Peanut Butter and Jam Bars

Stack of 3 peanut butter and jelly bars with a glass of milk.

Peanut Butter and Jam Bars

These peanut butter and jelly bars are a fun spin on a classic. Super chewy peanut butter cookie dough with a layer of strawberry jam in the middle, and even more peanut butter cookie dough on top. Not too sweet and totally addictive.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword 9x13, Peanut Butter and Jam Bars, Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 45

Cooling 4

Total Time 5 5

Servings bars

Calories 557kcal

Author Fiona Dowling

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter softened but not melted
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
2 cups smooth peanut butter* Jiffy, Skip or Kraft work perfectly
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups strawberry jelly* or your favorite flavor of jam/jelly - you'll need an 18 oz jar
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons chopped peanuts

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment paper leaving an overhang around the edges, or line with aluminum foil and lightly grease.
Whisk together the 3 cups all-purpose flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
In a very large bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar and ½ cup white sugar. Beat in the peanut butter.
Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract.
With the mixer on low speed, beat in the flour mixture about ½ at a time. The dough will be very thick and sticky.
Press about ⅔ of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan (you should have about 1 and ½ to 2 cups of batter remaining for the topping).
Spread the jelly over top of the peanut butter layer.
Mix the reserved peanut butter dough with the 2 tablespoons white sugar and 2 tablespoons white sugar.
Pinch off pieces of the peanut butter dough, and place on top of the jam layer. You do not need to fully cover the jam layer.
Sprinkle the chopped peanuts on top.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes (likely closer to 50 minutes for a glass/ceramic pan), or until golden on top.
Cool for at least 4 hours in the pan. Once the bars are completely cooled, lift them out of the pan using the overhang of the parchment/aluminum foil. Place on a cutting board and slice into bars.

Notes

Do not use homemade or natural peanut butter - it can separate and make the bars either too oily or too dry. Also, this recipe was developed using peanut butter that has sugar. Crunchy peanut butter is ok - I find the bars are a little drier using crunchy peanut butter.
Use your favorite variety of jam/jelly. I prefer strawberry, raspberry or grape. An 18 oz jar of jam/jelly is 1 ½ cups. S
This recipe can be halved and made in an 8x8 inch pan. The bake time will be about 40 minutes. There is not quite enough batter for a 9x9 inch pan.
Store bars in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Nutrition information is based on 1 bar, with the pan cut into 15 bars.

Nutrition