Peanut Butter Jam Bars

Inspired by The Food Networks 12 Days of Cookies, I decided to mix up my favorite peanut butter cookie dough and add the home-made strawberry jam from jelly doughnut night and bake it all in a pan to create delicious peanut butter jam bars.

Peanut Butter Jam Bars

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups sifted all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325F. Butter a 9X9 baking dish.

In a separate bowl, mix the baking soda and salt into the flour.

With a hand mixer or KitchenAid, beat the butter then gradually add both sugars until very well blended. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Mix in the peanut butter. Slowly add the flour mixture.

With damp fingers, press 2/3 of the dough into the bottom of the baking dish (if the dough is too sticky, put it in the fridge for at least 15 minutes). Spread the jam over the dough. Crumble the remaining dough evenly over the top of jam. It will bake for a longer time then cookies, about 25-30 minutes.

I didn't layer the dough and jam the best way, and used too large of a pan, so they should turn out even prettier baked the proper way.

Peanut Butter Cup Banana Cookie

Finally, the first time I have been in town for a weekend and can write about the one time I have baked in the past two weeks. But I’m not complaining, the lack of baking and blogging is because I have been going to the lake every weekend, though I am still better at baking than wakeboarding ;)

This tiny bout of baking came on because our friends at the lake said they had never had any of my baked goods. Thursday night, after a grocery trip to Berkeley Bowl where I picked up a bag of about 10 over-ripe bananas for $1, I got to work with two loaves of banana bread, one plain and one with walnuts and dark chocolate chips-It's so easy and always pleases.

That didn't cure my baking itch though, so once the bread was in the oven I got to work on my own recipe that I have been wanting to give a whirl. The idea came to mind after a lot of thinking about my failed attempt at this Banana Peanut Butter Cup cookie recipe. Look at the cookies in her blog, they're beautiful, and now check out what happened when I made them…

After random contemplations since then, I think this happened because I pureed the bananas rather than mashed them and it needed more flour. I was skeptical before trying this recipe anyway because it had no butter- I mean really a cookie with no butter?

So here’s my spin on it— less healthy but more delicious?

PB Cup Banana Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup mashed over-ripe banana (about 1 banana) 
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter (2 oz)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar (2.3oz)
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar (I used turbinado brown sugar aka sugar in the raw) (2.5oz)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup peanut butter (12oz)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (2.5oz)
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp white flour (4.5oz)
• ~10 peanut butter cups chopped into quarters 
• 1/2 cup walnut pieces

Have all ingredients at room temperature and preheat the oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda and salt and set aside.

In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and the sugars until light and fluffy (4-5 minutes.) Mix in the egg and vanilla. Mix for 2 minutes, then the peanut butter until combined, then the banana until combined. Once combined, slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until blended, but don’t over-mix. Add in Reese's and walnut pieces.

Let the cookie dough sit in fridge over-night (or at least a couple of hours).

Remove from fridge, create golfball-size dough balls. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle a tiny pinch of coarse salt over the tops (you can sprinkle some sugar over too make it prettier). Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for a couple of minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. Success!

Cookie Pie

I just tried a little twist on those Peanut Butter Cookies from my March 28, 2010 blog. It's beginning to become tradition that I bring a giant Tupperware of cookies up to Chico for my weekend trips, and what quicker way to achieve this the morning before I have to leave for ALUMNI WEEKEND then to just stick all the dough into a spring form pan and bake it all at once, instead of in little cookie batches. Genius...and DElicious.

Recipe

Follow the original recipe. Place all of the dough into a greased 9 inch Springform pan. Bake at 350 (not 375, like the cookies) for 24-27 minutes.

The best part is, you just pop the springform pan open, slice the cookie like a pizza, throw it in a Tupperware, and your off for the best weekend you'll never remember...

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookie Recipe

I hope all this peanut butter and chocolate chunk hype has gotten you excited for...

...the recipe! (This photo and more at CHOW).

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies/Donna Cookies/ Pants on the Ground Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups sifted all purpose flour (sift before measuring)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt (a pinch more if using coarse salt)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 cup Skippy smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (you could use dark or light. I use light because I like the “lighter” taste. If you like a darker, more molasses taste, try dark brown sugar).
• 12-16oz Guittard semi-sweet chocolate chunks
  

*Have all ingredients at room temperature

Sift Together: flour, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside. Beat (in a mixer or large bowl). Slowly beat in the sugars and mix for about two minutes until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla. Mix until combined. Add in the peanut butter and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined, but don't over-mix it. Stir in the Guittard semi-sweet chocolate chunks (or whatever chocolate you want, or nothing at all, let the peanut butter cookie go naked!)

They will likely be too sticky to form into balls, so stick the dough in fridge for at least 45 minutes. Refrigerating dough actually brings out and improves the flavor of the cookie (more on this in another blog).

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Once the dough is solid enough to handle, roll into golfball-size balls. If you leave the cookies plain, you can roll into balls and with a fork press down gently on the dough, making a cross hatch pattern. Otherwise roll into a ball and pat gently to a disc, this way they come out nice and thick.

Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for a couple of minutes then transfer to a cooling rack...or your mouth.

Photo by SF Food Wars crew member, Bryan Haggerty