Sometimes you just crave peanut butter and jelly. I don’t eat it often but boy is it good when I do. When I’m making one for  myself I usually slather the peanut butter about an inch thick and then the jelly has to be slathered on. When I eat the sandwich the jelly is usually dripping off! I look like a little kid that’s made their very first sandwich. This time I decided to cut out the bread and just make a dessert. Enter Peanut Butter & Jelly Oatmeal Bars.
When I first took them out of the oven I let them cool for a bit but I couldn’t wait long. They’re delicious warm but a bit crumbly. Nothing compared to the dripping jelly of a sandwich, and definitely worth it! They’ll be a huge hit with the kids in you house, not to mention the grown ups!
Ingredients
- ½ cup plus 2 tbsp of butter
- ½ cup peanut butter
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups oats
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ cups strawberry jelly
Instructions
- Peaheat the oven to 350 degrees
- grease a 9-by13 inch baking pan
- in a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and peanut butter until light and fluffy. It will be lighter in color
- add in the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder and salt
- press half the mixture into an even layer in the bottom of the pan
- spread the strawberry jelly in an even layer over the oat mixture
- top with the remaining oatmeal mixture
- bake for 30 to 40 min
- remove from the oven and allow to cool completely (if you can)
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Laura Dembowski says
I love pbj too, especially in bar form. These sound great and easy to make!
Aubrey says
Thanks Laura!
meg says
Is it 1 or 12 cups of oats?
Aubrey says
Sorry about that Meg. It’s 1 1/2 cups of oats. The recipe card has been updated.
Christine from Cook the Story says
These would be perfect for a lunch box!
Aubrey says
Thanks Christine! My kids like them! 🙂
Beth Campbell says
I’m wondering if strawberry preserves would work in this recipe, or would the strawberry pieces throw off the consistency/proportion?
Aubrey says
You could definitely use strawberry preserves in this recipe. I’ve done that too and it was great!
Kathie says
Thank you for this, Aubrey. I’ve been making a similar bar and wondering how to do it with peanut butter. You have made it easy. I have to cook sugar-free, so I adapt everything with sugar to Splenda products. It’s a learning curve, I can tell you. (When do we get off this learning curve? Don’t think about that now.) Anyway, I make a similar bar without the jam, since most sugar-free jams are vile, really. I score the bars while they’re hot and just break them apart when completely cool (It’s hard to wait until they’re cold). Being made with Splenda, you have to refrigerate such things or they don’t stay nice. I wrap each in a little waxed paper and toss them into a storage container in the fridge. When I take them out, I nuke them about 35 seconds to soften them up. Sometimes I serve them with whipped cream. Yummy….and not too high in carbs, for a dessert item. Thanks for sharing. I’m enjoying reading your posts.
Aubrey says
Thanks Kathie!