Baked these with Thing Two to bring to my father-in-law’s annual bowling team cookout today. I had some leftover peanut butter swirl from another baking project last weekend, we have a ton of grape jelly left from last year’s batch (and a new crop of grapes incoming very shortly), and I’m low on chocolate chips and such in the pantry, so this was the recipe I put together. They were well-received at the cookout, so I’ll call it a keeper. It’s based on my standard "crumb bar" recipe, which I think I originally adapted from the folks at Cooks Illustrated, and which I haven’t updated from volume to weights yet (if I had started a hair earlier today, I probably would have done that, too.)
Didn’t spend much time shooting these at all, just put one on a plate and brought it outside to shoot under the umbrella shade on the patio. Looking at it now, I think a different plate might have worked a little better; this one is a bit more colorful than the bar and is a bit distracting.
Nikon D7000 w/Nikkor 18-200mm @ 200mm, 1/45s @ ƒ/13, ISO200. Color processing and cropping in Aperture.
Ingredients
for the peanut butter swirl
1 c. peanut butter
1 14 oz. can sweetened evaporated milk
2-4 tbl. milk (as required to thin the mixture)
(this is twice the amount you’ll need for this recipe.)
for the bars
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 3/4 c. rolled oats
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
3/4 c. finely chopped walnuts
18 tbl. unsalted butter, soft but still a little cold
1/2 recipe of peanut butter swirl, above
1 c. grape jelly
Directions
Combine the ingredients for the peanut butter swirl and stir until completely combined. You’ll have quite a bit more than you need for this recipe (might I suggest a banana bread to use up the rest?)
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Prepare a 13"x9" pan by spraying it with cooking spray and lining the bottom and sides either with parchment or a double-layer of foil, leaving the ends free to help de-pan the baked squares later.
Combine the flour, oats, walnuts, salt, baking powder, and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and combine at low speed. Keeping the mixer at low speed, add the butter 1 tbl. at a time, pausing a few seconds between each addition. Mix until you have a coarse, sandy consistency, 2 to 3 minutes.
Pour 2/3 of the mixture into the prepared pan, and press into an even layer with your fingers. Bake for 20 minutes, until browning around the edges.
Dollop the peanut butter swirl over the baked base, and carefully spread out into an even layer with a spoon or rubber spatula. Repeat with the grape jelly, then sprinkle the remaining 1/3 of the flour-butter mixture on top of the jelly. Don’t press this in, you want it to be sandy. Return to the oven for 30 minutes, until the topping is a light golden brown. Remove from the oven, set on a rack, and allow to cool completely, 90 minutes to 2 hours.
Once cool, remove from the pan (lift the parchment or foil you lined the pan with) and cut into approximately 2" squares with a serrated knife. Yields about 24 pieces.
Posted by djwtwo on 2012-08-27 01:18:33
Tagged: , AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED [II] , nikon , d7000 , peanut butter , grape jelly , crumb , bar , recipe , baked , cookie
