Wookiee Hut Cuisine presents:
 Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes
by SuSu

What can be more perfect to an American child than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Hermione Granger had American cousins who were very fond of peanut butter (witness their Buckeye recipe, but children from other parts of the world didn't think a PB&J sandwich sounded particularly appetizing. So Hermione thought about how to make this nutritious and delicious combination more acceptable — she had married Ron Weasley, and at family reunions, the twelve grandchildren (Victoire, James Sirius, Albus Severus, Lily Luna, Rose, Hugo, Dominique, Louis, Molly, Lucy, Fred, Roxanne, and often also including Teddy Lupin) taxed the resources and patience of her mother-in-law to feed them, and she thought PB&J would be a perfect quick and inexpensive treat, if only they'd try it!

Her friend, Harry Potter, had grown up abusively deprived by his cousin's resentful family, and had spent many moments pining for things he normally could not have. He told his wife, Ginny Weasley, that he often wondered what a Berliner — a jelly doughnut — would taste like, and was excited to have his first one at Hogwart's. He found that he was disappointed, and told Ginny that in his imagination, he has thought the yeast-risen dough of the treat should have tasted and felt more like cake instead of bread.

Upon hearing this, Ginny realized that this was the solution — make a jelly "donut" as a cupcake, filled with fruit jelly. She'd top it with a peanut butter flavored frosting; when she first made it, her husband declared it, "Scrummy!" It had none of the sticky roof-clinging texture he didn't like; in fact, it was more peanut-tasting than the original ingredient.

Being a Muggle-born witch, Hermione was happy with using the "magic" of Muggle ingredients like cake or pudding mix to create her irresistable confections. It was notable that the Weasleys often managed to buy out any local shop's complete stock of peanut butter after she introduced this recipe to her extended family.
    CUPCAKES
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 box vanilla pudding
  • 1 box yellow cake mix
  • ½ cup butterscotch chips
Beat together the eggs, oil, and milk. Add the box cake mix and vanilla pudding and beat till thickened and well-combined. Add butterscotch chips and stir in slowly to combine evenly.

Line 24 muffin tins with cupcake papers. Spoon the batter evenly into each cup. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes. Remove to a metal rack to cool completely to room temperature before filling and frosting.
    JELLY FILLING
  • grape jelly or strawberry spread (no chunks of fruit) (or any jelly you prefer)
Inject with strawberry spread or grape jelly using a pastry bag and a wide-mouthed tip. Poke the tip into the cupcake and fill with jelly till the cupcake looks like it's expanding slightly.

Pipe peanut butter frosting over the hole, or if you prefer, you can "overfill" the cupcake and pipe a wreath of frosting around the blob of jelly in the middle.
    PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING
  • 1 stick (125 g; 8 tablespoons; ½ cup; 4 ounces) butter or margarine, softened
  • 8 oz (1 cup; 250 g; 1 brick) cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup smooth peanut butter
  • 2 to 4 cups confectioners sugar
Beat together margarine, cream cheese, and peanut butter till well-combined. Slowly beat in powdered sugar one cup at a time till the frosting is stiff and spreadable. Store covered and refrigerated till an hour before serving.

Makes 24-26.
Disclaimer: All content is made up, and no profit or lucre is expected, solicited, advocated or paid. This is all just for fun. Any comments, please e-mail the author or WOOKIEEhut directly. Flames will be ignored. Characters and situations are based on those which are the property of LucasFilms Ltd., Bantam Publishing, Random House, and their respective original owners and developers. The rest is this story's author's own fault. This story may not be posted anywhere without the author's knowledge, consent, and permission.

This recipe is provided "as is," and neither Wookieehut nor any person associated with the website is responsible for any success or failure of the recipe, nor any implied effects. If there are questions, please email the author.