With these tasty peanut butter jelly bars in front of me, I’m positive my younger self would agree that this pb and j is like no other. With sweet jam and creamy peanut butter in each and every velvety, soft bite these are mouthwatering and delicious to even the pickiest eaters. And all the while, being healthy!
This combination is a bit different from traditional desserts but part of their charm is that they aren’t overly sweet and have that classic peanut butter and jelly taste. You really won’t mind indulging in a few!
Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars (vegan and gluten free)
Print Recipe
Shortbread Base & Top Crumble Mixture:
1 1/4 cups Gluten Free Rolled Oats
1/3 cup Rice Flour
1 Tablespoon Agave Inulin or Rice Flour
2 Tablespoons Vanilla Protein Powder
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
1/4 cup Agave
1 teaspoon Natural Butter Extract
Peanut Butter Layer:
1/3 cup Natural, Creamy Peanut Butter
2 Tablespoons Agave
1/4 cup Coconut Sugar
2 teaspoons Molasses
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 Tablespoons Agave Inulin
Jelly Layer:
1/3 cup Sugar Free, Pure Fruit Jam, flavor of choice
1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
Line an 8 inch baking dish with parchment paper and set aside.
Begin with your shortbread base. In a food processor or good blender, blend up your oats until they become a fine powder. Add the agave inulin, protein powder, rice flour and salt and pulse until combined. Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix until well combined. Scoop out the dough into your prepared pan, but reserve 1/4 cup of the mixture for your crumble topping and set aside. Push the dough in the pan and flatten until smooth. Freeze the crust while preparing the peanut butter and jelly fillings.
For the peanut butter filling- combine the peanut butter, agave and coconut sugar in a small bowl and microwave for 15 seconds. Stir until the mixture is creamy and smooth. Add the molasses and vanilla extract. Add the agave inulin and stir until smooth and glossy.
In another small bowl, combine the jelly and vanilla extract and set aside.
Assembling your bars:
Remove the shortbread crust from the freezer. Press the peanut butter filling over the shortbread until it is evenly spread out and smooth. Spread the jelly mixture over the peanut butter mixture. Take your reserved 1/4 cup of the shortbread mixture and crumble it with your fingers. Sprinkle the crumble mixture evenly over the bars. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes to set. Cut into bars and enjoy! Store any left overs in the fridge.
Adapted from chockohlawtay
Vanilla Gold Macarons
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Pancakes
Birthday Cake Batter Bars
No-Bake Chocolate Raspberry Brownie Bites
Peanut Butter Protein Blondies
Rachel says
When I made these, they didn’t come out as pretty, but oh they were gooood! I think I ate 3 in one sitting! Ha!
Kisha says
These bars are gorgeous, and I love your website, but I get a little sad when I see all you girls do to be healthy, only to use sugar-free products, which are ALWAYS poisoned with either Sucralose(Splenda) or Aspartame, or some other toxic chemical. I noticed a while ago, but I don’t think I mentioned it. I love all you girls do, but I’ve never commented, so thanks for all of your lovely recipes, and please research sugar-free products…Unsweetened products ae great though. I just wanted to help out…Thanks again=))).
Annie says
We appreciate your comment, Kisha!
We actually never use products that contain Splenda or Aspartame. We completely agree with you that products like those are straight poison and that was one reason for starting this blog- we want to share with people how to make treats with healthy sugars. The sugars that we use are natural sweeteners, like honey and coconut sugar. We’ve been working on explaining many of these different sweeteners in our natural sweetener guide at the top of our site. You’ll find that there are a lot of natural sweeteners out there that don’t contain any harmful chemicals. Thank you for your comment!