PB&J which means Peanut Butter and Jam/Jelly are a matched made in heaven, before you say it, YES it's a very American combination but trust me when I say it works, specially when using either strawberry jam or blackberry jam. Did you know its National Peanut Butter Lovers day March 1st, so why not make these beauties!
I think the slightly saltiness of peanut butter complements the sweetness of strawberry jam, then adding the crunch from the biscuit cookie base and topping make these bars just divine.
The yummy delicious biscuit cookie base with the hint of peanut butter just adds extra richness to the bar. I baked them for a work friends 40th Birthday, and I had a few emails complementing how good these little guys were and if I would share the recipe, which is always great hear.
The great thing about these moorish little bars is that they do keep well, for a good few weeks, keep them in a cool dry place, ideally in an airtight container. For school lunch box treats, make sure your school allows nuts, otherwise they become great after school snacks or perfect with a cuppa.
This can be easily made into a vegan friendly recipe by using vegan butter or vegan ghee, did you know that a lot of baking butters are actually vegan friendly? They are usually made with vegetable fats and not actual butter.
Ingredients
100g butter
100g Light Brown Sugar
175g Plain Flour
175g Oats
1/2 Tsp salt
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
150g Peanut Butter
150g Strawberry Jam
Add butter and brown sugar to a mixing bowl and beat together.
Add 50g of peanut butter and mix well.
Add oats, flour, salt and baking soda to the mixing bowl.
Mix well into a dry dough.
Keep 1/2 cup of cookie dough to the side
Press the remaining cookie dough into a baking tin
Spread over the strawberry jam with a few lumps distributed evenly.
Melt the remaining 100g of peanut butter in the microwave for about a 1 minute, then drizzle over the jam.
Sprinkle on the reserved cookie dough onto the peanut butter jam.
Bake in the oven at 180c for about 20-25 minutes
Allow the bar to cool completely
Then with a sharp knife slice evenly into smaller pieces, about 16 larger slices or 24 smaller pieces.
Peanut Butter Jam/Jelly Bars
Delicious Peanut Butter and Jam bars with a crunchy base, sweet strawberry jam and creamy peanut butter.