August 29: PB&J bars

Koen had his friend Josiah over to play today!  Of course, Tysen considers Josiah his good friend as well, so he wants to do everything the big boys do, but he's been naughty all day (mainly just not listening) and he was just naughty enough to bother Koen & Josiah.  So I suggested to Ty that we make some bars for our snack later, but Josiah and Koen heard that plan and wanted to help, too. We ALL made the bars and then Ty went back to bugging the other boys. 

These PB&J bars are ones I've been wanting to try for a while.  I found them in Family Fun Magazine (one of my favorites).  I'll include the recipe here in case you'd like to try them.  Koen decided he didn't like them, but he's been on an anti-jelly kick for a while, so who knows.  Ty didn't want a snack after all, Josiah seemed to like them, and I thought they were OK.  When Josiah's mom came to pick him up, she commented that they smelled so good.  Then shared that she had a recipe very similar to this one only the middle was CHOCOLATE instead of jelly.  YUM!  We'll have to try that another day...soon! :) 

PB&J Bars
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup butter at room temperature (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups creamy or crunchy peanut butter
1 1/2 cups seedless jam
1/2 cup salted peanuts, chopped (optional)

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease & flour a 9x13 pan.  In a medium-size bowl, mix the flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt, then set it aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat the butter and both sugars until well blended, about 2 minutes.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the vanilla, eggs, and peanut butter.  Beat them until well blended.  Slowly add the flour mixture and beat until a soft dough is formed.

Spread two thirds of the dough over the bottom of the prepared pan, then spread the jam evenly on top.  Scatter small mounds of the remaining dough over the jam layer and sprinkle it with the peanuts.

Bake the dessert until golden brown, rotating the pan halfway through, about 45 minutes.  Let the dessert cool before cutting it into squares.  Makes 18 bars.