Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

With the stress of packing for my camping trip last night, I thought I'd take a break and bake. It's always hard to find time to bake mid-week when I get home at 8pm, but there's something about baking that melts the stress away. I love decadent recipes made of my ultimate sweet tooth craving - peanut butter, so I decided to whip up this goody for the trip.

Put down the brown sack PB&J and whip up this savory goody to satisfy your craving. This recipe is easy to make and sure to hit the spot, if you're like me, and love to share - wrap up a few bars in parchment paper, tie a ribbon around it, and share it with your neighbors!

The Best Way to Satisfy That... Peanut Butter Craving Bar (Makes 3 Dozen)

• 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 cup of unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups of Peanut Butter
• 3 cups of All-Purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup of peanuts, optional.
• 2 cups of raspberry jam (recipe below)

Making the goodies -

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 13x9 inch rectangular baking pan and line it with parchment paper, leaving excess on the side (to make it easy to pull out cookies). Butter parchment paper and lightly dust with a little flour.
2. In a large electric mixing bowl, mix butter and sugar until fluffy, 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time followed by peanut butter. Make sure everything is combined.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add this mixture into the butter mixture and beat until combined. Lastly, add vanilla and beat for another 2 minutes.
4. Evenly spread two-thirds of the mixture into the bottom of the pan. Then, spread the jam on top.
5. Take the remaining third of the peanut butter mixture and pull apart into pieces and crumble it over the jam, leaving a bit of space between the crumbles.
6. Optional. Sprinkle peanuts over the top.
7. Bake for 45 minutes – 1 hour until golden brown.
8. Cut around edges and refrigerate 1 hour. Cut about 2 -3 dozen bars – depending on size of cut.

JAM

• 2 cups of raspberry or other berry (strawberry is a great alternative)
• 2 cups of granulated sugar

1. Place raspberries in a large saucepan (after berries are cooked, they will double in size). Mash raspberries berries with a potato masher.
2. On medium heat, bring raspberries to a rolling boil, whisking every so often. (About 5-10 minutes)
3. Mix in sugar once the raspberries come to a rolling boil.
4. With an electric whisk, beat the mix for 3 minutes.
5. Set aside to cool. Place in an airtight container and place in the refrigerator.