New recipe 3/52

 Success this time!

Whenever I am stressed or just out of sorts I tend to a) want to spend ALL my time in the kitchen or b) practice my violin. I've been on an oat kick lately and I wanted to make bars that weren't the typical brownie or fruit bars. I did some research and found a peanut butter and jelly bar. I make it and it turned out DELICIOUS! I would use more fruit spread next time as the crust and top layer tend to mask the fruit, but it still tastes great. Below is the full recipe; I halved it and put it in an 8x8. And as usual I used less sugar, fat, salt and used a bit of wheat flour in place of the AP flour. I ALSO made my own quick fruit spread, but your favourite would suffice.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Oat Bars
-1 cup brown sugar
-3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
-1/2 cup peanut butter
-2 cups AND 2 tablespoons flour
-1 teaspoon salt
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-1 1/2 cups oats
-1/3 cup water or milk
-1 cup fruit preserves

Cream the sugar, butter and peanut butter. In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt, baking soda and oats. Slowly stir the oat mixture into the creamed mixture until just combined. Add the water a little bit at a time; you want the mixture to come together, but not be too wet. Place half of the mixture into a greased 9x13 pan. Spread the preserves over the bottom layer and then sprinkle the remaining oat mixture on top. Bake at 350 until the edges are slightly brown, about 20-30 minutes.

Random thought: Salad and ice cream for dinner tomorrow - yes!

~Nicole