Sunday, March 29, 2009

Peanut Butter Jelly Time...umm.. I mean Bars

Peanut Butter Jelly Bars
Before I met Ian I was a real wild child. Eccentric to the bone. No one could stop me. OK, really, how much trouble could one little molecular biologist in training get herself into. So I wasn't as much of a renegade as I like to think I was. BUT, I did enjoy running around (at 23 years of age) singing 'peanut butter jelly time... peanut butter jelly time' (sing it Jen!!!) to anyone and anything that would listen. I have no clue why, I guess I am just 6 years old at heart and my roommate was totally into the childish song too. Now three years later, I am a tame and mature woman who still finds herself singing 'peanut butter jelly time!'

So even though I was in a baking stupor yesterday and did not want to go near the kitchen I was pulled in once again by "The Cookie of the Day" on the Martha Stewart website. It didn’t help that there was an 8x8 glossy photo staring back at me when I went searching for the recipe in my Martha Stewart Cookie’s Book. And the kicker that really did me in was that I know one of Ian's favorite things in the whole wild world is Peanut butter and Jelly Sammie's.

So girls, if there is one easy way to a man's heart, it is to make their favourite dish into a dessert (not that I don’t already have the key to Ian’s).

As one of Ian's best friends put it "they are like eating the PERFECT toasted and buttered peanut butter sandwich." Actually, I didn't totally make these just for Ian; I made them so that I could sing Peanut Butter Jelly Time.....


Peanut Butter Jelly Time Bars
adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookie's Book

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, 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 tsp. salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups raspberry jam
2/3 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-by-13-inch pan with parchment paper. Whisk butter and sugar in a bowl until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and peanut butter; beat until combined. Mix in salt, baking powder, and flour till combined, then add vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of mixture to prepared pan; spread evenly with offset spatula or fingers. Spread jam on top of peanut-butter mixture. Drop pieces of remaining third of peanut-butter mixture on top of jam. Sprinkle with peanuts. Bake until golden, about 45-55 minutes, turning half way through. Cut into about thirty-six 1 1/2-by-2-inch pieces and refrigerate for 30 min.

11 comments:

Ian said...

I love these bars, seriously. I made sure to pack one into a little bag to bring with me to work tommorow and Im excited to eat it :D. I am one lucky man to have met such an amazing woman

Lizzie said...

hello! thanks for the visit! i am definitely planning on cooking all the cookies in the Martha Stewart Cookie cookbook, to be sure. Can't wait to try this recipe out, too! (And I intend to make those banana walnut chocolate chunk cookies next, so stay tuned!)
-Lizzie

Anonymous said...

Your bars looks gorgeous. I am now going to have the peanut butter song in my head. :P

Coco Bean said...

pinkstripes, I know I know, It stays in your head for hours!

Hilary said...

You're killing me! PB and J is my favourite! I eat peanut butter and jam toast nearly every single morning for breakfast at work. My colleagues think I am a total freak. The English just don't know culinary perfection when they see it.

Erin said...

These look delicious! I love peanut butter and jelly!

Coco Bean said...

Hilary and Erin: I know eh, my fav too (besides Nutella). Anyone who doesn't like PB&J has a problem. There. I said it.

Steph said...

I bookmarked a pb and j bar recipe a long time ago and forgot about it.. thanks for reminding me!

Hayley said...

I have wanted to make these for the longest time. Thanks for reminding me!

Dimah said...

They look amazingly delicious!

test it comm said...

PP&J bars sound so good!