Sometimes I wish that I could go back to school in the fall..

It's that pivotal moment.
That time when everything changes again.

A new school year.

You can be anyone you want.
You grew a little bit taller over the summer.
Your hair is lighter from the sun.
The backpack on your back has that new leathery smell.
Your pencils need to be sharpened.
Your shoes are so squeaky clean. They need to get dirty.
You have nightmares about walking through the school doors.
Will your classmates laugh with you..or at you?

Are you forgetting anything before you walk out the door?
Maybe your locker combination.

Or..a peanut butter & jelly sandwich cupcake.

Stacked high with peanut butter frosting, strawberry jelly.

Then topped with a heart shaped pb&j sandwich.

What a great mom I would be (someday)! :) Packing this in my kids lunch as they are off to school.

I am going to put this on my to-do-list once  I become a mom:

"Put PB&J sandwich cupcakes in (insert my future child's name here)'s bag lunch."

On the other side of things..

can you imagine being the lucky kid who takes this out of their lunchbox at school?

Way better than a Twinkie.

A Peanut Butter Cupcake. Peanut Butter Frosting. Swirled with Strawberry Jelly. And a Sandwich. Lunch & Dessert all in one.

I think your friends would laugh with you if you brought some to lunch.

Maybe now.. a glass of milk ♥

and a good book.

Perhaps even a recipe so you can make your kiddo (or the kid in you!) an amazing bag lunch:

Recipe for PB& J Sandwich Cupcakes:

For the Sandwiches:
Four Slices of Bread
A Heart Shaped Cookie or Fondant Cutter.
A Spatula to Spread the Peanut Butter Frosting With.
Edible Glitter

For the Cupcakes:

Dry Ingredients:
1 3/4 C Flour
3/4 T Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda


Creaming Ingredients:
1 1/3 C Sugar
2/3 C Peanut Butter
6 oz unsalted butter (or 1 1/2 sticks) -- At Room Temperature
1/2 C Sour Cream

Liquid Ingredients:
3 Large Eggs -- At Room Temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


♥♥♥

The Filling:
Peanut Butter Frosting
Your favorite kind of Jelly


♥♥♥



The Fun Begins:
1. Take out 3 bowls. (one will be your kitchen aid mixer bowl).

2. Sift flour into one bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, mix remaining dry ingredients.

4. Add dry ingredients to flour mixture and whisk together.

5. In your Kitchen Aid Mixer bowl, cream your butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy.

6. Turn your speed down to low. Then add your peanut butter to the creaming mixture.

7. Continue to scrape the bowl down as you continue to make sure there are no escapees :)

8. Add your eggs one at a time until just blended.

9. When eggs are blended, add vanilla.

10. Now it is time to add your flour mixture to the peanut butter blend in the Kitchen Aid Bowl. Gradually add the flour mixture but do not mix longer than 60 seconds.

11. For the first 30 seconds, combine flour and all ingredients together. Then add sour cream.

12. For the second 30 seconds, scrape down bowl to incorporate all ingredients and re-blend.

Use an ice cream scoop to scoop the batter out and fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full. Bake for about 20 minutes at 350. (Different ovens will vary). This recipe will make about 18 cupcakes. ♥


♥♥♥

Filling the Cupcakes with a surprise:

Once the cupcakes are cooled you can use an apple corer to create a hole inside the center of the cupcake.
Use 2 different piping bags to fill the cupcake - one piping bag will be full of pb frosting.

The second piping bag will be full of jelly.

First pipe a little bit of jelly inside of the cupcake. Then pipe a little bit of peanut butter frosting. Follow this filling pattern until the inside of your cupcake is full (sort of like how your tummy will be after eating these cupcakes).

Frosting the Cupcakes:


Peanut Butter Frosting:
(you can use this as the filling and on top of the cupcake)

6 oz. cream cheese
2 C confectioners’ sugar
1/2 t salt
1 C creamy peanut butter (try not to use natural peanut butter since it is extremely oily)
1/2 t pure vanilla extract
1/2 C heavy cream

In your Kitchen Aid Mixer, beat cream cheese until fluffy.
Then gradually add peanut butter, salt, and vanilla.
After these ingredients are blended add powdered sugar (I add even more than this sometimes if I want my frosting to have texture and be thick-no matter what the frosting never seems to be too sweet!)
Then add heavy cream.
If the frosting gets too soft at this point, you can always add more powdered sugar to thicken.
Then...Taste Test.


Then..
You can frost the cupcake with the peanut butter frosting. Or the jelly. Or layers of both.

Or you can frost the cupcake with peanut butter frosting underneath buttercream frosting if you are doing really decorative cupcakes (since buttercream works better than pb frosting for a really decorative cupcake).


Making the Sandwiches:Using your heart shaped fondant cutter, cut out several little pieces of bread in adorable heart shapes.
Then stack them together with your peanut butter frosting and jelly.
Top the sandwiches with edible glitter.

Then top your cupcake with the mini heart shaped sandwich!