The Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars recipe below is so yummy. Your kids will love it. Truthfully, everyone who enjoys good old peanut butter and jelly will flip for this dessert.
I’m a big fan of dessert “bars.” I always have been. What’s not to love, anyway? I mean, look at these Boozy Lemon Bars and Orange Julius Cheesecake Bars! Talk about delicious. Oh my gosh.
I love the idea of putting scrumptious ingredients together in a pan, layer after layer until you have a yummy, sweet treat that travels well. You can take them to classroom parties (the nut-free bars, anyway), picnics, and bake sales.
I find that every time I take bars of any sort to get-togethers like BBQs or reunions, they are gone in a flash. It’s a go-to goodie for sure. If you’ve never made them, this is a good one to start with. It’s super easy and the ingredients are probably things you have in your kitchen right now.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars
Our recipe calls for strawberry jam. You could definitely use a different flavor jam here, but strawberry is so good I suggest you give it a try first. No matter what flavor you choose, make sure it’s jam and not jelly.
Jelly is made from fruit juice. Jam, on the other hand, comes from fruit pulp or crushed fruit. Jam is not as stiff as jelly. If you have an Instant Pot, you should try to make your own strawberry jam.
You’ll only need a pound of strawberries, a cup of honey and some cornstarch. The best part? The Instant Pot makes it in only a few short minutes. At the very least, you can brag to the people who score a piece of these bars that not only are they homemade, but you made the jam from scratch as well!
Salted or Unsalted Butter?
There is usually some confusion when it comes to using salted or unsalted butter. The idea for using one over the other is to better manage the amount of salt in a recipe.
Different dairy brands may use different amounts of salt in their product so if there are other sources of salt in a recipe, it’s easier to control the taste if you eliminate the salted butter and opt for unsalted instead.
If you’re the kind of cook that follows every recipe to the letter in order to get the absolute best result, save that yummy salted butter for your toast and baked potatoes!
Or… do what I do sometimes. Ignore the whole debate and use whatever you want! The worst that happens is that your food tastes too salty. Personally, that’s never happened to me based on whether I use salted or unsalted butter.
One thing I refuse to budge on though. Always use REAL BUTTER!
Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 1 C unsalted butter softened
- 1 1/2 C sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 2 C creamy peanut butter
- 3 C flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 C strawberry Jam
Instructions
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper
- Using a standing mixer, cream together the butter, peanut butter and sugar until light and fluff
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time until combined
- Beat in the vanilla
- Using a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder
- Gradually mix in the dry ingredients with the wet until combined
- Using about 2/3 of the dough, evenly spread the dough onto the bottom of the baking dish
- Spread the strawberry jam on top of the bottom layer
- Crumble remaining dough on top of the jam
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 or until the top is lightly golden brown
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before cutting into bars and enjoying!
Last Step:
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This Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars recipe is so, so yummy. Your kids will love it. Everyone will flip for this sweet treat.
