Peanut Butter and Jam Squares Recipe

Makes about 2 dozen small squares

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cups crunchy peanut butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups strawberry jam, or other flavor
1 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped

 

 

 

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with butter, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the parchment, and coat the pan and parchment with flour; set aside. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add eggs and peanut butter; beat until combined, about 2 minutes.

Whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour. Add to butter and peanut butter mixture 1/3 at a time on low speed until just combined. Add vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of mixture to prepared pan; spread evenly with spatula. Spread jam on top of peanut-butter mixture. Dollop remaining third of peanut-butter mixture on top of jam. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts.

Bake until golden, about 40 minutes, rotating half way through. Transfer to a wire rack to cool; cut into squares.

 

This is one of my favorite recipes because it’s easy to make and you can play around with the recipe. I have experimented with the flour and baking time and found that 2 2/3 cups worked best as it resulted in a softer square that wasn’t super heavy. The original recipe calls for 3 cups of flour and a baking time of 45 minutes. I’ve also used crunchy peanut butter instead of smooth and loaded on various mixtures of jam. This recipe allows for the mad scientist to come out and play so have fun!