Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

Peanut butter and jelly has always been one of my boyfriend’s favorite sweet sandwiches. I swear, just about every night I catch him making a heaping peanut butter and jelly sandwich right before bed! Since his love of peanut butter and jelly is so big, I thought it would be a cute idea to get creative and transform this bedtime snack. After doing some research, I found a recipe for peanut butter and jelly bars on Martha Stewart’s Website that looked absolutely amazing. This was the perfect fit! What better way to have the best of both in a one bite bar?! I just had to try this!

From the response from my boyfriend and everyone at the office, these peanut butter and jelly bars were a hit! Feel free to use your favorite brand of peanut butter and flavor of preserves. Derek is obsessed with Peanut Butter and Company Peanut Butter and his favorite preserve flavor is cherry, so the combination of the two was perfect. I found this recipe to be extremely easy and actually quite fun to make! When replacing butter for coconut oil in a 1:1 ratio, I found that this helped make the finished product come out extremely moist. Let’s take a look at what you’ll need:

 Ingredients

• 1 cup Kelapo Coconut Oil, room temperature
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups jam, your favorite flavor
  

  Yum!

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-by-13-inch pan with Kelapo Coconut Oil Cooking Spray; set aside. Place coconut oil and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add eggs and peanut butter; beat until combined, about 2 minutes.
2. Whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour. Add to bowl of mixer on low speed; combine. Add vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of mixture to prepared pan; spread evenly with offset spatula. Using offset spatula, spread jam on top of peanut-butter mixture. Dollop remaining third of peanut-butter mixture on top of jam.
3. Bake until golden, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool; cut into about thirty-six 1 1/2-by-2-inch pieces.

For those of you who would like to give these bars an added crunch, crumble chopped peanuts on the final layer before placing in the oven. You could also try replacing peanut butter for almond butter, depending on your preference. These bars were a great snack for everyone at the office and suited my boyfriend’s nightly sweet tooth!

-Kayla