Vegan Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

5 from 2 votes

Aug 10, 2018, Updated May 07, 2023

Vegan Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars made with only 6 basic ingredients! These make a great after-school snack and can be made gluten-free and refined sugar free.

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Vegan Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars made with simple ingredients makes a great after school snack. These bars are vegan and can be made gluten-free and refined-sugar free.

These bars have a oats and almond flour crust which is sweetened with dates and then they are filled with swirls of peanut butter and homemade raspberry puree. So pretty!

pair of hand holding a vegan peanut butter & jelly bar

Summer is almost (well almost!) over and kids are back to school.

Are you guys ready to say goodbye to summer? It’s always tough isn’t it? Because somehow summers feel short and winters always feel so long!

Since it’s time for back to school, I thought of sharing an easy after-school treat/snack that you can make for your kids!

These peanut butter and jelly bars are vegan, can be made gluten-free and made with only 6 basic ingredients (minus the salt)! It can’t get easier than this.

I didn’t grow up eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. In fact I had never even eaten Peanut Butter until I moved to US. However once I tasted it, there was no going back! I am a huge peanut butter fan and that’s obvious from the PB recipes that I have on the blog.

Have I told you guys that I buy these huge peanut butter jars from Costco and finish it all by myself? Sarvesh is okay with peanut butter but he isn’t obsessed with it unlike me so I end up finishing the entire jars.

I love eating it with a spoon or with my apples as a snack. These days, I add it almost everyday to my Banana Oatmeal.

Anyway back to these peanut butter jelly bars. So yeah, I didn’t grew up eating those sandwiches, but I have always loved the sweet and salty combination. Needless to say, I love these sandwiches and also these bars with the same flavor!

These Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

✓ are vegan and can be made gluten-free by using gluten-free oats

✓ easy to make with 6 basic ingredients

✓ makes a great after-school treat or snack

✓ can be made refined sugar free by using natural peanut butter and fresh raspberry puree

For this vegan peanut butter & jelly bars recipe, I used fresh raspberry puree. I actually had tons of raspberries at home and so I added them to a pan and let them simmer until they were soft and then mashed them using a potato masher.

I added very little sugar to sweeten it since my berries were already quite sweet. You can do what I did, that is use fresh berry puree or simply use store bought jam or jelly. The benefit of using fresh raspberry puree or homemade jam would be that you can control the sweetness in these bars.

You can in fact make this refined sugar free if you want. The crust is already refined sugar free and the filling can be the same by using all-natural peanut butter and a homemade jam or puree sweetened with any natural sweetener/raw sugar.

These bars come together very quickly. Once you have baked these bars, don’t try to cut them immediately. Let them chill in the refrigerator for few hours before trying to cut them.

If your kid likes peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, then he/she would love these bars! They will make a nice change from the usual sandwiches!

Method

Line a 8 x 8 inch square pan with aluminium foil. Spray with a non-stick spray and set it aside. Pre-heat oven to 350 F degrees.

1- To a food processor add oats, almond flour and salt.

2- Then add the pitted dates. Add the coconut oil and pulse the mixture in your food processor.

3- Pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand.

4- Transfer mixture to the prepared pan.

5- Press the mixture firmly into the pan, using the back of a measuring cup or any glass to make it really compact.

6- Bake the crust in a pre-heated oven at 350 F degrees for 15 to 17 minutes.

7- Take the crust out of oven once baked, let it cool for 2 to 3 minutes and then pour over the raspberry puree/jam. Spread the jam all over the crust using a spatula or knife.

8- Then drop dollops of peanut butter (should be slightly melted) on top of the jam. Use a toothpick to create a swirl effect. Return pan to the oven and bake for another 17 to 19 minutes at 350 F degrees.

Take the bars out of oven and let them cool. Then cover and refrigerate for few hours before cutting into squares. Enjoy these Vegan Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars with a glass of milk!

If you’ve tried this Vegan Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars Recipe then don’t forget to rate the recipe! You can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram to see what’s latest in my kitchen!