they actually bake up quite differently. With the nutella, I was able to swirl the extra spread on top of each muffin and it just stayed there nicely like I had placed it. The peanut butter on the other hand really melted and oozed over the top of the entire muffin (and looked really horrible and unappetizing). My recommendation: continue to place the nutella on top of the batter, but if you do peanut butter, place the blob of peanut butter on top of the batter and then with a toothpick try to flip the blob upside down so that the entire blob is coated in a bit of muffin batter. Does that make sense? If it doesn't, just push the blob into the depths of the muffin batter. When the peanut butter is encased by the batter it doesn't ooze away and so you bite into a peanut butter surprise.

The original recipe is still from Baking Bites.

Ingredients

Makes 14 Very Large Muffins (or 18 Regular Sized)
1 1/2 C. Whole Wheat Flour
1 C. Oat Bran (or Quick-Cooking Oatmeal)
2 Tbsp. Cocoa
1 Tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp. Salt
2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
3/4 C. Brown Sugar
2 Large Eggs
1 1/4 Tsp. Vanilla
1 C. Mashed Bananas (about 2 1/2 Bananas)
1/3 C. (heaping) Peanut Butter (+ additional for top ~ 1/3 C. extra)
1 C. Buttermilk
1 1/2 C. Chocolate Chips

Directions

~Preheat oven to 375 F.
~Line muffin tins with liners or grease.
~In a large bowl, combine flour, bran, cocoa, baking powder, soda and salt. Stir to combine.
~In a medium bowl, whisk together oil, sugar, eggs, banana, nutella and buttermilk until smooth.
~Poor wet mixture into dry, add chocolate chips and stir until just combined.
~Fill each muffin tin.
~Drop 1-2 tsp of the additional peanut butter onto top of each muffin, then either push the peanut butter into the middle of the batter or with a toothpick, flip the peanut butter blob around to get the top surface covered by muffin batter.
~Bake until toothpick comes out clean. Approximately 13-15 minutes for regular sized muffins or 15-17 for large muffins.
~Cool muffins in tin slightly then remove to cool completely on a cooling rack.

Enjoy


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