Thursday, October 1, 2009

Fresh strawberry peanut butter bars

After seeing the fresh strawberry peanut butter bars on the cover of Better Homes and Garden magazine (May 2009), we had to make one! It has a rich peanut butter crumb base, topped with strawberry jam and fresh cut strawberries. This PB&J goodie can also be a potluck-friendly dessert. Try it yourself!


*We substituted strawberries with raspberries. You can use any type of berries available in your home.

**We were short on butter and we were lazy to run to a supermarket to get more. We had to cut this recipe to 2/3. For crumbs, berries and peanut butter lovers, follow the recipe exactly to avoid doing mathematics.

***The pictures above does not look like the actual dessert described by BH&G. We did not have any fresh berries (again, we were lazy to run to a supermarket). We had frozen raspberries in our freezer. Read inside ( ) for our modified dessert.


Fresh strawberry peanut butter bars

Prep: 25 minutes Bake: 25 minutes Oven: 350*F

3/4 C butter, softened
3/4 C peanut butter
1 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C strawberry jam
4 C small whole strawberries, halved or quartered

1. Heat oven to 350*. Line 13x9x2 inch baking pan with foil, extending foil beyond edges. Set aside. (We used 9x9 square pan).

2. In large mixing bowl beat butter and peanut butter on medium to high for 30 seconds. Beat in sugars, baking powder, and salt until combinded. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can with mixer. Stir in remaining flour.

3. Spread dough in prepared pan (save 1/4 of the dough, spread jam on the dough in pan, add thawed sweetened berries, and then break and spread the remain dough evenly in the pan). Bake 25 minutes (35 minutes) or until top is lightly browned and toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.

4. Cool completely on rack. Remove from pan by lifting foil. Spread jam and top with berries. Cut into bars. Serve at once or refrigerate up to 6 hours.

Makes 24 bars.

Make ahead: Wrap the peanut butter crumb base in foil; store at room temperature up to 24 hours. Before serving, top with jam and berries. Or freeze the peanut butter crumb base in a freezer container up to 3 months.

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