Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins

This week, I went to the Arlington County Fair with a friend.  It was a lively and fun atmosphere.  We didn't eat any fried and battered Oreos, candy bars, Twinkies, or any other sugar laced treat.

They don't have enough parking at the fair so they are encouraging attendees to use a shuttle.  The shuttle goes to several metro stops.  My friend and I went to stop with a line of evening shuttles taking people back to their apartments.  Finding the right shuttle was a chore.

I found a sign announcing the pick up and drop off area for the fair.  A shuttle stopped nearby, and I went and asked the driver if he was going to the Arlington County Fair.  He said yes, and I jumped on.  

I ended up taking a tour of some of Arlington's fine residential areas with sporadic stops at random apartment buildings.  I was the only person on the shuttle at the end of the trip of course.  He asked me where I wanted to go.  I told him, and he said, "Oh, I'm not going there!  I thought you said Arlington."  Arlington?  The entire city is Arlington.  Good grief!

I found this recipe off the back of a flour bag.  I added some honey roasted peanuts to add more sugar and calories.  I need to start storing up body fat for the winter.

The ingredients are 1 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 tablespoon baking powder, 1/2 cup milk, 1 large egg, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1/6 cup vegetable oil, 1/4 cup jam, and 1/2 cup honey roasted peanuts.  I used 1 teaspoon of salt, but it was a little too salty.  When I think something is too salty, it's too salty.  A sixth of a cup is a peculiar quantity, but I split the recipe in half.  

I whisked the flour, salt, and baking powder together.

I added the milk, egg, sugar, peanut butter, and oil.

I whisked all the ingredients together.

I folded in the honey roasted peanuts.

A lined a muffin tin with paper liners.  I filled them half full with batter.

I scooped two teaspoons of jam in the center of the batter.  I avoided touching the paper liner with the jam because I like to concern myself with silly details.

I added batter to cover the jam.  I ended up with more batter than I planned and made two more muffins.

 I baked the muffins for 18 minutes at 375 degrees.  I let them cool a few minutes in the tin and then let them cool completely on a wire rack.

The texture of the muffin was tender.  The peanut butter flavor was pronounced.  If you don't like peanut butter, this isn't your type of muffin.

Each muffin had a soft and sweet pool of berry jam.  The hidden jam layer was my favorite part.

The peanuts were sweet and crunchy.  The peanuts' sugary crust disappeared in the oven, but they were still a plus to the overall muffin.  These were toothsome and playful.  Mine were a little too salty, so I would advise using only half of a teaspoon of salt.