PB & J Cupcakes

     My son's most favorite snack/lunch item is a pb & j sandwich (strawberry jam preferred over grape jelly). So of course one day while he was pigging out on a pb & j sandwich, I had an A-HA moment and decided to try it out cupcake form. For this trial I had a baking partner, my friend and neighbor Jen. She was a superstar in the kitchen and the cupcakes, thanks to all her hard work, were mixed, baked, filled and frosted all with in 2 hours. We even got fancy and did a peanutbutter and strawberry buttercream swirl!
     For the cake part, we used a recipe from my favorite book Miette. It is a recipe that was specifically designed for cupcakes. Very yummy and a little different since it has potato starch in it. For the filling we used a seedless strawberry jam and used it also for the  strawberry buttercream. Since peanutbutter is pretty potent, we used it only in the peanutbutter buttercream part and it delievered plenty of peanutbutter tasted for the whole entire cupcake. It was a lot of fun making these and even more so eating them. Here is the recipe:



Yellow Cupcake (From Miette)
(Makes about 18)
Ingredients:
-1 cup of unsalted butter at room temp.
-1/2 cup milk
-3 large eggs at room temp.
-2 tsp vanilla
-1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
-1 1/3 cups sugar (This was a little too sweet for my liking, I would use only 1 cup)
-1/4 cup of potato starch
-2 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp kosher salt

Directions:
1. Line 18 cupcake cups with liners and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a saucepand over medium low heat, combine the butter and mils and heat stirring until the butter is melted about 3 to 4 minutes. Alternatively, use a microwave at 10 sec intervals while stirring between each interval. Set aside and cool to between 80 and 85 degrees F.
3. In a microwave safe bowl, whisk the eggs with the vanilla and microwave on low for 15 seconds intervals stirring between each interval until mixture reaches between 80-85 degrees F. You can do this over a double boiler fitted with a thermometer as well.
4. Combine flour, sugar, potato starch, baking powder, and salt in the bolw of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Begin mixing on low thenslowly drizzle int he milk mixture. Beat until just combined. With mixer on low, add the egg mixture in three addtions, beating until just incororated between additions. The batter should be silky and smooth and very liquid.
5. Fill each liner 2/3 full with batter. (works well with a 1/4 cup measure; don't scrape it out each time, just drop the batter in.) Bake about 20 to 23 minutes. (Check after 18 minutes with a tester if it looks done.)
Immediately cool on wire racks about 30 minutes.

Peanutbutter and Strawberry Buttercream

Ingredients:
 4 egg whites
1/4 cup of smooth peanutbutter
1/3 cup of seedless strawberry jam
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2tsps raspberry extract
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup of water
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
3 sticks of unsalted butter at room temp.

Directions:
1. In a saucepan fitted with a thermometer, combine sugar and water and bring to boiling. Sugar needs to reach 248 degrees F. Have a heatproof measure nearby to transfer as soon as it reaches 248 degrees.
2. Meanwhile, in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk, combine egg whites and cream of tartar on med-high until frothy.
3. Once sugar reaches 248 degrees, transfer to a heatproof measure and start to slowly drizzle into the egg whites with the mixer on med speed. Aim for the side of the bowl and get a steady stream going.  Once all the sugar is in, whip on high speed until the meringue reaches betwee 75-80 degrees.
4. Reduce speed to about med-high and add butter 2 tablespoons at a time. Mixture might deflate and look curdled but just increase speed until buttercream is stiff.
5. Take half of the buttercream and put in a separate mixing bowl and set aside. Add vanilla to the remaining buttercream and the peanutbutter and mix until well combined. Add strawberry jam and strawberry and raspberry extracts to the buttercream in the bowl and mix with a spatula until well combined.

Filling: Seedless strawberry jam

Filling and Decorating:

1. Once cupcakes a completely cooled, take the small end of a melon baller and scoop out the middle. Fill with strawberry jam. I just pipe it in.
2. To get the swirl effect with the frosting: Take plastic wrap and wrap some peanutbutter frosting in it. It should be like a tube. Twist the ends. Do the same with the strawberry frosting.
3. line the tubes of frosting next to eachother and twist the ends together so it can slide through the opening of the piping bag fitted with a coupler. (Use a big piping bag-like an 18 incher or you will have to do this procedure a few times which can get annoying.) Pull the twisted ends through the hole of the piping bag, cut excess plastic and fit the end with a tip and the coupler ring. squeeze out some frosting until the peanutbutter and strawberry buttercreams come out evenly. Pipe onto cupcakes!

PB & J Cupcakes
(Strawberry Jam Filling and Peanutbutter + Strawberry Swirl Buttercream)