Friday, February 24, 2012

Peanut butter and jelly in dessert form?
Yes, please!

There are few people in this world who don’t like the combination of peanut butter and jelly.
   I have yet to meet such a person, anyway.
   My husband loves the combination in iconic sandwich form, so when I saw the combination in dessert form, I knew I had to try it.
   Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars (click for the recipe) from Bon Appetit magazine are developed by easy-cakes-and-cookies wizard Lauren Chattman.
   Chattman really delivers with this recipe – these bars are terrific. Everyone will go gaga for them. Few recipes are more family-friendly than this one.
   I found the bars cut from closer to the centre were the most awesome. Although all of the bars are soft, the ones from the centre were the softest.
   They were extremely easy to make.
   Smooth peanut butter, sugar, and butter are beaten together with an electric mixer, then egg and vanilla added and mixture beaten some more. A mixture of flour, baking powder and salt is added on low speed just to blend.
   Half of the dough is pressed into to an 8 x 8 x 2-inch metal baking pan that’s been lined with aluminum foil, and jelly or jam is spread on top in an even layer.
   The other half of the dough is transferred, in a bowl, to the freezer for 10 minutes. After this, the dough should, according to the recipe, “break” into grape-size pieces. I didn’t found it “broke” at all. The dough just firmed up a bit but was still soft. Nevertheless, it was still easy to form into grape-size pieces and put over the jelly layer.
   Coarsely-chopped salted dry-roasted peanuts are sprinkled on top.    The bars are baked until golden brown, about 30 minutes, then left to cool completely.
   Using the foil overhang, the bars are lifted from the pan and cut into squares.



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