Peanut Butter Frosting, a Glass of Milk & Jelly Everywhere

I have, shall we say, trouble letting go of things sometimes (it’s still eating at me that I missed going to Picnick, Smoked last week). Usually, when I get an idea in my head, it stays there until I do something about it. Recently, the idea that had been rattling around my head was trying my hand at a peanut butter and jelly cupcake. I wanted people to bite into it and be reminded of their childhood, considering just about everyone I know grew up eating, and liking, peanut butter and jelly. Except for one friend of mine who told me he likes peanut butter and likes jelly, but doesn’t like them together in sandwich form…which is almost as inexplicable as saying, “I like bacon and I like cheeseburgers, but I’d never put bacon on a cheeseburger!”

For most of the week, I tried to figure out the best way to go about implementing my plan. After all, I’m a cook; I’ve never even professed to be a pastry cook…let alone someone who enjoys baking all that much. Cooks and pastry cooks are like right-brain and left-brain people. Cooks like the fast-paced life behind the hotline; the constant tension that comes with having to spring into action and start cooking at a moment’s notice; and the pressure that comes with picking up thirteen dishes on five different tables in the middle of a busy Friday night. Pastry cooks, on the other hand, seem to be a serious sort. They (the one’s I’ve known at least) wake up early, not late; their jobs take time and are about attention to detail, not-so-much about improvisation. Pastry is like a science; your measurements have to be precise because if you throw a tablespoon of baking powder into a cake recipe instead of a teaspoon, you could have a problem. Cooking is more fluid; if I add an extra cup of maple syrup to my turkey brine, it’s not the end of the world. Nonetheless, I thought I’d roll the dice, because I’m not going to admit defeat…even when it comes to baking.

Cupcake Mountains...near the Caucasus

My PB&J cupcakes came out moist; but a bit on the dense side, almost like a tiny pound cake. I’m going to work on perfecting the recipe, but since Dopp & I might be putting the finished product on a menu somewhere down the line, you’ll have to make due with this one. This recipe is also a bit on the messy side, since it involves making a peanut butter frosting and then squirting grape jelly into a baked and cooled cupcake…seriously, it looked like a bomb went off in my kitchen. I have been told however, that the finished product was: “yummy,” “delicious” and apparently, “really tasty.”
Oh, and I am well aware of how funny it is that I got fixated on making cupcakes considering how much I despise the current over-proliferation of cupcake places dotting New York City; and generally don’t really like sweets.
So settle in, make your cupcakes, then pour yourself a tall glass of milk.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¾ cup milk
1 cup grape jelly (You can use any kind you want, I went with Welch's)
Peanut butter frosting, recipe follows

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a cupcake pan with paper liners and spray them with nonstick spray and set aside.
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt over a large piece of paper. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a hand mixer on medium speed, until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, the egg yolk, and the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Pour in the milk and continue to mix until smooth. Pick up the paper with the dry ingredients and gradually pour it into the wet ingredients, continue to mix just until blended.
Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared cupcake tins, about 3/4 full.
Bake until the tops of the cupcakes spring back to the touch and are not too golden; about 20 minutes (took closer to 28 in my oven).
Cool in the pan for 20 minutes, and then allow to cool completely on a wire rack before filling, frosting or decorating (might be a good time to get started on the frosting and filling your squirt bottle, no?).
Fill a squirt bottle (or piping bag with the small nozzle tip) with the grape jelly and screw on the cap. Carefully insert the tip of the squirt bottle as far as it will go into the top of the cupcakes. Gently squeeze about 1 tablespoon worth of jelly inside of each. Ice the tops of the cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting to cover.

Peanut Butter Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup smooth peanut butter (I went with all natural, because that’s what I grew up with)
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
4 cups confectioners' sugar*
1 tablespoon milk

Beat the butter, peanut butter, and cream cheese with a hand or standing mixer on medium speed, until light and fluffy. Slowly add the confectioner's sugar and continue to mix until the frosting is smooth, mix in the milk and continue to mix until it reaches a good spreading consisting.

Yield: 2 cups

* Again, because I’m not really a fan of really sweet things (I’m looking at you Crumbs!!), I used closer to 2 ¾ cups of sugar.