Who says peanut-butter and jelly has to be limited to a sandwich? A recipe for the most nostalgic of cupcake fans.
Through my column on BitchBuzz over the course of the last year, I think I’ve clearly established my fondness for peanut-butter and jelly. Despite enjoying and having access to some of the finest French dishes, this classic American brown-bag sandwich has remained an untouchable staple of my diet. But it wasn’t until I moved to Paris that I realized just how much of an Anglo-Saxon obsession peanut-butter actually is.
The inordinate price of peanut-butter jars in French supermarkets alone (whether it’s for Skippy or a natural alternative in health food stores) is enough to indicate how little demand there is for it and, of course, it’s hard to break with tradition. If you grew up slathering spoonfuls of Nutella on toasted baguette with a cereal bowl full of coffee (see here) for breakfast, you too would be circumspect about this peanut concoction. What? It doesn’t contain chocolate? The nerve of those Americans.
With every trip to the States (or the UK) I bring back a jar and my friends no longer need to ask what they can bring me as a “souvenir”. I continue to make peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch several times a week but the sad truth is that it’s not a very refined or elegant meal. In cupcake form, however, it becomes a trendy, sweet snack that even the French can be coerced into trying. After all, if jam is involved it must be good.
Technical note: to facilitate inserting the jam into the center of the cupcake, tools are now available. (Such as Cuisipro’s Cupcake Corer). Otherwise, you can fill a pastry bag fitted with a metal or plastic tip and insert the tip into the center of a cupcake and squeeze some of the filling.
Ingredients
{Makes 12}
For the cupcakes
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs (room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup milk
1 cup jam of choice
For the frosting:
8 Tablespoons Butter, Softened
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
3 cups Powdered Sugar
¼ cups Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line muffin tins with 12 liners.
Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add in the eggs one at a time. Beat well, then add the vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk. Mix very well.
Fill 12 cupcake liners until 2/3 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool before proceeding to the icing.
Use a cupcake corer to remove a piece of each cupcake’s center in order to fill the hole with a tablespoon of jam. If using a pastry bag, simply fill it with jam and insert the tip into the center of the cupcake and squeeze.
For the frosting, cream the butter and peanut butter until combined. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and half of the milk until smooth.
Add remaining milk if necessary. Place in a pastry bag and pipe the frosting onto each cupcake.
Lindsey Tramuta is a home & culture columnist for BitchBuzz and the creator of Lost In Cheeseland where she writes about food, love, life and obstacles in Paris. Follow her on twitter @LostNCheeseland.
Photo courtesy of Cookies and Cups