Comfort food Dessert Recipe: Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars

I still haven't seen these in any bakery.

My mom used to make these when I was little and I haven't had one in 20 years so I broke out the recipe to make them again and still as good...

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter (I used Skippy- cheaper than my favorite Peanut Butter & Co. brand)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 cups grape or raspberry (seedless) jam (or strawberry)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease a 9 by 13 by 2-inch cake pan. Line it with parchment paper, then grease and flour the pan.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light yellow, about 2 minutes.

With the mixer on low speed, add the vanilla, eggs, and peanut butter and mix until all ingredients are combined.
In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture. Mix just until combined.
Spread 2/3 of the dough into the prepared cake pan and spread over the bottom with a knife or offset spatula.

Spread the jam evenly over the dough.

Drop small globs of the remaining dough evenly over the jam. Don't worry if all the jam isn't covered; it will spread in the oven. Bake for 45 minutes, until golden brown. Cool and cut into squares.

Optional: Top with crushed peanuts. Put this on top of bars the last 10 minutes of baking.