National Muffin Day - Peanut Butter and Jelly Crumb Morning Muffins - BAKED Occasions

February 20 is listed as National Muffin Day and my boys are fans of muffins most of the time. They enjoy the pumpkin muffins from 100 Days of Real Food and the chocolate chip banana bread recipe that I have used to bake as muffins. I hadn't thought about it ahead much, but I did think that it would be nice to do something for National Muffin Day since the boys enjoy their muffins.

We woke up to icy streets and more ice coming down this morning and school was canceled. That meant we needed some activities to enjoy inside and had some boys who were spending too much time in close quarters. Making fresh muffins for lunch sounded like a great idea to keep them busy and being productive. I started looking through my cookbooks and these Peanut Butter and Jelly Crumb Morning Muffins sounded perfect for lunch. Also, we just happened to have all the ingredients on hand to put them together.

Mr. T was my best helper mixing these up this morning. I was a little surprised because this recipe took three bowls to mix up the muffins, but it was still relatively quick and easy. It took me a total of 45 minutes to prepare and bake the muffins. The crumb topping took some extra time to chop up the peanuts to be included, but the topping was worth it because that was my boys' favorite part of the muffins. I used strawberry jam instead of grape jelly, mainly because that is what I had on hand, but also because I do not like grape jelly.

The method worked well and the muffins had a great crumb, the topping was wonderful and crunchy. I have never been a big fan of including jelly in muffins or cookies but thought it would be good to try because this jam was completely covered by the muffin batter so I thought it might not get that film on the top that I do not like. In the end, I enjoyed the muffin itself and the topping quite a bit, but I am still not a fan of jam inside of baked goods. That is a personal preference that I hope that wouldn't keep anyone from trying this recipe.

I made 12 muffins like the recipe stated and I think they were a little too big, so it was hard to remove them from the muffin pan. I also don't think I waited long enough to remove them since the recipe recommended letting them cool almost completely before removing them. We started baking a little later than was ideal to serve these for lunch and cooling them longer could have helped them stay together better.

Timing: Recipe States: timing not listed, My Actual Timing: 45 minutes
Servings: Recipe States: 12 muffins, Servings For My Family: I made 12 muffins
Leftovers: The recipe says to eat these muffins within 24 hours of baking them, but that they freeze well.


Family Ratings:
Me: I thought they were a great muffin overall, but I would prefer them without the jam.
Hubby:
Big Man: He thought they were fine, but not his favorite muffin, he really enjoyed the topping and kept nibbling the excess topping that had fallen onto the counter.
Bear: He took a bite, but had already decided before tasting them that they were not a muffin that he liked.
Mr. T: He was my best baking assistant and was very excited to try them, but after the first couple bites he was disappointed in the flavor. He kept eating the top part of the muffin, but did not like the jam inside either.

Will I repeat: I would possibly repeat these with a change or two.

What will I change: I would make them without the jelly inside the muffin, and perhaps serve the jelly or jam as a spread to be added after baking the muffins. Also, I would make them smaller so they would fit better in the muffin pan and it would not be so difficult to remove them from the pan.