Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Muffins are a super moist protein packed energy boosting breakfast and a family favorite!
chocolate chip peanut butter muffins ~ dessert for breakfast!
You don’t have to be a kid to appreciate the allure of these muffins. Peanut butter makes them so satisfying, and those little bursts of chocolate are everything. Wholesome enough to be breakfast, they also make the perfect lunchbox treat or anytime pick-me-up snack. If you loved my Double Chocolate Muffins, I know you’re gonna love these too.
What you’ll need for epic peanut butter muffins :
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peanut butter ~ although I love natural peanut butter I don’t like to bake with it because of the oily separation. Jiff is my baking fave, creamy or crunchy is up to you. You can use no a sugar peanut butter, but don’t use a low fat variety. Note: Jiff and Skippy both have ‘natural’ varieties that are a good compromise and will work well in these muffins.
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vegetable oil ~ the oil in the muffins keeps them exceptionally moist. Use a neutral veg oil like canola, corn, or safflower.
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milk
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eggs
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mini chocolate chips ~ (or regular chocolate chips!)
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flour ~ I use all purpose, measured by fluffing the flour first, then scooping it with your measuring cup, and leveling off with the side of a knife. You’ll get accurate, consistent amounts.
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brown sugar ~ brown sugar contains molasses that that makes baked goods extra moist and flavorful.
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vanilla extract ~ you won’t taste it as vanilla, exactly, but it serves to enhance all the flavors.
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baking powder, baking soda, salt
the problem with baking with peanut butter
We’re big fans of the stuff here, But, if you’ve ever tried to bake with peanut butter, you might have found that it can be tricky, and a lot of recipes come out sort of dry and dense. That’s because peanut butter actually has a tendency to soak up liquid in baking recipes, resulting in less than optimum results. I’ve solved all that here, with extra liquid ingredients for a nice, sweet, moist muffin that even keeps on the counter for a day or so with no problems. (P.S. my Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cake is another fan favorite recipe that puts peanuts and peanut butter center stage.)
to store and freeze muffins
- The cooled muffins can be stored on the counter under a glass dome, or under foil. I don’t like to use plastic wrap because it can make muffins soggy.
- These muffins will freeze beautifully: let them cool completely, then wrap in plastic, and again in foil.
Adapt this peanut butter muffin recipe
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adjust the size
This recipe can be made as mini muffins. Use a nonstick pan and also grease it. Minis cook quickly, so check on them after 10 minutes.
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change up the flour
You can experiment with using part oat flour or whole wheat flour. White whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour would also be good alternatives.
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use buttermilk
I love to bake with buttermilk, and it would work nicely in this recipe.
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add peanut butter powder
For an extra dose of pb flavor, try subbing 1/3 of the flour with peanut butter powder (Trader Joe’s carries it.)
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try peanut butter chips
If you’re not a fan of chocolate, double down with pb chips! For a super decadent version, you could use mini Reese’s cups.
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make them lighter
You might experiment with substituting applesauce for the oil. Fair warning: I have not tried this, but it has worked in other recipes.
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make them dairy free
If you cannot tolerate dairy you can try an alternative milk like almond or even coconut milk. Be aware that the muffins may not be as moist.
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make them gluten free
Use a good quality all purpose gf baking mix in place of the flour. I like Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur Flour’s products.
More peanut butter and chocolate
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bread
- Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Scones
- Peanut Butter Frosted Brownies
- Milk Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Shortbread Cookies
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Muffins
Equipment
- muffin pan
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2/3 cup peanut butter, creamy
- 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (or use regular chocolate chips)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with muffin tin liners.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, peanut butter, brown sugar, and eggs until smooth.
- Add the milk and the vanilla extract, and whisk together.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flour, and then add this mixture to the wet ingredients, folding it together.
- Finally, fold in the chocolate chips.
- Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups. You will have enough batter to fill them all the way to the top, like I did, but you can also make more like 14-16 smaller muffins by filling your muffin cups about 2/3 of the way full.
- Bake for about 25 minutes, until puffed up and starting to turn golden brown on top. Remove to a rack to cool.
Nutrition
These are delicious and have a wonderful texture. They aren’t very sweet so they’re a nice light morning snack or small breakfast. My family loves these and they’ll probably be gone within less than a week.
Used cup-for-cup gf flour and oat milk and it worked perfectly. Fluffy and flavorful. Added choc chips and peanut butter chips for extra PB flavor! Can’t wait to make them again.
These were lovely little clouds of deliciousness 🙂 I did take a couple of the suggestions in the blog post ; I used applesauce instead of oil and substituted 1/3 cup of the flour for peanut butter powder. Because the applesauce adds so much sweetness, I halved the sugar. They came out fluffy, moist, and with a light peanut butter flavor (some of the flavor is lost after they’re baked, but still delicious).
I did full size and mini muffins. The mini muffins took 10 minutes and the bigger muffins actually only took 20 minutes for me. Maybe just start checking them at 20 minutes 🙂
I loved this recipe! The muffins have turned out wonderful every time I’ve made them! My whole family always comes back for more! Is it possible to make the muffin batter the night before baking and store the batter in the fridge??
These are really good, and very easy to make. Like another reviewer, I found them to cook faster than the recipe says. I made 12 (and they did puff up beautifully, just like the blog pictures) and they were perfect after 20 minutes at 375, not 25. Perfect with a glass of milk!
Love these muffins so much!! I exchange 75% of the flour in this recipe for oat flour because I like the flavor and increased nutrients, and they are so good!! They are very moist even with the peanut butter, which is exactly what I was hoping for!!
I love to bake with oat flour too Michale, I bet these were delicious.
Oh my goodness these were yummy!!! I added a tiny extra oil (because my muffins always stick to the wrappers) and these opened perfectly. They were fluffy and moist and full of flavor ?
I hate losing any of my muffins to the wrappers…have you tried parchment paper wrappers? They’re amazing, they peel right off, completely clean and muffin-free 🙂
Good recipe,will definitely use again.
God bless.
These were so tasty and moist! I did forget the baking powder and they still rose decently. I only baked mine for 18min and made about 19 muffins from it. Will make again!