Peanut Butter Jelly Bread

This bread takes you back – it’s old school. My school did not have hot lunch, so I brought a bagged lunch every day. And this foodie admittedly brought the same thing every day: peanut butter & jelly sandwich, fruit snacks, oreos (or other cookie) and Hi-C (later becoming Mountain Dew when I was a cool teenager).  Now that we’re all responsible adults, educated in nutrition, we have  to admit… that was the most awesome lunch ever. You know, as opposed to all the salads or turkey sandwiches we all eat now. Damn I miss the days of being a hyperactive carb burning machine.

Biting into a slice of peanut butter and jelly bread makes you feel like a kid again.

Like a ‘I don’t care if I have jelly on my face’ kid.

Like a ‘I want to lick the cherry scented marker’ kid.

Like a ‘but mom, school pictures are from the waist up why can’t I wear jeans’ kid

I had a PB&J strategy. I would always coat the two bread slices with PB and then put jelly in-between.  I did this so the jelly wouldn’t make the bread soggy by the time I ate it at school… but then the jelly would always leak out the sides really easy because it had nothing to cling to and sometimes get the crusts soggy. Ugh! Adolescent lunch was SO UNFAIR! Nobody gets me!

For this bread, I started with an awesome PB bread recipe from Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice and was inspired by Teaspoon of Spice to swirl in the jelly.

I’ll admit this recipe was a fail on my first attempt (see above). It rose up beautifully, only to come sinking in on itself minutes later, the inside a bubbly mess of peanut butter.  But, it was such a delicious fail (as in me, a fork and a cutting board of half-baked pb&j bread sitting on the couch watching presidential debate) that I knew I had to fix it. Upon further Law & Order type investigation, I believe I made two mistakes: 1. too much jelly which was wet and weighty and didn’t let middle rise 2. overfilled the pan, which almost always leads to bread that’s not cooked through in the middle and sinks.

The second time around I used less jelly and didn’t use all the batter, instead I set some aside to make a mini loaf and the problem was solved! New problem: a loaf of sunken, under-baked, half-eaten PB&J bread sitting on my counter next to a fresh and successful loaf of PB&J bread. Danger Red! Danger! Bake and release! To the race track with you, delicious slices of childhood…

Did you have a PB&J strategy? Grape or strawberry jelly? Smooth or crunchy peanut butter?

Peanut Butter Jelly Bread
From Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup salted butter, room temperature
½ cup sugar
¼ cup packed brown sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
4-6 tablespoons of jelly (whichever flavor you prefer, or entirely optional for regular PB bread)
3 strawberries, chopped (optional, if using strawberry jelly)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan and mini loaf pan, set aside.
NOTE: If you are making simply the peanut butter bread, you will only need the 9 x 5 pan, not the mini one.

In a small bowl whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together.

In a separate large mixing bowl beat butter and sugars until combined. Mix in peanut butter. Mix in egg and vanilla, scraping down sides of bowl. Add flour mixture and beat on low until combined, the batter will be very thick and crumbly. Pour in milk and beat on low until batter is smooth.

Add 1/3 batter to bottom of loaf pan. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of jelly on top of batter and 1/2 of the chopped strawberries. Add another 1/3 of batter on top of jelly, then another 2-3 tablespoons of jelly and remaining strawberries, then final 1/3 of batter on top.

Repeat process in mini loaf pan (if using)

Bake for 50 minutes or until the center springs back when pressed with a fingertip and toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a couple crumbs. Cool in pan on wire rack 30 minutes, remove from pan and cool completely.

Tags: bread, pb&j, peanut butter