MWA's Asma Zaman shares her peanut butter and jam bars recipe

As a child I absolutely loved peanut butter and jam sandwiches.  Now here is a more 'grown-up' and sophisticated version of a childhood favourite recipe and trust me when I tell you... once these are made you will not want to share them with anyone!

PEANUT BUTTER AND JAM BARS

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 llb  butter
• 1 1/2 cups of sugar 
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 18 oz smooth peanut butter
• 3 cups of plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 18 oz raspberry jam
• Slightly chopped salted peanuts

METHOD

• Cream the butter and sugar with an electric hand whisk until light and fluffy.
• Add the eggs whilst the whisk is still running.
• Add the vanilla essence.
• Add the smooth peanut butter and continue to whisk.
• Now sieve together the flour, baking powder and salt and add to the wet ingredients.  Continue to whisk until you get a dough like mixture.
• Grease and flour a large tin approx 30cm long (width may vary).  If you have grease proof paper then just grease the tin and place the paper on top.
• Put and pat in 2/3 of the mixture into the tin.
• Then spread the raspberry jam over the mixture with a knife.
• Crumble the rest of the mixture all over the jam.
• Sprinkle over the chopped salted peanuts over the mixture and slightly pat them down.

Now put the tray in a pre-heated oven for 45mins at gas mark 4-5, until golden brown.

Once cooked leave to cool for about 10-15mins then cut in squares.

* This can be enjoyed with a glass of milk or a cup of tea and can even be eaten warm with a scoop of ice-cream.

* You can use other flavour jams but raspberry is by far the best.

Happy Cooking & Happy Eating Everyone!
___

MWA Member, Asma Zaman.

ABOUT ASMA ZAMAN
Ms. Zaman, an MWA member since March 2007, is a London based law graduate currently pursuing theoretical and practical qualifications as a psychological counsellor/psychotherapist also striving to bring awareness to the issues of mental health and disabilities in developing countries. She was invited to work as a project director and human rights campaign coordinator for the NGO 'Muslim Parliament of Great Britain' where she produced a national report on 'Child Abuse in Religious Environments'. 

Through rigourous campaigning Ms. Zaman played a pivotol role in the release of an innocent British citizen on death row in Pakistan in addition to supporting other high-impact projects.  

Her aspirations of becoming a writer began at a very young age, but it was only after being diagnosed with a long-term illness did they start to become reality. Asma now strives to raise awareness in support of not only others suffering from Myalgic-Encephalomilitis (M.E.) and Fibromyalgia, but for their caregivers as well.  

Ms. Zaman is currently busy finalising her first collection of Urdu poetry and working on a set of novellas for adults, in addition to continuing her story-writing for young children.