In celebration of the Super Bowl, we decided to pay homage to an American Favorite. A six year-old American's Favorite - PB & J. This recipe came from Martha and it came out great (thank God, I couldn't bear another loss)! Delicious, crumbly - like a dense, peanut butter cake. I followed this recipe pretty accurately, except I decided to cut down on a few things...ya know for my supermodel figure. First, it calls for two sticks of butter, but I used a stick and a half, and I buttered the pan, so it turned out to a stick and 3/4. I used 3/4 cup of sugar and added 1/4 cup of agave. Also it calls for 2 1/2 cups of peanut butter which is a lot. I decided 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter would suffice, and it tastes great (but this depends on how peanut-buttery (fattening) you like it, of course). It also calls for 3 cups of flour, and I used 2 1/2 cups, since I prefer my carbs on the denser, sweeter side. When all is said and done, these bad boys are little (Ok, big) bites of heaven. And hopefully, a tiny bit healthier than Martha's recipe...as long as you don't eat the whole pan in one sitting. The Super Bowl IS long people.
Okay, and as always in la vida loca de LZ, here comes the negative: I packed my pan with a little too much of the peanut butter dough. I know, shoot me at dawn. I packed the bottom to about 1/2 inch of dough, but it rose to about an inch after baking. So I would have preferred to line the dough to about 1/4 inch and have it rise to 3/4 inch. Also, it says to reserve 1/3 of the dough to crumble on top, after you layer the 2nd part with jam (which was also all natural low sugar preserves from TJs). I wasn't sure about this, because it was doughy and didn't necessarily "crumble"...probably due to my lack of flour. So I dolloped little bits of pieces on top. If I were to do it again, I would probably put a little more of the dough on top, instead of the bottom. But all in all, I would say success! I'm going to go eat some more now... Go Football Teams!
Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars
Makes about 3 dozen
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
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 strawberry jam, or other flavor
2/3 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped
Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with butter, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the parchment, and coat inside of pan with flour; set aside. Place butter 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.
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. Sprinkle with peanuts.
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.
Makes about 3 dozen
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
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 strawberry jam, or other flavor
2/3 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped
Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with butter, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the parchment, and coat inside of pan with flour; set aside. Place butter 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.
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. Sprinkle with peanuts.
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.
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