Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are a favorite for kids’ lunches.  Why?  Because they are easy to make, and because even if kids won’t eat anything else, they will almost always eat a PB & J.  Both my boys went through stages when just about all I could get them to eat was PB & J sandwiches.  Luckily they both moved on to enjoy other foods fairly quickly.  They do, however, still enjoy an occasional PB & J.  And I have to admit that I do too!  I knew my boys would love these Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars.  The original recipe called for 12 ounces of grape jelly, but I decided to substitute seedless raspberry jam.  The jar I had was 18 ounces, and I used the whole jar.  I made these bars in a 9x9 inch pan, but if you need to serve more people they could be baked in a 9x13 inch pan.  If you do use a larger pan, reduce the baking time.

I also want to thank Anita from Aunt Nubby's Kitchen for the Versatile Blogger award!  I lover her blog and am honored that she passed the award on to me.  Since I have already received this award, I am going to link to past posts HERE and HERE where I shared things about myself and linked to several wonderful blogs.

print recipe

Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars

by Jill {www.dulcedough.com} November-17-2011

The perfect bar for the kid in all of us.

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 jar (12 or 16 ounces) seedless raspberry jam
• 3/4 cup roasted salted peanuts, chopped
• 1/2 cup peanut butter chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.2. Brush a 9x9 inch pan with butter, then line with parchment paper allowing the paper to hang over two sides of the pan by an inch or two; butter parchment paper.3. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, and salt then use a pastry blender to but in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.4. Add egg and vanilla then stir until dough just comes together.5. Reserve 1 cup of dough for the topping and press the remaining dough into the bottom of the pan as evenly as possible.6. Spread jam over the top of the layer of dough.7. Combine the reserved dough with the peanuts and peanut butter chips; crumble over the jam layer.8. Bake for 45 - 50 minutes or until the topping is a golden brown.9. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack; run a knife around the edges then using the parchment paper, lift bars from the pan, and cut into 12 or 16 squares.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 50 mins Total time: 1 hour Yield: 16 bars

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart.