Peanut Butter and Jelly Brownies
I love putting a new spin on a classic recipe. I had the pleasure of enjoying these Peanut Butter and Jelly Brownies when I was hanging out with my friends Fiona, Aimee, and Katie one night a couple months ago. Fiona had whipped up quite the unique recipe. Her recipe involves cutting the brownies in half after they’ve been baked and cooled. When it came right down to it, I was just too lazy to commit to that kind of effort.
I know, it really isn’t that much additional effort, but that’s the decision I made. Instead of following Fiona’s recipe exactly, I decided to just use peanut butter chips in the brownies and top it with jelly, just like Fiona did. The outcome is a great combination of the classic peanut butter and jelly flavors mixed into a brownie. These were a huge hit, as to be expected.
One Year Ago: Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls and Indian Spiced Beans
Two Years Ago: Cranberry, Caramelized Onion, and Goat Cheese Dip
Peanut Butter and Jelly Brownies
Yield: 16 bars
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp espresso powder, optional
1/2 Tbsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 cup red raspberry jelly
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x9" pan
In a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat briefly, just until it's hot, but not bubbling; it'll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.
Transfer the sugar mixture to a medium-sized mixing bowl, if you've heated it in a saucepan. Stir in the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla.
Whisk in the eggs, stirring until smooth.
Add the flour and chips, again stirring until smooth.
Spoon the batter into a lightly greased pan.
In another pan or microwave dish, heat the jelly until warm and melted. Spoon warm jelly on top of brownie batter. Use a knife to swirl around to mix into brownies.
Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool completely prior to cutting.
Recipe adapted from A Boston Food Diary
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I’m totally with you on liking bars over cookies! MUCH easier.
~ingrid
I’m a huge fan of bar cookies, in fact, I rarely make regular ones! They look great!
I’m with you on the bar thing vs cookies. They look great. I’ve never tried these before. How would you say these choc chip bars are different from blondies?
I’m a total sucker for chocolate chip cookies and these in bar form look awesome!
Those look delicious! They would make the perfect midnight snack with a glass of milk. 🙂
Mmm. Looks good to me too!
I love bars too, same reasons. Sorry I have been MIA, I have been so busy, but it has made me feel so bad not to have time to comment. Happy Birthday, hope the kitchen is going well.
I found these while surfing around the other day. Made them and LOVED them. Then had a little panic attack when I couldnt find your site. (Do you realize just how many options you get from chocolate chip cookie bars?)
Anyways, thanks so much! 😀