Peanut butter and "jelly" muffins and the upstairs renovations

After celebrating a beautiful wedding and our 2 newly departed's return for 2 weeks of bliss, I was back to my happy self. Baking, tablescaping and enjoying my old kitchen.

Alas, not for long... in a jif they were gone....

So my lovingly decorated bedrooms and family room had done their bit and  were gone in a blink of the eye...

Happy pizza patio...celebrating everyone's' homecoming...

Lots of goodies from the UAE...so spoilt!

and so from these calm restful sanctuaries...utter chaos converged on me the very next day after bidding everyone farewell...

to this mess upstairs..

What remains of Jarryd's birthday balloon!  It lingered there for weeks..it must have known I was missing him..:-)

And one of the many empty bird's nests in the eaves..

All I could do to help these poor men bashing out upstairs was to prepare something for their tea...
These were delicious and a firm favourite having peanut butter in them..

Ingredients~
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda (bicarb)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 large egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup milk
good strawberry /mixed berry jam

Crumb topping~
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

For the crumb topping~ whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, salt and melted butter until combined. Whisk for a good minute until the sugar begins to dissolve then use a wooden spoon to stir in the flour. The mixture will be crumb like and dry.

Preheat oven to 190deg C. Place butter and peanut butter tog in a bowl and microwave for 30 sec
until melted. set aside to cool slightly
Whisk tog flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside. Line muffin tin with liners. Spray the liners with cooking spray.
In a large bowl whisk tog the egg, brown sugar and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the butter mixture...the batter will be slightly thick. Add the dry ingredients and then add the milk and stir until the batter forms, trying not to overmix. Fill liners 3/4 of the way. Press a teaspoon or so of the jam  into the centre of the batter. Press the tops of each with the crumb topping and bake for around 20 minutes.

And back to all the rubble.. amazing that they worked from this window..I had a door attached to the bottom of the stairwell to keep the bottom area free from dust and rubble.

Eventually this will be my boudoir...

I can never tire of the view from this balcony...
before..

and now..being remodelled.. the view remains the same..simply stunning!

More next week!