Back to School

When I was in school, I was never into sandwiches for lunch. There was something about the mushy bread getting stuck in my teeth that just bugged me. As a result, I never got to enjoy the small pleasure known as the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Neither did I like peanut butter and banana sandwiches – I thought the bananas were too slimy.

Nowadays, I can’t understand how I used to dislike them so much. Peanut butter and bananas are regular staples in my diet, and really when is strawberry-flavored, sugary goo a bad thing? Now that I’ve grown up (sort of), I decided to give them another chance – well sort of!

I’ve had this idea floating around in my head for a long time. I remember watching Cupcake Wars and the event they were competing for was a children’s charity. So I thought to myself, if I had to make a kid friendly cupcake, what would it be? The first idea I had was S’mores (and I have made those before) but then it hit me! Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! I think kids would go crazy for those (well minus the kids like me – but I was always the exception). But I wasn’t just going to stop at a peanut butter and jelly cupcake, I was going all out! Enter the Peanut Butter, Banana and Jelly cupcake, aka the PBBJ cupcake.

I took both recipes from Allrecipes.com and modified them a little. I also cut the recipes in half, since I was just making a test batch, so these recipes will give you 9 cupcakes and frosting for a lot more than 9.

Banana Cupcake

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas

2 tbsp milk

1 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1.5/4 tsp baking soda (the recipe for 18 cupcakes was ¾ tsp so half)

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs, vanilla, bananas and milk. Combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda; add to banana mixture. Fill 9 paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full.

2. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/4 cup butter

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

2 tbsp heavy cream (whipping cream)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, beat butter and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Slowly beat in 1/2 of the confectioner’s sugar. Mix in 1 tbsp of the cream. Beat in the remaining confectioners’ sugar. If necessary, add a little more cream or milk until the frosting reaches a good spreading consistency.
   

To assemble PBBJ cupcakes

Materials required: cupcakes, frosting and jam (about half a cup of whatever kind you like – I used seedless strawberry)

1. Using an apple corer (or melon baller if you prefer) remove the core of the cupcake (going halfway down the cupcake).
2. Spoon jam into the corner of a ziplock bag and heat it in the microwave for 5 – 10 seconds, till it’s a little smoother. Cut the tip off the corner of the bag and squirt the jam into the cupcake holes.
3. Pipe, spread, or dollop the peanut butter frosting on top of the cupcake, covering the hole.

I changed the cupcake recipe only slightly. Originally it called for shortening and buttermilk, but I didn’t have those so I used butter and skim milk instead. Also, I split the sugar to be both brown and granulated, instead of just granulated. For the frosting, I used a commenter’s suggested quantities, and you know what? They knew what they were talking about! My frosting turned out fantastic! It was a little airy, but that’s probably my fault.

Of course, since there are three parts to this recipe, it is a little tedious, but it was tons of fun and the results are mouth-watering. For a kid who didn’t like PBBJ sandwiches, I sure did like these! You really get the jam and peanut butter flavors immediately, and hidden underneath is the banana. When I make this again (which I definitely will), I might increase the amount of banana or use riper bananas so the flavors come out more.

I can’t believe how many cupcakes I’ve posted in this blog. You’d swear all I baked was cupcakes! Oh well, I’m really enjoying myself and I think getting pretty good at them. I’m sure something else will catch my eye soon and I’ll be obsessed with something else!