How is there not a peanut butter recipe on here yet? As a person who adores peanut butter in any form – covered in chocolate, smushed into a sandwich, baked into something delicious, or just eaten straight out of the jar – this is simply unacceptable. Since I have started this blog, I haven’t made a single recipe with peanut butter, not a single peanut butter cookie, PB-swirled brownie, or even a proper PB+J (or, my preferred pairing, PB+pickle…don’t knock it ‘til you try it). What have I been doing with my life?!
Luckily, last week, we were having some friends over for a BBQ and I needed a dessert that was a) summer-y and b) easy to prepare a day in advance. These peanut butter and jelly bars were exactly what I was looking for. They take a standard peanut butter cookie dough and take it to the next level with strawberry jam, even more peanut butter cookie-bar dough crumbled on top, and a smattering of salted peanuts for that extra crunch and hit of crazy-good peanut flavor.
These bars are a peanut butter lover’s dream. The peanut butter cookie base is thick and moist, and with two and a half cups of peanut butter, pretty much tastes like eating it out of the jar with a spoon, but much classier, obviously. The jelly (as we all know) is the perfect compliment, and the peanut butter dough crumbled on top brings it all back around to what we all know is the best ratio – minimum 80/20 peanut butter to jelly. Although I accidentally went a little lower on the jelly than the recipe called for (this was a two-jar-of-jam kind of recipe and we have a one-jar-of-jam kind of fridge), it still came through wonderfully as the prominent sweet flavor that a mouthful of salty peanut butter needs. The salted peanuts on the top took it from “creamy” to “crunchy” and were an awesome finishing touch, evidenced by the solid 5 minutes straight I spent eating the peanut butter crumbs/salted peanuts mixture that collected in the bottom of the pan…after we’d finished all the bars. Yeah, they’re that good.
PS – these pictures were taken with my new camera, courtesy of the best boyfriend in the world!
- 2 sticks of butter, left out for 30 minutes to soften
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 ½ cups creamy peanut butter
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups jam (I used strawberry, but use your favorite!)
- 1 cup salted peanuts
- Preheat your oven to 350° and grease a 9 x 13 baking pan to prepare. In a large bowl, cream together your softened butter and the sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and peanut butter to the mixture until it’s all combined (this will take a few minutes). Whisk together your dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add in batches to the butter/sugar mixture until just combined. Add the vanilla and mix to combine.
- Spread 2/3 of the dough into your prepared baking dish, spreading to an even thickness. Pour jam on top and spread to coat the dough. Then, crumble the remaining third of dough over the jam, and sprinkle the peanuts on top.
- Bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes. Cool for a few hours, then slice ‘em up and enjoy!
- Adapted from Martha Stewart Cookies (http://www.amazon.com/Martha-Stewarts-Cookies-Stewart-Magazine/dp/0307394549) via How Sweet It is.
