Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars

Nothing says childhood like a peanut butter and jelly.  

As I get older, I find that I miss being a little kid sometimes. No cares in the world and the biggest worry was what was going to be for dinner. 

Those were the good old days.

While I can't go back to being a little kid, I can always pretend for a few moments with nostalgic classics such as these peanut butter and jelly bars.

We're all little kids at heart anyway so go ahead and enjoy these delicious treats!

A chewy sweet peanut butter base with grape jelly on top. These bars are very addicting! Salty and sweet always hooks me in and I can't get enough.

(unfortanutely these pictures don't do these bars justice. I made these a while back so therefore didn't know as much about taking good pictures)

You can use whatever type of jelly you prefer, I chose grape since that's what I always used to put on my PB&J sandwhiches.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

(Recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction)

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 and 1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter (or creamy)

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup your choice jelly or jam (I used grape to be traditional, Sally used Raspberry)

Topping 

2 Tbsp light brown sugar (I skipped this)

1/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/4 cup white chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.  Line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper or spray generously with nonstick spray.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together the streusel ingredients and set aside.

In a large bowl, using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together on medium speed.  Mix in the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla (in that order). Slowly mix in the baking powder, flour, salt, and cinnamon. Do not over-mix.

Spoon peanut butter dough into prepare baking pan, spreading it into one even layer.  Spread jam over top evenly. Top with prepared streusel.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.  Allow bars to completely cool before cutting. Bars like these are much better after they have completely cooled, so try to be patient. I wasn't and didn't like them much when I first tried them, but of course I gave them another chance later and loved them.