My Gorbulas is like the only picky eater I have produced. He only likes cereal and peanut butter and jelly. Oh and meatballs. But they have to be my homemade meatballs, not the frozen ones from the supermarket I tried once because he says they “make him want to throw up”. Fair enough. Mine are much better it’s true.
If he were my first or only child (or both), I would probably spend my time worrying about his diet and cooking special foods around him. I would probably also assume with his history of colic, asthma, and now this that he has a peanut butter and most likely some sort of wheat allergy. However, I am too tired and busy to bother. So I cook what I like and when he sits there and whines, “I don’t yike this” I say “too bad, eat it or go hungry”.
I am not always a horrible mother though, and I try to accommodate him at times. So a few days ago I made him Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins for breakfast. We rarely do cereal because it is too expensive for the amount of people here, and not that filling considering. You can purchase flour, eggs, milk, and oats for nearly the same price as a big box of cereal, yet you will get a week’s worth of more filling and nutritious meals. The problem is Gorbulas wakes up at the crack of dawn reciting the same monologue: “I want cereal, I want cereal”, so the challenge is to preempt him with something besides cereal that he will eat.
When I saw the recipe, I cropped it up as “kid fodder”. You know, food you feed kids but really have no desire to eat yourself like graham crackers, boxed macaroni and cheese, American processed cheese food that come in those individually wrapped slices, and plain Cheerios.
No, these muffins were much sexier than regular kids food. They were really good.
Matthew looked at them and said “I don’t yike them.”
“No, look, you will like these”
“Oh, they have jel-lee!”
The kids fought over them.
I need a second muffin pan because soon I will be making two batches of muffins in the morning.
Peanut Butter & Jelly Surprise Muffins
5 Stars
Hidden inside these moist peanut butter muffins is a secret filling–your child’s favorite jelly. If you make up a batch over the weekend, your kids can enjoy them as after school treats all week long.
RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 large egg
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup strawberry, raspberry, or grape jelly
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12 muffin tin with muffin papers. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, mix the peanut butter with the egg. Add the milk, a little at a time, then mix in the butter. Pour the wet batter into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir gently to combine. The batter will be stiff.
2. Put a heaping tablespoon of batter in the bottom of each muffin cup. Use a finger to make an indentation in the center and put a teaspoon of jelly in the hole. Cover with another heaping tablespoon of batter or enough to fill each cup about 2/3 full. Spread the batter gently until no jelly is visible. Bake for 20 minutes, then turn the muffins onto a wire rack to cool for at least 10 minutes. Be careful: the jelly centers can get hot. Makes 12 muffins.