Make these. Today. Actually, now.

Hey.
Hey you.
You like peanut butter, right? And jelly too?

Awesome. Now I'm asking, nay, ordering, you to make these delicious and wonderful Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes.

I really wanted to make some fancy-ish treats for a gathering on Sunday night. I wracked my brain trying to think of something that would be perfect. I needed finger food that was tasty and appealing for kids and adults, sweet, but not too sweet, pretty to look at, and transportable.

Enter Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes.

I perused my old pal, Pinterest for inspiration and tips and found many yummy-sounding recipes. But then I visited with my even older pal, Betty (Crocker), and she hooked me up with a recipe that uses a boxed yellow cake mix. Here's the recipe.

Betty also told me to use a can of vanilla frosting as the base of the whipped peanut butter frosting, but I didn't have any (and it was snowing and blowing really hard and I didn't want to go out) and instead made some from scratch. It was easy-peasy and really, really good. Probably better than using canned. I looked online at a few recipes for peanut butter frosting and put this one together:
1 stick butter (softened)
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar
Mix ingredients together using hand mixer for 2 minutes. Add 1-3 tablespoons milk until desired consistency (fluffiness) is achieved. Taste a few teaspoons full to make sure it is indeed quite tasty. Request husband also taste. Pry the entire bowl from his iron-clad grasp and beat him with a spatula until he releases the frosting. (Oh wait, what? That doesn't happen in your house?)

To top the cupcakes I smeared on strawberry jelly, swirled on peanut butter frosting, and finished with a spot of jelly in the center. My cupcake decorating skills leave a lot to be desired, but I think you get the idea. (Oh, and the pictures in the snow idea was Dan's. He thought it might look kind of artsy. I don't know if it's artsy or not, but the white snow sure makes the blue plate of tastiness pop.)

Lana was our official taste tester and she gave them two (sticky) thumbs up!