Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in South Florida Family Events and Recipes

Peanut butter and jelly take center stage in this weekend’s recipe line-up since today is National PB&J Day!

• PBJ Crunch Bars (courtesy of allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 2 ¼ cups oats

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

• ¾ cup white sugar

• 1 cup brown sugar

• ¼ cup graham cracker crumbs

• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 3 sticks cold butter, thinly sliced 

• 1 ½ cups warm peanut butter

• 1 ½ cups grape jelly

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

2. Stir the oats, flour, white sugar, brown sugar, graham cracker crumbs, and cinnamon in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, cut the butter into the mixture until crumbly. Press about half of the mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13-inch baking dish. Spread the peanut butter over the oat mixture. Stir the jelly to make it spreadable and swirl into the peanut butter. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture over the peanut butter and jelly layer; gently pat until it sticks together.

3. Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 25 to 35 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.

• Cinnamon Toast PB&J Sandwich (courtesy of twopeasandtheirpod.com)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 2 tablespoons softened butter

• 2 slices white bread

• 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter

• 1 tablespoon jam or jelly

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Butter one side of the bread slices and sprinkle generously with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Put the bread on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Turn the oven to broil and and broil until the sugar has melted and starts to bubble. This won't take long, so don't walk away, watch it closely. Remove from oven.

2. Spread the inside pieces of bread with peanut butter and jam. Make a sandwich and cut in half. Serve immediately.

3. Note-you can make cinnamon toast using a toaster, but I prefer the oven method. Use your favorite jam or jelly.

• PB&J Burgers (courtesy of Foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients

• 8 strips uncooked bacon

• ½ cup butter

• 2 lb(s) ground chuck

• 1 ½ tsp black pepper

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 egg

• 8 waffles, fresh or frozen

• ½ cup peanut butter

• ½ cup strawberry jam

Directions

1. 1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.

2. To make the chocolate-dipped bacon, place bacon strips on a parchment-lined baking sheet and cook for 12 minutes, or until crispy.

3. Pat dry with a paper towel and cool to room temperature.

4. Fill a sauce pot half way with water and bring to a light boil.

5. Place chocolate chips in stainless steel bowl and set over sauce pot. Make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.

6. Melt butter in microwave or sauce pan and add it to the chocolate chips. Whisk the butter into the chocolate until it is completely melted and smooth.

7. Dip bacon in chocolate and transfer to a fresh parchment-lined baking sheet.

8. Refrigerate for 15 minutes, or until chocolate has hardened.

9. To make the burger patties, mix together ground chuck, salt, pepper, and an egg until fully combined.

10. Divide meat mixture into 4 even balls and press balls between two pieces of parchment paper to form ¼-inch thick patties.

11. Cook burgers in a heavy pan over medium-high heat for 4 minutes per side, or until meat is no longer pink.

12. While burgers cook, toast fresh or frozen waffles in a toaster.

13. Spread 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and 2 tablespoons of jam on each waffle.

14. Top each burger patty with 2 slices of chocolate bacon and sandwich between two waffles.

Enjoy!