"It's Peanut Butter and Jelly time! Peanut Butter and Jelly! Peanut Butter and Jelly!! nowwwwww...Where he at? Where he at? Where he at? Nowwwwwww....there he go. There he go. There he go.
Peanut Butter Jelly! Peanut Butter Jelly! Peanut Butter Jelly!"
Sorry, I couldn't help myself, but whenever I think of peanut butter and jelly that darn song pops into my head. Peanut butter and jelly sits high up on my food pyramid of awesome food combos. It has everything from sweet to creamy to crunchy and it is always filling and satisfying for an inexpensive breakfast, lunch or dinner if need be. I came across this recipe and knew I had to make it for one of my Wednesday cooking nights with my girlfriend and her daughter, Cameron. Cameron had a blast helping me prepare the dough, and always making sure to taste every little bit of butter, creamed butter sugar, creamed peanut butter mixture, and the final end product. She was quite the helper and the taste-tester, more taste-testing than helping. LOL. This is definitely a kid-friendly treat that you must enjoy for all you peanut butter and jelly fans. Enjoy!
Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa at Home
Ingredients:
½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups creamy peanut butter
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups Strawberry jam
2/3 cup honey roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare your 13x9 baking pan by spraying it with cooking spray and add about a 1 tablespoon of flour to the pan. Remove any excess flour. Set aside.
In the KA mixer, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed until it is fluffy for 2 minutes. Slowly add the eggs one at a time on low speed. Add the vanilla and peanut butter and mix until fully combined, another 2 minutes.
In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture in tiny increments on low speed. Mix until fully combined.
Spread 2/3 of the PB dough onto the 9x13 pan, and spread it out with a spatula. Or you can always use you fingertips to smooth it out. (Be careful, it gets a little sticky.) Spread the strawberry jam evenly over the top of the PB dough. Add small drops of the remaining PB dough over the jam, you really don't need to smooth it out - it will even out when it bakes. Garnish with the chopped peanuts. Bake for 45 minutes until golden.. Cool and cut into squares. Enjoy!
