5 33 Published Sep 01, 2017, Updated Jan 07, 2024 I honestly find this hard to believe because we’re huge PB&J fans over here at EBF. I ate a PB&J sandwich almost every single day for lunch throughout elementary, middle and high school. Isaac’s childhood was similar and to this day he still makes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch or a snack. You know, just your causal sandwich snack. Because of this, I’ve come up with so many PB&J inspired recipes including a PB&J Smoothie (this baby is SO good), PB&J Trail Mix (such a fun combo if you can find the peanut butter chips), PB&J Overnight Oats (perfect high-protein breakfast) and PB&J Protein Bites. And today I’m adding these PB&J Bars to the list. They’re like a standard crumb bar only made healthier with good-for-you ingredients. I think they’d make an awesome lunch box addition, but only if your kiddo goes to a school where peanuts are still allowed. (Do peanut-friendly schools even exist anymore? Clearly, I’m not a mama so I’m out of the loop.) If peanuts aren’t an option at school, just pack one in your own lunch box and save a few for the kids to enjoy as an after-school snack. I’m sure most of you reading realized this already, but I just want to point out that these aren’t just for kids. Truth be told they’ve only be taste-tested by adults but everyone LOVED them so I’m sure kids will like them too. What I love about them is that they’re incredibly easy to whip up. We’re talking one bowl, 8 ingredients and only about 15 minutes of hands-on prep time. I found everything I needed for this recipe at my local Kroger and all the items (besides the baking soda) are from their Simple Truth line, which features natural and organic products. All of the Simple Truth items are free from 101 different artificial preservatives and ingredients including things like high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated fats & oils, sucralose, aspartame and parabens. For the peanut butter flavor, I used the Simple Truth protein-packed peanut power. If you’re unfamiliar, peanut powder (or peanut flour) is made from crushed, defatted peanuts so it has a ton of peanut flavor and protein, but it’s lower in fat and calories. It’s been popular among health food enthusiasts (i.e. people like me) for a few years now. You can use it as a peanut butter substitute, just by adding liquid to the powder, but I primarily use it as to give a peanut butter flavor (and protein boost) to things like smoothies, sauces, overnight oats and pancakes. (Check out my peanut flour protein pancakes here.) Peanut powder also works for baking and these PB&J bars are a great example. They have a ton of peanut butter flavor, just from the peanut powder! And 9 grams of protein per square. Of course, for the photos I added a little drizzle of actual peanut butter, but that’s totally optional. 🙂 If you make these PB&J bars be sure to leave a comment and star rating letting me know how they turn out. Your feedback is so helpful for the EBF team and other readers!
